- Title
- Woman's Swimsuit
- Date Made
- 1950-1951
- Medium
- Lurex and lastex knit (lamé)
- Dimensions
- Center back length: 15 1/2 in. (39.37 cm)
- Accession Number
- AC1998.117.9
- Collecting Area
- Costume and Textiles
- Curatorial Notes
Hollywood glamour was distilled, translated, and transmitted in swimsuits such as this glittering lamé example, which was probably made as a promotion for Million Dollar Mermaid, starring cinema’s aquatic icon Esther Williams. Mutually beneficial relationships between movie stars and swimwear companies such as Cole of California and Catalina (the latter sponsored the Miss America pageants) emerged in the late 1920s and were instrumental in perpetuating the world’s perception of Hollywood as the epicenter of fame, sex, and stupendous wealth.
(California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way," 2011-12)
- Selected 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.
- Selected Exhibition History
- California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way". October 1, 2011 - June 3, 2012
- California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way". March 20, 2013 - June 3, 2013
- California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way". July 6, 2013 - September 29, 2013
- California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way". November 2, 2013 - February 9, 2014
- California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way". March 29, 2014 - July 6, 2014
- Copyright
- © Margit Fellegi Estate. Reproduced with permission of The Warnaco Group, Inc. All rights reserved. For Authentic Fitness Corp., Cole of California
