History of Sun (?) Tanning

Pale Female and Tanned Male - Rubens

Well as you probably suspected, tanning is all Coco Chanel's fault.  In 1923 after accidentally catching sun while on the Duke of Westminster's yacht, she descended with a tan and promptly started the tanning craze.  Coco Chanel famously declared, "The 1929 girl must be tanned... a golden tan is the index of chic."



Before then, pale was the colour to be.  A pale skin demonstrated class -- only field workers and people with menial tasks had suntans.  Today the term redneck is a hangover from this --  the redneck came from the redneck earned in hard field work.  A farmer's tan is more culturally acceptable presumably because you're a farmer and not a field worker. 

Somewhere in my memory I remember a roman emperor ordering pearl diving as a punishment-- it wasn't so much the work but that the suntan would mark them as having fallen from grace (probably from Suetonis - one of my favourite authors).  Anyway, porcelain skin has long been a marker of beauty and even today Nicole Kidman and the like are praised for their luminous (and pale) skin.

Sunkissed? Bronzed?

By the 1950s the suntan had come of age.  The Beach Boys and similar surfie music praised the lifestyle of sun, surf, sand and sex.  The bikini came

Bardot 1960

to be popular (see earlier posting) and thus there was more to be tanned. The next step was, of course, to lose the top.  In the 1960 Brigette Bardot was seen topless on the beaches of St Tropez.  It was the ultimate reference to the burn-the-bra mentality of the 1960s. It became part of the philosophy of liberation and control over women's bodies.  It was also linked to the hippy back-to-nature ethos. Along with love beads and hippy flares. The fashion for topless sunbathing caught on in Australia but never made it big in the USA-though "hippy" states such as Oregon still find it acceptable- even in public, or at least at fairs. Australian women are still okay with topless sunbathing.  Wikipedia cites a 1994-1995 study in which 

Australian researchers asked 118 college-age students to rate the behavior of women who go topless on an 8 point scale, ranging from "Women should have the same right to topless as men" to "Topless women are exhibitionists". They found that 88% of Australian university students of either gender considered it acceptable for women to go topless on public beaches, although they felt that women exposing their breasts in other contexts, such as public parks, was inappropriate. (The full article is available HERE)

In Australia topless bathing is still being challenged.  Though it seems that even in France, the fashion for topless bathing is waning;  according to this article at least.

 And of course the media loves nothing better than catching a celebrity topless. 

Nude sunbathing followed and a number of Australian beaches went the whole way--except for Queensland that is.  I remember back in the 1980s it was quite acceptable and even de rigeur but I think that's slightly changed.  The answer to getting an allover tan and thus avoid aesthetically unappealing tan lines is the tankini.  Piz Buin bought out a tankini (though it wasn't called that) in the 1970s;  you bought it at a chemist (it was expensive).  It came in a cylinder and you could see through it.  It was floral.  Luckily I was too young to want or need one. 

Are tanned people more attractive?  According to a survey yes they are

The authors analyzed the data in one of three ways, all of which yielded the same conclusion: tanned individuals were perceived as more attractive than their untanned versions. When matching the data within individuals, 12 of the 45 individuals saw an increase in their attractiveness (when tanned), 2 of the 45 individuals yielded a decrease in attractiveness (when tanned), and the remaining photos did not yield a statistically significant change (within-individuals). Hence, whereas at the aggregate, a tan improves an individual's perceived attractiveness, this did not hold for the majority of submitted photos. Incidentally, the researchers had originally included photos of men as well. However, these did not garner a sufficiently high number of ratings so photos of men were dropped from further consideration.

George Hamilton

The Man Tan

Paul Hollywood

Of course tanning is not JUST a female pursuit.  Men, especially body builders have, for years, tanned themselves.  Who can forget the permanent tan of George Hamilton.  And more recently Paul Hollywood of Great British Bake-Off fame. I decided against putting up pictures of male body builders -- they make me throw up a little in my mouth.

