Woman's Swimsuit, 'Swoon Suit'

Views 1 2 3 4
© Margit Fellegi Estate. Reproduced with permission of The Warnaco Group, Inc. All rights reserved. For Authentic Fitness Corp., Cole of California
My gallery Comment Tag Order Photography*
© Margit Fellegi Estate. Reproduced with permission of The Warnaco Group, Inc. All rights reserved. For Authentic Fitness Corp., Cole of California
My gallery Comment Tag Order Photography*
© Margit Fellegi Estate. Reproduced with permission of The Warnaco Group, Inc. All rights reserved. For Authentic Fitness Corp., Cole of California
My gallery Comment Tag Order Photography*
© Margit Fellegi Estate. Reproduced with permission of The Warnaco Group, Inc. All rights reserved. For Authentic Fitness Corp., Cole of California
My gallery Comment Tag Order Photography*
View comments
No comments have been posted yet.
Add a comment
Please log in to add comments.
Enter your LACMA Collections username.
Enter the password that accompanies your username.
New to our collections website? Sign up to create an account and start saving your favorites. Please note that this account is not the same as the MyLACMA account you may have for ticketing and membership transactions.
Current tags
This item has not been tagged yet.
Please log in to add tags.
Enter your LACMA Collections username.
Enter the password that accompanies your username.
New to our collections website? Sign up to create an account and start saving your favorites. Please note that this account is not the same as the MyLACMA account you may have for ticketing and membership transactions.
* Nearly 20,000 images of artworks the museum believes to be in the public domain are available to download on this site. Other images may be protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. By using any of these images you agree to LACMA's Terms of Use.

Woman's Swimsuit, 'Swoon Suit'

United States, California, 1942
Costumes; principal attire (entire body)
Acetate satin
Center front length (Top): 3 1/2 in. (8.89 cm) Center back length (Bottom): 14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm)
Gift of the artist (M.74.76.7a-b)
Costume and Textiles
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

To conform to federal government restrictions on rubber consumption during World War II, the Swoon Suit—so named to suggest the appropriate male reaction to a woman wearing it—was designed to fit the ...
To conform to federal government restrictions on rubber consumption during World War II, the Swoon Suit—so named to suggest the appropriate male reaction to a woman wearing it—was designed to fit the figure with adjustable ties and side laces without using elastic. Cole of California’s factories manufactured parachutes for soldiers as well as making swimwear, and the firm advertised its patriotic response to wartime necessity in trade and popular magazines. This swimsuit’s most popular color was “Parachute White.”

(California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way," 2011-12)
More...

Bibliography

  • Kaplan, Wendy, ed. California Design, 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way. Los Angeles: Los  Angeles County Museum of Art; Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2011.
  • Kaplan, Wendy, ed. Living in a Modern Way: California Design, 1930-1965.  Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2013. 

Exhibition history

  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, October 1, 2011 - June 3, 2012
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Tokyo, Japan, The National Art Center, Tokyo, March 20, 2013 - June 3, 2013
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, October 1, 2011 - June 3, 2012
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Tokyo, Japan, The National Art Center, Tokyo, March 20, 2013 - June 3, 2013
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Auckland, New Zealand, Auckland Art Gallery, July 6, 2013 - September 29, 2013
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" South Brisbane, Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, November 2, 2013 - February 9, 2014
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Salem, MA, Peabody Essex Museum, March 29, 2014 - July 6, 2014
More...