The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-06-25
HARD TO SWIM AND Be PRETTY
DIFFICULTIES OF THE GIRL AT
THE SEASHORE.

bathing Suits This Year Practical and Al.
tractlye, Yet Not Able to Insure an
Appearance OF Beauty-Advantage
Of Home Made Costumes for Bathing.
The seashore season will soon be In full
swing and the girl who swims will have her
annual inning Unluckily for her. how
ever, her prowess does not win her the
popularity that attaches itself to the girl
who is an expert at golf or tennis or sail
ing. The bather who merely dips and
ducks and floats and paddles apparently
has just as much fun and quite az many
admirers as the girl who swims we'll, and
the girl who spends most Of the bathing
hour on the dry sand is perhaps the most
popular OF the three.
All OF which goes to prove that wet
bathing dress isn't. at its best, becoming
thing, and that few women look we'll In
tight rubber caps or with wet hair. The
beautiful and picturesque maidens in bath
ing costumes who figure in the pictures
are delusion and a snare, or II not quite
that. they certainly represent the before.
taking stage of the seashore plunge; and
though there may be curly haired, divinely
formed naiads who manage to look fascinat-
ing after they've been through the surf,
the type is a rare one.
This may be pessmism but 1t shouldn't
discourage the seashore girl. 1t isn't
Intended as Encouragement. but merely
as a stimulus to greater care in the choice
and fashioning of bathing garb.
The sport is fine enough in itself to COM
rensate the average woman for a con-
q, hor
hut when the necessary handicap Is so great
ones duty to self and society demands
that one should exert oneself to look, If
not beautiful at least as little ugly as pos
sble.
Fortunately this point OF view seems
10 have appealed to women OF late and
there has been great improvement in bath
inc attire within the last few years, but there
Is still ample room for improvement. The
old cl,n sy shapeless bathing suit of heavy
flannel or serge has in most instances given
place to more shapely and becoming cos
tunes of mohair, and when one OF the
warmer. softer woolens Ia preferred for
health's sake a fine wiry twill serge that
will shed water readily and will not cling
distressingly to the figure is chosen in place
of the flannel or soft serge which held the
water tenaciously and stuck fast to the
wearer.
Some women still insist upon having
flannel bathing suits, saying, and with some
reason, that there is less danger of chilling
in flannel than in any Of the other materials
adopted for bathing purposes, but there's
no denying the fact that the flannel bathing
suit when wet is unsightly even when made
and worn in the approved modern way.
Up to the present time, mohair is the most
satisfactory all around'fhaterial. for wear in
the water, and nine out'o..:ten:of the pref
test bathing costumes shown are Of mohair
Silk has been exploited:.by the manufac-
turers Of bathing costumes and wash tafleta
has some virtues to recommend It.
1t shakes OF the water readily. does not
cling and keeps its shape better than serge
or flannel; but, on the other hand it is rather
cold and clammy when it's wearer comes
cut Of the water and the silk clad bather Is
more liable to chill than her wool clad sis
ters, With some women this disadvantage
assumes no importance. and for them de-
Nghtful models in silk are prepared.
Dark blue, black and red are the colors