Black wool Jantzen swimsuit - 1920s or 1930s?

TinTrunk

TinTrunk

Registered Guest
I know there's some real swimsuit experts here, so here goes!

This black wool swimsuit in my collection was made by Jantzen in England. It has very long shoulder straps that tie at the back through plastic rings (sorry, in my terrible photos this doesn't show up well):

Jantzen_frntbk_600.jpg


The Jantzen diving girl on the front looks a little different to the ones I've checked online because there's a white band on her swimming cap:

Jantzen_logo_600.jpg


Perhaps the English Jantzen's had slight differences in their 'diving girls'?

And here's the label which was inside one of the shoulder straps:

Jantzen_lbl_tightcr_600.jpg


I have checked the label resource, and the Jantzen site, plus some other Googled sources and not found one exactly like it (yet!) I'm thinking late 1920s or early 1930s - any ideas? :help:
 
Thanks Sarah! It was a gift from my mum when she closed her vintage clothes shop. Definitely a keeper! :spin:
 
Hi Sarah :hiya: Great costume and love the diving girl with her cute bob! Looks early 30's to me but I'm sure other members will be able to clarify. :)
 
Yoohoo, Louise! :hiya:

I reckon its a bit early for the American swimsuit experts at VFG! There were some really great, and informative results from both fuzzylizzie and glamoursurf in my Google quest, so I'm hoping they will weigh in sometime later, fingers crossed!
 
Oops - I meant a bit early in the day, given the time difference!

Not that the costume is a bit early! :embaressed:
 
I would date the costume as '30s or '40s but wonder if there is any detailing (eg, gathering under the bust)? It's a little hard to tell because of the black.

Your bathing lady looks similar to the one posted on the label resource by glamoursurf as "'30s-40s" too, although that one is too small to see the detailing, you can see that she has "Jantzen" written along her bathing suit.

Jantzen seem to have a lot of labels - I've found several in Australia that are all slightly different but comparing the diving ladies seems to be a fairly good guide. Perhaps submit yours to the LR too?

Nicole
 
Thanks Nicole!

Here's another (bad!) shot of the front which I've lightened up a bit:

Jantzen_frnt_600.jpg


The bust area bags out terribly!

And I've got a 200 pixel version ready to submit to the label thread once we've nailed the date :)
 
I should add that the hips were incredibly narrow and I really struggled to get the swimsuit onto my mannequin, whose hips measure a skimpy 34½ inches. If the hip area has shrunk, the rest of the swimsuit doesn't seem to have!

I'm just thinking of the slinky, narrow hip look preferred in the 30s, as demonstrated by this 1936 Maggy Rouff ad I posted in the vintage ads forum:

http://www.vintagefashionguild.org/forums/viewthread.php?tid=62996

I was told it was a 1920s swimsuit, but the ambiguous logo seems to throw that in doubt!
 
Thanks for pitching in, FuzzyLizzie!

Split the difference? Early to mid 1930s?! ;)

Either that or the English branch of Jantzen might have been using a slightly outdated logo, which is entirely possible don't you think?

I will submit the label to the label resource thread now with a broad date estimate of the 1930s. I don't think there's any English Jantzen examples on the label resource, but I could so easily be wrong!
 
Oooh, I missed your post, Pam! I take so long composing my thoughtful and well-considered postings ;)

Big thanks! I'm off to the label thread right now!
 
Wow, that swimsuit is so similar from the front! It has the same triangular detail on the straps, but has cream straps, and the back is completely different. Thanks for that great link! :USETHUMBUP:

That's a great resource at the Powerhouse Museum, but I was surprised at how small and low res the pictures were :puzzled:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top