History: Retro Swimsuit

A swimsuit, bathing suit, or swimming costume is an item of clothing designed to be worn while participating in water sports and activities such as swimming, water polo,diving, surfing, water skiing, or for any activity in the sun, such as sun bathing. It is also used as an undergarment in sports that require a wetsuit such as waterskiing, scuba diving, surfing, and wakeboarding. In New Zealand English and some areas of Australian English, swimsuits are usually called togs or bathers. They are less commonly called "cossies". The term "togs" is less common in other parts of the Commonwealth, where it can also refer to clothes in general.
In Classical antiquity swimming and bathing was most often done nude. In some settings coverings were used. Murals at Pompeii show women wearing two-piece suits covering the areas around their breasts and hips in a fashion remarkably similar to a bikini of ca. 1960. After this, the notion of special water apparel seems to have been lost for centuries. In various cultural traditions one swims, if not in the nude, in a version in suitable material of a garment or undergarment commonly worn on land, e.g. a loincloth such as the Japanese man's fundoshi.