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The Guardian
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style review – lidos, Speedos and atomic bombs
At the end of Splash!, the Design Museum's new exhibition on 'a century of swimming and style', there's a film about the haenyeo – women on the South Korean island of Jeju who for centuries have been diving for seafood and seaweed at depths up to 20 metres, holding their breath for up to three minutes, in almost all temperatures. It is seen through the eyes of a diver who has decided to follow her mother into this arduous and dangerous work because, she says, 'if you dive you don't feel depressed… There's no time to overthink everything.' It's an arresting 11 minutes of footage, giving a powerful sense of what is to be in water, the more so because it follows a jaunty parade of folly and fun, as well as some courage and some creepiness. The show is curated by Amber Butchart, the dress and design historian, who was raised in the Suffolk coastal town of Lowestoft and now lives in Margate, and who is best known for her appearances on BBC One's The Great British Sewing Bee, along with Tiya Dahyabhai of the Design Museum. Splash! aims to explore 'swimming's role in modern life' from the 1920s, when beach holidays and their associated outfits became more about active swimming than about passive bathing, to the present day. It's a big subject that can and does include a wide range of themes and exhibits. A poster by David Hockney uses his love of water pool patterns to promote the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. There's a model of the swoopy roofed Aquatics Centre that Zaha Hadid designed for the 2012 London Games; also a pair of diver Tom Daley's trunks and a jumper from the range he started producing after taking up knitting to relieve stress. A section on the design of lidos focuses on the triangular Jubilee Pool in Penzance, built in the 1930s and triumphantly brought back from dereliction and storm damage by a community-led effort. Butchart and her team want to explore the cultural and social aspects of swimming, including their dark sides, so they touch on the exclusion of Jews from swimming spots by the Nazis, and of Black Americans by segregation. There are copies of The Young Physique magazine from 1961 and 1962 – wonderfully blatant examples of gay soft porn masquerading as features about swimwear at a time when homosexuality was illegal. The exhibition talks about the links between sport and entertainment, such that the Olympic champion Johnny Weissmuller could become the star of the Tarzan movies. There's a pause for reflection on the bizarre psychology behind the naming of the bikini in 1946 by French fashion designer Louis Réard, after the Pacific island that was forcibly depopulated and then devastated by a nuclear bomb test. There is also the less famous Atome two-piece designed by Jacques Heim, also French, in the same year, a matter of months after the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The idea, says Butchart, was that it would be small like an atom but explosive in impact. 'It now seems incredibly bad taste,' she says. It's a show that is pleasingly unafraid to be thought woke. It includes designs for non-binary and disabled people; swimwear for anyone with unilateral mastectomy; and a one-piece by the Indigenous Australian designer Liandra Gaykamangu, inspired by her cultures and by 'the natural world'. The exhibition plinths are made of recycled and recyclable materials. Another film, Beyond the Blue, describes the efforts of an inner-city club, Swim Dem Crew, to overcome the low rates of involvement in swimming by people of colour. Most of all there's swimwear, displayed on mannequins and in cases around the exhibition. An unglamorous item in black and grey, with Margate Corporation emblazoned across its chest, baggy to suit different sizes, turns out to be a rental swimming costume from the 1920s. A section describes the evolution of Speedo briefs from the 1960s to the present. There's a red one-piece, possibly overhyped in the Design Museum's advance publicity, worn by Pamela Anderson in Baywatch. So the show is an engaging array of things to do with swimming, with revelations and surprises. It's presented with a bright and seasidey installation in blue and orange by ScottWhitbyStudio, the architecture firm that led the restoration of the Penzance pool, thematically divided into three locations of swimming – the indoor pool, lido and nature. The exhibition doesn't entirely overcome the pitfalls that go with such a broad sweep, which is that its exploration of some of the many big subjects it takes on can be (forgive me) shallow. And with due allowance for the fact that your architecture critic is not really the target audience for a show about briefs and bikinis, I'm not sure that they make the most compelling exhibits. Much swimwear, being designed to expose much of its wearer's body, can look paltry on its own. For these reasons, the most appealing items of clothing are those not directly designed for swimming but associated with it, such as a pair of silk beach pyjamas from the 1930s, with a bold deco pattern of red-edged black discs on white. It would have been good to see more pieces such as the show's first exhibit – a big, bold poster for the London and North Eastern Railway from the 1920s, which, with colours worthy of Matisse, sells the east coast as 'the drier side of Britain'. Or a fuller exploration of the world's many beautiful lidos and tidal pools. You want to be immersed in the subject, which is why the deep dive of the Korean film is such a welcome ending. Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style is at the Design Museum, London, until 17 August
South China Morning Post
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Bikinis, Speedo briefs, that Baywatch bathing suit in showcase of swimwear and swimming
