Month: July 2016

Venus Rises from the Sea, Wearing Eight Yards of Wet Flannel

Venus Rises from the Sea, Wearing Eight Yards of Wet Flannel

It’s summer in Philadelphia!

You might try to make the best of it at home.

But why not enjoy sea-bathing at the New Jersey shore, only two hours from Philadelphia?

What was a seaside, by the way? I could not find any images, but it was clearly something like a parasol. And what did these early bathing costumes look like?

The owner of the striking Grecian ensemble might have preferred to be seen rather than submerged. But how many of those little hats and sandals―and waterlogged women―were swept out to sea?