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Story: Beach culture

1940s bathing costumes

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1940s bathing costumes

By the 1940s, V-necks had become fashionable, the suits only extended to the top of the thigh, and new elastic materials hugged the body, as in this advertisement for Jantzen suits.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: 1/2-036937; F

by Gordon Burt

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Jock Phillips, Beach culture – Beach culture, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/9119/1940s-bathing-costumes (accessed 25 June 2026).

Story by Jock Phillips, published 2 March 2009.