Annette Kellerman

…swimmer, vaudeville, and movie star Annette Kellerman epitomized the physical culture ideal. Beginning about 1905 Kellerman gained publicity for completing long-distance swims down the Thames, Seine, and Danube rivers and for attempting to cross the English Channel. She also introduced the one-piece bathing suit at a beach near Boston. Although…

As early as 1900 Annette Kellerman, an Australian swimmer, wore a loose, one-piece wool bathing suit that by about 1910 became generally acceptable for the public. A clinging one-piece swimsuit for women was introduced in France after World War I, and other swimsuit accessories were abandoned.