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A major exhibition celebrating a century of aquatics - covering sports performance, architecture and fashion - is to be held at London's Design Museum from 28th March to 17th August.
Across three sections that reflect the three locations in which people swim - the pool, the lido (outdoor pool) and in nature - the exhibition, Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style, will dive into design’s role in shaping the British public’s relationship with swimming, both in the water and beside it.
The exhibition’s story will begin in the 1920s, when swimwear began to be marketed for swimming rather than the Victorian’s preference for bathing, and when beach holidays exploded in popularity. It will explore right up to the present day, and swimming’s role in modern life and how it influences and subverts ideas of body autonomy and agency, as well as its link to environmental issues.
It will feature over 200 objects, collectively exploring swimming’s evolution in its social, cultural, technological and environmental contexts, including Pamela Anderson's sensational Baywatch swimsuit, the first Olympic solo swimming gold medal won by a British woman, and a selection of eye-catching men’s Speedos from the 1980s.
Other objects on view will be the banned ‘technical doping’ LZR Racer swimsuit, one of the earliest surviving examples of a bikini, and a detailed architectural model of the Zaha Hadid-designed London 2012 Aquatics Centre.
Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style is guest-curated by Amber Butchart, a dress and design historian and broadcaster known for her history segments on the BBC’s The Great British Sewing Bee.
London's Design Museum is sited in the former home of the Commonwealth Institute on Kensington High Street.
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Image: The Zaha Hadid-designed London 2012 Aquatics Centre. Credit: Shutterstock.
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