Historic swimwear from Southend Museums to feature in major London exhibition

April 1, 2025

Southend-on-Sea City Council proudly unveils its historic artefacts in a captivating new London exhibition.

Southend Museums have loaned seventeen pieces from their collection to be showcased in Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style at the Design Museum, opened on Friday 28 March. The exhibition explores 100 years of swimwear history, from early 20th-century lidos to modern trends.

Since May 2024, staff at Southend Museums have been working closely with colleagues from the Design Museum to carefully select pieces from the collection, ensuring all pieces were condition-checked in preparation for display.

The objects from Southend include several unique pieces that have shaped the history of swimming for both sport and leisure. Among these is a collection of early 1920s woollen swimsuits. Also featured is a 1960s Bri-Nylon swimsuit designed in collaboration with Olympic champion swimmer Judy Grinham. These will be displayed alongside other notable pieces spanning the 20th century, including a pair of 1980s men’s leopard-print Speedo trunks.

Cllr Matt Dent, cabinet member for culture, tourism, and business, said: “The swimwear collection is one of our most important and renowned collections, and we are extremely proud that these pieces will be on display in such a prestigious exhibition.

"Southend has a rich seaside heritage, and this collection reflects our city’s longstanding connection to coastal culture and leisure. To see these historic items featured at the Design Museum, alongside pieces that showcase a century of swimwear innovation, is a fantastic achievement. This is a major success for Southend Museums, Southend-on-Sea City Council, and Southend as a whole, demonstrating the value and significance of our collections on a national stage."

The exhibition is open now until Sunday 17 August. To book your ticket visit: Buy Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style Tickets online - The Design Museum

What to expect

The exhibition’s story will begin in the 1920s, when swimwear began to be marketed for swimming rather than the Victorian’s preference for bathing, and when beach holidays exploded in popularity. It will explore right up to the present day, and swimming’s role in modern life such as how it influences and subverts our ideas of body positivity, as well as its link to environmental issues. Splash! will be guest-curated by Amber Butchart, a dress and design historian and broadcaster known for her history segments on BBC One’s The Great British Sewing Bee.

The objects from Southend Museums will be accompanied by some iconic pieces of swimming history, the most famous of which will be Pamela Anderson’s sensational red bathing suit from Baywatch, the US TV series which, in the 1990s, drew an estimated 1.1 billion weekly viewers.

The exhibition will also showcase the Olympic gold medal awarded to swimmer Lucy Morton, the first British woman to win a solo Olympic title in swimming.

Also on display will be the hugely controversial LZR Racer swimsuit, a high-performance swimsuit developed in 2008 by Speedo in collaboration with NASA. After 79 of 108 world records were broken by swimmers wearing the suit in its first year — as well as wearers winning 94% of the golds on offer in the pool at the 2008 Beijing Olympics — it was banned in all competitions in 2010 as ‘technical doping.’