A new exhibition dedicated to all things swimming has opened at London's Design Museum. It features everything from an Olympic gold medal to the red bathing suit Pamela Anderson wore in Baywatch. Advertisement 'Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style' features more than 200 items that look at our love of water since the 1920s, be it at the lido, the pool or in nature. 'The show explores the last century of swimming through the lens of design,' Amber Butchart, guest curator of the exhibition, said. 'We begin in the pool, we move into lidos, and then we end in nature and each of those sections allows us to explore different themes, whether it is materials and making, whether it is the … evolution of swimwear as a fashion object , or whether it is swimming in outdoor spaces and the architecture that allows access for that.' Swimsuits on display at the exhibition, which looks at swimwear and swimming through the decades. Photo: Reuters The red bathing suit Pamela Anderson wore in Baywatch on display at the exhibition. Photo: Reuters
Reuters
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Reuters
Splash! New London exhibition dives into a century of swimming
LONDON, March 26 (Reuters) - From an Olympic gold medal to Pamela Anderson's "Baywatch" red bathing suit, a new exhibition dedicated to all things swimming opens at London's Design Museum this week. "Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style" features more than 200 items that look at our love of water since the 1920s, be it at the lido, the pool or in nature. 'The show explores the last century of swimming through the lens of design," Amber Butchart, guest curator of the exhibition, told Reuters at a press preview on Wednesday. "We begin in the pool, we move into lido, and then we end in nature and each of those sections allows us to explore different themes, whether it's materials and making, whether it is the... evolution of swimwear as a fashion object, or whether it is swimming in outdoor spaces and the architecture that allows access for that." A variety of colourful swimwear from various decades takes centre stage, including a 1950s bikini and a selection of 1980s Speedo briefs alongside an edition of the famed red suit Anderson wore to play lifeguard C.J. Parker in "Baywatch" in the 1990s. Items date from a 1920s example of rental swimwear to more contemporary and adaptive designs. Also on show are various items belonging to Olympians - including the first Olympic solo swimming gold medal won by a British woman as well as diver Tom Daley's Team GB trunks. "Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style" runs from March 28 until August 17.
The Guardian
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
London's Design Museum takes a deep dive into our love affair with swimming
'The first thing to say is that I'm a terrible swimmer,' says Amber Butchart, curator of a new exhibition on swimming that opens at the Design Museum in London this week. Growing up, school swimming lessons were 'horrible, traumatic' – the cold water, the humiliation, the scrutiny from teenage boys. But something shifted when she moved to Margate 10 years ago and discovered the joy of swimming in the resort's huge tidal pool, which was built in the 1930s. 'This sounds quite pretentious, but it's this idea of becoming one with the horizon,' says Butchart. 'It's almost like an existential feeling of the vastness of the world and being physically a part of that when you're immersed in water. It's transformational.' The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style explores our enduring love affair with swimming, from Britain's lido boom of the 1920s and 30s to the Mermaidcore trend which has been all over TikTok in recent years. Among the 200 exhibits are the first Olympic solo swimming gold medal won by a British woman, a selection of men's Speedos from the 1980s and the iconic red swimsuit worn by Pamela Anderson in Baywatch. Though the exhibition tells the story of swimming through the lens of design and fashion, Butchart was keen to avoid the kitschy stereotypes of 'bathing beauties' that often accompany the theme, and to take a deeper dive into the politics of the swimming pool. 'It's transformational.' Amber Butchart photographed at the Walpole Bay Tidal Pool in Margate. Photograph: Alun Callender 'Obviously it's a show about design and architecture and fashion, but there are so many social histories, and also wider global histories, that I wanted to try to get in as well, because this idea of outdoor swimming, the sea as redemptive, this is not the case for everyone. There are many communities in Britain that aren't taught to swim for various reasons. And I'm in Kent, where we have people crossing [the Channel] in small boats which is this enormous tragedy. The sea is not a sanctuary for everyone.' Butchart first had the idea for the exhibition during the pandemic, when indoor pools were closed and her daily swims in the sea became a ritual to be cherished, something 'life affirming'. Margate was one of the first British resorts to promote sea bathing as a health cure in the 1700s, so it seems fitting that this is where the story begins. The oldest item on display is a knitted municipal bathing costume that would have been rented to swimmers by the Margate Corporation (the logo is fetchingly stamped on the front) in the 1920s. 'What swimwear does is it allows access to public space,' says Butchart. 