 

 

Sun Lotions and Sun Screens

With the advent of sunbathing or suntanning, came the need for sun products.  The first suntan lotion "Huile de Chaldée" was made in 1928 by French designer Jean Patou.  While the first sunscreen was reputedly made by chemist Franz Greiter in 1946 who was burned while on Mount Piz Buin,  His product Gletscher Crème (Glacier Cream) was sold under the new company Piz Buin.  Since then of course the fashion in suntanning products has soared.  Copertone was one of the first companies that I remember and their cute ads. But that ad was not aimed at teen girls and I basically preferred the old coconut oil.  A small jar from the chemist was the cheapest option -- solid white it melted on contact.  (Today I use coconut oil for cooking and in my hair.)  Then came a product called Gilda which was a "butter" and came in a jar - it was brown and smelled diving and was THE product to have in the 19somethings.  When I go overseas I also bought the local sun products and in Tahiti I fell in love with one that had a local flower in it, Tiare, I sure can remember the smell.  Then there was the Hawaiian Tropic and Reef ranges -- none of them had SP factors that I can remember.  Finally the sun worshipping caught up with people and from the 1980s Australian Cancer Council decided it was time to address the issue -- its famous Slip Slop Slap campaign seemed, to me, to remind us all that sometimes the old fashions (hat, gloves, more 'modest' swimwear) were actually good for us. 

 

The Rise of the Fake Tan

When I was younger and needed a sudden dose of colour, indoor tanning was the only way.  Prior to that people used products such as Bovril to make their legs look darker.  It was sticky and smelled awful and usually left residue between my fingers.  Fast forward to the twenty-first century and now suntanning has made a comeback.  In particular reflected (or fuelled) by the uber tans worn by people in Essex, Jersey Shore and beauty pageants. Suddenly people everywhere are freely admitting that their tan is "fake" (presumably tans that did not come from the sun). They hadn't visited some exotic tropical clime, they had gone somewhere much closer to home. Even Donald Trump has been photographed sporting a VERY bad tan.   This new suntan isn't natural at all - in fact it is quite orange. Orange as the new tan is clearly a part of the more is more culture;  we know it's fake and they don't hide that fact that it's fake -  it's a symbol of conspicuous consumption. 

Trump Tan

A new industry was born--tanning salons and beauty parlors that specialised in spray on tans. A range of products : ones that prepared the skin, product applicators, ones that preserved the fake tan also grew.  So too has a new 'disease' tanorexia. "Snooki" summarises this new obsession best:  "You ask what I am, I am a tan". 

(I can't believe I have just quoted Snooki)

The Beach and Popular Culture Part 1 - The Bikini

With the summer fast approaching, I thought it worthwhile to consider part of our culture that is so endemic we probably don't even realise it is part of our popular culture:  a day at the beach.  For the next few weeks I want to consider some of the things we wear and what we do when we go to the beach.  So that next time you plonk yourself in the sand and smell coconut oil you are not only transported back in time but you are prompted to share some of your favourite beach memories here. 

The main components necessary for a trip to the beach include:

1. something to swim in - budgie smugglers for boys, bikinis for girls?  
2. hat- wide brim if you're a girl, terry towelling bucket cap if  you're a boy
3. pair of rubber thongs to protect feet from the hot sand
4. a decent pair of sunnies - style depends upon your vintage
5. a swipe of zinc to go on the nose - coloured only if you're a cricketer
6. a bottle of suntan lotion - possibly one with a coconut/tropical smell
7. towel - large and preferably covered with a lurid pattern and a fringe
8. beach bag - something for mum to fill and you to carry.... 
9. a beach umbrella - long spike that threatens impalement to anyone nearby 

 Today I want to consider number 1 - beach wear and specifically, the bikini. We have all seen photos like this that remind us that swimwear was woollen and cumbersome and somewhat foolish looking.  First invented by Jansen for the Olympics - before the swimsuit people bathed naked.  Though not together obviously (?).


