REPORT Industrial rubber
Yona Lesger is Hat Industry & Headwear Curator for the Culture Trust, which includes Wardown House Museum in Luton, the industrial English town once famous for its straw hat production. Yona says that swimming caps (also known as swim caps or bathing caps) were first developed in the late 1800s: “Swimming as a sport or pastime first gained popularity during the early 19th century. However, rather than putting on specialist bathing caps, women simply wore the same sorts of hats or bonnets that they used every day. That all changed with the invention of a new technique in the production of rubber in 1883, when a new kind of hat – a swimming cap – was developed which was far more practical and sanitary. The popularity of permanent waves in the 1920s led to an explosion in demand for swimming caps which protected these expensive hairstyles by keeping the hair dry.” During the 1940s, when rubber became
essential to the war effort, latex was more commonly used for swimming hats. But by the 1950s, rubber hats were back with a vengeance, often extravagantly decorated with flowers and other adornments. “Much like the wide, fabric-rich skirts of the late 1940s to 1950s, the elaborate ornaments on swimming caps may have been a response to the material restrictions and demure lines of wartime fashion,” says Yona. “Until the mid to late 1960s, caps were also mandatory in public swimming pools, so this further encouraged bold designs to ensure women could be as fashionable inside the pool as they were out of it.” Amongst the many hundreds of hats and headpieces in its collection, Wardown House has two interesting examples of 1960s swimming caps (pictured). Both were produced by a company called Kleinert’s, which was founded in New York in 1869 and is still going strong today. However, whilst
The bright pink swimming cap from Wardown House is featured in the headwear exhibition ‘Hats Made Me’, which opened in April 2023
in Luton
one of the swimming hats looks as we might expect it to be, the other one certainly does not! “With a ‘Magic Inner Rim’, the ‘Sava-Wave’ line promised to keep your expensive permanent wave dry and safe,” explains Yona. “The pink floral design was one of many swimming caps of this sort of style during the mid-20th century. At
first glance, the other cap may look like a wig;
but the rubber base confirms that this was in fact designed for swimming – enabling the wearer to create the appearance of a perfect hair- do in the water!”
More information Wardown House Museum, Luton
www.culturetrust.com/ venues/wardown-house- museum-gallery
Vintage
Ian Drummond, who is based in Toronto, Canada, runs his own vintage clothing business, and supplies the theatre and film industries with original pieces. He says that vintage bathing caps are becoming much harder to find as the rubber components are often badly affected by water, salt and chlorine. Nonetheless, he owns some incredible examples and sees it as his duty to look after them. “I feel like a rescuer, that's for sure,” says Ian. “There are some things you just can’t
>> may 2023 | 43
LTNMG - 1980/264 © Culture Trust Luton & Phil Giles
G1433K © Luton News & Culture Trust Luton
LTNMG - 1980/265
© Culture Trust Luton & Phil Giles
Photo by Kristine Schmitt
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