'You can't go swimming in a public space if you don't have a swimsuit. So it's immediately getting into those questions of who has access and who is not given access.' Clockwise from top left: The iconic red swimsuit worn by Pamela Anderson in Baywatch; Rebirth swimwear designed for non-binary and gender non-conforming people; a 1920s Margate Corporation bathing costume; Olympic swimmer Alice Dearing wearing a Soul Cap swim cap. Photographs: Zuma Press/Alamy; Colectivo Multipolar; Luke Hayes/Design Museum; Soul Cap Butchart, a fashion historian who began her career working in a vintage clothing store, says she has an abiding love for 1950s swimwear, but adds: 'I was very aware that so many stories about swimwear in the past promoted particular types of bodies and excluded other types of bodies. So, I wanted to make this a much more expansive show.' One of the items on display is the swimsuit worn by Alice Dearing at the Tokyo Olympics. Dearing was the first black woman to represent Team GB in an Olympic swimming event and co-founder of the Black Swimming Association. In 2022 she collaborated with Soul Cap, a company that creates swim caps for people with afro hair, locs and braids. The caps were banned from the Olympics in 2021 by the International Swimming Federation on the basis that they didn't follow the 'natural form of the head'. The decision was reversed the following year. As well as examining the social and cultural history of swimming, the exhibition will showcase contemporary designers and architects who are coming up with solutions to improve access to swimming spaces, whether it be the UK's first beach huts purpose-built for people with disabilities in Boscombe, or a range of swimwear for non-binary, trans and gender non-conforming people. There will also be a short film from Subversive Sirens, a Minnesota-based synchronised swimming team whose mission statement is 'black liberation, equity in swimming, radical body acceptance and queer visibility'. Accessible beach huts in Boscombe, designed by ABIR Architects. Photograph: ABIR Architects Not only does the exhibition look at what we wear in the water, but it also charts the rise of the seaside as a place for showing off the latest fashions – the pier and the promenade doubling up as an outdoor catwalk. 'One of the things I love about living at the seaside is that people take more risks with what they're wearing,' says Butchart. 'The sartorial rules can be broken.' One of her favourite items on display is a pair of 1930s 'beach pyjamas'. Pioneered by Coco Chanel, this trend flourished in fashionable French resorts such as Juan-les-Pins and Deauville, eventually making its way across the Channel. 'It was the first time women were really allowed to wear trousers in public for the first time,' says Butchart. The rise of beachwear coincided with the golden age of lido building, with art deco wonders such as the Jubilee Pool in Penzance popping up in coastal locations around the UK. The magnificent pool – the largest surviving saltwater lido in the country – reopened in 2016 following an extensive community campaign. Many of our public baths and lidos have not been so fortunate. The art deco Jubilee Pool in Penzance, the largest saltwater lido in the UK. The timeline of the exhibition plots the rise of overseas package holidays, the ensuing decline of many British seaside resorts, and the environmental issues facing open water swimmers today. And while the solutions to some problems belong firmly in the 21st century – the ongoing search for alternatives to fossil fuel-derived synthetics for manufacturing swimwear, for example – for others, we must look to the past. Butchart believes that the connection between the seaside and wellbeing that made resorts such as Margate, Brighton and Scarborough fashionable in the 1800s could prove to be their salvation. She points to an initiative in her adopted home town of Margate – a free community beach sauna in a recreated Victorian bathing machine – as a perfect example of a 'full circle moment'. From the golden age of lidos to sewage in our seas, kiss-me-quick to queer visibility, the scope of the exhibition is as expansive as those horizon views from the Margate tidal pool. Butchart hopes that visitors will find it thought-provoking. But most of all, she hopes it will inspire them: 'If people leave the exhibition thinking 'I just really want to go for a swim', that would be lovely.' Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style is at the Design Museum from 28 March until 17 August
The Guardian
24-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Protests, prayers and pagoda statues: photos of the day
Officials check the blooming status of the Somei Yoshino specimen cherry blossom tree at the Yasukuni shrine Photograph: AP Guest curator Amber Butchart adjusts a display at an exhibition of swimwear and other swimming-related items at the Design Museum Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Gérard Depardieu arrives at court for the first day of his trial on sexual assault allegations Photograph: Benoît Tessier/Reuters Andrew Tate walks through a media scrum after checking in at a police station as part of his judicial control Photograph: Vadim Ghirdă/AP Smoke rises from the Kavkazskaya depot after a Ukrainian drone strike Photograph: 2025 Planet Labs PBC/Reuters Keir Starmer visits a car repair workshop Photograph: Chris Radburn/Reuters Migrants deported from the US arrive at the city's airport Photograph: Leonardo Fernández Viloria/Reuters Activists clash with police during a protest Photograph:A woman walks through debris at the site of a US airstrike Photograph: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters A group of men carry the body of Ismail Barhoum, a member of Hamas' political bureau who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Nasser hospital Photograph: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Ambulance personnel carry the body of an assailant from the scene of an attack 20 miles (30 kilometres) south-east of Haifa Photograph: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images People walk along the Neva River embankment Photograph: Anatoly Maltsev/EPA The Conservative party leader, Pierre Poilievre, and his wife, Anaida, hold their children at an election campaign event Photograph: Arlyn McAdorey/Reuters Lufthansa's CEO, Carsten Spohr, pays his respects at the town's cemetery on the 10th anniversary on the Germanwings plane crash Photograph: Laurent Cipriani/AP A wildfire burns for a third day in North Gyeongsang province Photograph: Yonhap/EPA Smoke rises from wildfire on a mountain ridge Photograph: AP A boy walks past statues of Buddhist monks at the Trapeang Thma pagoda Photograph: Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images Muslims perform late-night prayers at the Grand Mosque Photograph: Saudi Press Agency/Reuters A crescent moon rises above Zaniary Tower, the highest point in the city Photograph: Ahsan Mohammed Ahmed/Anadolu/Getty Images