Science and the Bikini - Bikiniology
In 1946, the modern bikini was unveiled by a French engineer named Louis Réard. His four pieces of triangular material (picture above) looks like it was made of cotton. Surely not woollen like the swimsuits of yore.  It didn't take off straight away - it needed a more elastic material to keep everything in place.  With the development of Lastex in 1925, material now had stretch;  Dupont's nylon was the next most important fabric (1938) followed by Spandex (aka Lycra) in 1958 According to Bikini Science website the bikini has been made of linen, rubber, silk, fur, leather and suede (a soft leather).  Clearly not everyone imagines that they will actually SWIM in these items of beachwear;  in fact surveys have shown that approximately 85% of bikinis are not worn in the water. 

The Bikini and Fame

Still it continued to increase in popularity and in size: starlet Brigette Bardot wore one on the beach in Cannes and attracted considerable media attention.  Marilyn Monroe's spotted bikini covers her navel; navel covering was very important in the USA -  in fact magazines airbrushed navels out of photo shoots. The famed "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" was released several years later (1960).  But perhaps the most celebrated bikini was the one worn in Dr No (1962)-- the white bikini (not a two piece) worn by Ursula Andress.  Later came Rachel Welch in One Million Years BC (1969). The bikini now had mainstream acceptance. On television the uptake of the bikini is less clear.  Gidget might have worn a two piece but in Baywatch female "lifeguards" wore one pieces. 

Moral Panic
As can be imagined not everyone warmed to Réard's swimsuit,  It has been banned in many countries and, the Catholic Church stepped in and decreed it immoral.  It is still banned in some American states.  But still not EVERYONE hated it .... Réard received more than 50,000 fan letters and launches an aggressive ad campaign saying it's not a real bikini "unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring."  GULP.

In Australia  that some people had the onerous job of "inspecting bikinis" (which also lead to a the "hilarious" bikini inpsector teeshirts) and any women wearing a bikini with a side of less than 10 cms could receive an on-the-spot fine. Here are the rules

The Local Government Act, Ordinance No. 52 (1935) set exact dimensions for swimming

costumes ... men’s and women's costumes must have legs at least 3" long, must completely cover the front of the body from a line at the level of the armpits to the waist, have shoulder straps or other means of keeping the costume in position. 

In 1945 an unnamed woman braved the Bondi promenade wearing a bikini in and according

to a Sunday Telegraph report in 1946 'caused a near riot'. Waverley Council Lifeguard (then

known as Beach Inspectors) Aub Laidlaw told her she was indecently attired and ordered her

to changing sheds at Bondi Pavilion with instructions to put on some more clothes.

She was later charged with offensive behaviour. Another newspaper report recounts this

same story but with this first bikini girl appearing on the beach in September 1946, yet

another newspaper report claims October that year with the girl in the bikini being mobbed by 'hundreds of young surfers'(http://www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/8666/BikiniArrestsBondiBeach.pdf). The ordinance was revoked in 1961.

The Bikini in Australia 

Gold Coast fashion designer Paula Stafford started making them after the war (for more read Bikini: The Paula Stafford Story) and made her name a designer.  In 1952 a woman wearing a Stafford bikini was asked to leave the beach.  However, it gained acceptance in Australia much more quickly than it did overseas. As a counterpoint to all this banning and measuring, the bikini was adopted by the Gold Coast in one of the most brilliant marketing campaigns ever.  The Meter Maids.  In 1965 the first meter maids - clad in gold lame bikinis and tiaras - trod the streets of Surfers Paradise plugging parking meters with coins.  These had been recently introduced and were not popular - they meant you couldn't go to the beach and enjoy a day in the sun.  So the Gold Coast City Council had meter maids plug a sixpence into the meter so you didn't receive a fine. Even  today, they will give you an extra ten minutes. 

Mankini

Since those heady days of banning - the bikini has become see through (tankini--does anyone esle remember Piz Buins's versions?), a monokini, and (gawdforbid), mankini.

It has declined in popularity because of sun cancer but recently has clawed its way back.   It isn't really practical as a swimming garment and so is often bought and not worn.  It remains one of the most popular pieces of swimwear in the world-- it evolves and changes but still retains a visceral hold in Australia. 

