it’s been a long while since i’ve shared some real vintage inspiration, so today i thought i’d share some vintage photos that recently caught my eye. i found them while editing posts for the modcloth tumblr at work; they’d been added to the queue by my coworker julie (you may know her from orchid grey)! i clicked-through and became instantly fascinated by these dreamy photos of women who i do no know, snapped by amateur photographer and indiana university alumnus charles w. cushman. apparently the university now has a collection of 14,500 of his kodachrome color slides dating from 1938 – 1969. i’d seen some photos from this collection floating around the web before, but something about these haunting images really struck a chord. i do admit that it feels a bit voyeuristic to be looking at ladies in their swimsuits, but something about the personal nature of them really feels like you could almost be there, experiencing a day at the beach in another time and place. but mostly i just wish they still made suits like that!
33 comments
love these pictures! esp the high waist shorts!
love these! i always get so much inspiration from vintage photos!
nataliya
i did a post with some of these awhile back. there are a few I haven’t seen! fabulous!
love the little radio in the background!
also, that last photo i had stumbled upon on tumblr before… and it reminded me so much of something i couldn’t put my finger on. eventually i realized i had purchased a postcard that is exactly traced from that photograph! by caitlin holcomb: http://www.niceetc.com/portfolio/prints-postcards/
inspiring retro beach wear!
Bises,
monkeyshines
Great inspirational pictures!
Beautiful photos!
These are so gorgeous; I love looking at old photographs like these. Thanks for sharing!
Im completely obsessed with vintage bathing suits and these photos just make them all the more inspiring!
xx
Caitie @ Thrifted & Modern
so pretty!
I love how these pictures feel so real and intimate! Thanks for sharing! I hope you’re feeling better and totally recovered from the kidney infection!
gorgeous! vintage suits are so amazing! xx
i love these photos! it would be amazing if bathing suits still looked like that!
Love this post! Gorgeous shots!
GTBB,
Bad Joan
These photos are great! I love the styles.
Couldn’t agree more, I wish they still made bathing suits as beautiful and feminine as they looked in the past. But I have to say, something happened I think, this year I have seen a lot more retro inspiration in swimwear brands than it was last summer! Maybe all our vintage themed posts are to ‘blame’ for that ;) Yay!
Ale
x
AH! I love these too! Really love the girl laying out with her cig.
xo
cortnie
I love these. I do agree, sometimes I wish that we could go back in time and be as put together and glamorous as these ladies, wearing their gorgeous suits!
oh, wow. These are so great. Thanks for sharing!
There’s something demure yet realistic about these photos. I like how they’re not too posy. I kind of want to make an adventure to that university and see the rest of his photographs!
These pictures are wonderful!
xoxo
this is just amazing!! IN LOVE :)
xx
love these photos! great post! xo
man, I love vintage bathing suits… all the ladies look so classy in these!
xxx
I wish bathing suits like these were still made as well. Plus, what I find interesting is that there seemed to be more different styles available then while today, you can generally only choose off very small variations. Have you noticed the little loops at the back of the plaid suit in the last photo? I’m pretty sure they’re meant for tying the straps in different manners (or that’s what I’d use them for if I had that suit hehe), so cool!
I agree about the style of the suits…I love the knit yellow one, very cute!
The first & fourth one are AMAZING!
These pictures are so beautiful! What I find cool is that I’m pretty sure, just from the background, that these very taken at Promontory Point on the south side of Chicago near the University of Chicago! I have spent many a weekend afternoon in grad school on those same rocks!
These are amazing!
Hi Erin,
i know i’m in a bit of a delay :) but i thought you might like this: http://www.gal-angel.com/
very talented bathing suit designer. very vintage inspired.
i own a few of them myself and they’re amazing
Moriah
Oh wow, what fantastic photos! And I concur with all the above comments, in that I too adore vintage style bathing costumes.
I also love how real these women look.
these cushman photo’s are extraordinary, because they are such candid counterpoints to the dominant archives of that time – fashion photography & hollywood. it may just be the unexpected kodachrome color, but cushmans bathing women so clearly indicate that these young women – who may be your grand or great grand mother – were in their day vibrant, sexy & real. it just comes as a complete window through time, that singularly cuts through the fashion/ hollywood version of that time.