The Meaning of the Bikini

Culturally the bikin has become emblematic of liberation (women's) and as an icon of sexual freedom, increased awareness of body and body shape, and moral concerns.  As Olivier Saillard observed "The emancipation of swimwear has always been linked to the emancipation of women".  It is still largely the garment of choice for younger women or women with more socially acceptable bodies.  European women of all shapes and sizes however have no qualms with donning the bikini.

Monday is Wash Day

Washing, Wilma's Way

 If you want to know more about someone – ask them “How do you peg your washing on the line?”  You just might be surprised at the response!

As you know, I prefer the term everyday culture to popular culture – mainly because it best embraces social practices that we perform all the time but rarely consider as important.  Few things are more mundane or more universal than the washing or “laundry” (USA) – everyone does it (presumably) and yet how we do it demonstrates diversity across ages, gender, culture, and personality.

Lahey's Washing Day

Many years ago, Monday used to be Wash Day.  It was the day women boiled up the copper, stirred the boiling water with thick pieces of dowling, wrung things out by hand, hauled them outside in thick wicker baskets, and hung them out to dry on lines propped up by slats of wood.  Well that’s how I am told my granny did it and that’s the image that comes to my mind. Vida Lahey’s painting of a steamy room of concrete tubs and reddened women recalls those days.  Washing technology has changed considerably in the past one hundred years—well it has for Australians at least. 

Washing frequency – once a week.  Many people wash more frequently these days.  Thanks, to modern technology, more money, and to the changed conception of “cleanliness”.  Aided by a little subtle advertising that guilts us into thinking once we wear something, we must wash it.  Pity that doesn’t carry over to shoes (my pet peeve, unpolished shoes).

Soap Operas–washing powder (detergent powder USA) is, of course, slightly younger than the washing  But oh what power it holds.  As many people know soap operas are so called because they were sponsored by soap manufacturers – shows that, by and large, have a female viewership.  Clearly laundry was a gendered thing—most soap powder advertisements are still strongly female-centric.  When humour at the very least. Though in India washermen are common.  The history of the development of laundry detergents is fascinating but even more interesting is how different countries have their favourite soap powders.  Back in the 1950s Australia sold Persil, one of the first “activated” soap powders. but while it’s disappeared from Australia, it is still a best seller in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand. Online you can find expat Brits looking for their fave detergent online and recounting how they bring it back from the UK.   Tide is a best seller in the USA.  In the Soap Operas, Unilever has stopped producing their brands Persil, Skip, Via and Omo in North America. The Americans also prefer more highly fragranced detergents than some countries.  And if you want to get really eco-friendly why not try soapnuts.   Another favourite item in the Australian laundry was Reckitts blue—remember the little blue bags?  Probably the most hands on we get with our wash items is scrubbing them with pre-wash.  In fact prewash sprays are really recent inventions—wasn’t Preen the first of these in Australia? 

men do the washing, it is a cause for chaos or

machine.

Clean Machinery –the first question my mother-in-law asked before she came to visit was “do you have a washing machine?”  Owning a washing machine is the hallmark of civilisation;  in fact “every half hour 7 million people in the world wash their clothes with Unilever products, and 6 million of them do so by hand”.  From rocks on the river to washboards and paddles to coppers, then electrical items such as wringers (wringers in the UK) and now fully automated machinery.  Americans prefer top loads (horizontals in US speak) and the UK front loaders – Australia is in transition.  And yes size does matter – Japanese machines are smaller and of course more complicated – they even have cute jingles that announce the end of the wash.

Hot or cold – this has become quite a bone of contention.  Warm means a better wash, right?  But we still like warm.  I was surprised when my latest machine had only a COLD water hookup.  So that meant changing brands – another movement is the Dirt is Good marketing strategy.  The subtle message is that children as spending so much time inside that grass stains and the usual detris of outdoor playing is a thing of the past. 

The laundry room has a noticeable impact upon the architecture of our homes.  Washing is no longer performed virtually outdoors, today most laundries are inside the home. 

The Aussie Hills Hoist

Clothesline Culture – now comes one of the THE most telling things about someone.  How they deal with wet clothing.  Some people put them into the dryer. The fact that they are dry enough to go into a dryer tells how much work the washing machine does.  The dryer – a smaller lighter machine was one the provenance of the rich – it uses a fair bit of power.  For those who take their clothes outside – there is a plethora of clothes lines.  Now Australia’s Hills Hoist is an iconic backyard item and has been used to effect in moves such as Muriel’s Wedding and Strictly Ballroom.  Prior your granny probably had a clothes line that was horizontal and propped up by a piece of wood.  The prop often was bought from a travelling salesmen – what ever happened to those?  Once upon a time the backyard was a place for the clothesline and the incinerator – because of the washday rules, there was a ban on burning on a Monday—so the smoke smell wouldn’t permeate the clothes on the line. The modern yard that isn’t big enough to swing a Hills Hoist (the greatest play item in a backyard) and so came the parallel lines  

that can be let down to make more yard space.

So many different pegs

Now here comes the crucial part of the whole washing process – how do you peg your clothes? You will be surprised at how “personal” pegging clothes is.  Wooden pegs or plastic. If you have plastic, do you use the same colour on each garment;  do you use the same colour on each line?  Do you peg on the first notch or not?  Do you eschew pegs and just chuck them over the line?  

Organisation – do you put your lingerie on the inside, away from prying eyes?  Do you put all the same colours together?  So you put all the same type of garments together ie towels, jeans etc.  Do you pin shirts on bottom, on side or at shoulder?  The varieties are endless and many a fight can ensue about which is the most appropriate method.

All of these seemingly trivial things demonstrate changes in technology (plastics of the 20^th century), gender (do men peg differently? ), culture (using a dryer rather than fresh air) and economics (having someone else do your laundry).

Global Washing Culture  - We are familiar with shots of Indian women on the banks of the Ganges, but even more subtle differences exist in Western/Modern culture.  The UK preference was for Laundromats when I lived there;  the wet climate and crowded urban spaces meant inside airing cupboards and contraptions that could barely hold underwear let alone sheets and towels. In the USA, nearly everyone uses dryers – even in places where sunshine is plentiful.  They also have a whole range of ‘dryer’ sheets that make clothes smellier and softer.  (I kinda miss dryer sheets as they have a number of other uses).  Generally the USA wash involves larger loads, more products and dryers. For the rest of the world, the variety of ways to wash and hang clothes are plentiful.  For some great images visit this site.  I would love to write a book about washing culture -- there is a book Fine Lines that celebrates the washing line.  

Italian Style

Don't even get me started on Ironing.

Laundry Trivia

It was the primary household responsibility of 76% of women and 24% of men in a 2007 Whirlpool survey of 2,500 consumers; some 78% of those surveyed do approximately nine loads of laundry each week. The equivalent of 1,100 washloads are started every second of every day, P&G  claims.

The largest outdoor laundry, Dhobi Ghat, can be found in Mumbai, India. Dhobis (washer men) and their families start their business early in the morning. The laundries are row upon row of concrete wash pens each with its own flogging stone. The clothes are dipped in lathery water, then hammered on the flogging stones and then dried on clotheslines. The next day, the clothes are neatly pressed and delivered to the respective owners. The dhobis are specialized in laundry only. They have agents who gather and deliver the clothes to customers.

If you dream that you are doing your laundry, it suggests that you are cleaning up your act or changing your image because you are concerned about how you appear to others. If you dream that you are having someone else do your laundry, you've been gossiping. Someone's dirty laundry is out there. If you dream about sorting the laundry, it indicates that you are trying to understand your own feelings and sorting out your attitudes.

The Thor was the first electric-powered washing machine. Introduced in 1908 by the Hurley Machine Company of Chicago, Illinois, the Thor washing machine was invented Alva J. Fisher. The Thor was a drum type washing machine with a galvanized tub and an electric motor. A patent was issued on August 9th 1910.

For more information on the history of laundry please visit

http://www.oldandinteresting.com/history-of-laundry.aspx