1038 Columbia 365-6534 ANNOUNCEMENT DR. DAVID S. WILLIAMS 1S PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE Oe OPERATION OF THE ic Office at 625 colanbee Ave., Castlegar B.C Appointments by phone are welcome Phone Dr. Robert Brisco Dr. David Williams People’s Insulation Services *500 Readers Please Note: alt tee Business too will be closed this Monday. Fhomes potas tas toloomm@ the ls Exemple: Phormesave will be open Because of the holiday on Monday, most of the tickets, drop into he Castoger News office tomorrow Toosday .m., or phone 345-7246 by 5 p.m. Tuesday to cp rn te noes sty open. Our Goal is $62,000 United Way Serving Your Community Through 25 Agencies ¥I 8 United Way Day. . . rday, October 13 only Goes a Long Way Saturday, Oct. 13 is your to give to United Way, When your United Way Volunteer calls on you, please give * Wicker * Gitte © Novelties 088 10 MOnAwe ¢ Days eWeek 10-5 p.m ——= ZZ 7, HEIGHT OF FASHION . . . Scene from 1676 English- woman's Domestic Magazine shows swimming fashions of the day. Most popular was a short- John Charters .. . Reflections sleeved, belted tunic with tong trousers ond @ hat, though it didn't aftord much chance of catching any rays. recollections THE BATHING SUITHAS A LIVELY HISTORY Slowly but inexorably I have come to the realization that the point at which one knows that one's youth is past and oneself is becoming a part of history, is at the moment that one enters a museum and sees displayed as antiques items that one knew and used everyday in one's youth. Take, for example, that fairly recent visit to the excellent Provincial Museum in Victoria. Totem poles, SEcccn reconstructed, Indian artifacts and the stern of Vancouver's ship, even the old pre-chainsaw, the bucksaw and two-man crosscut saws on which one spent many a weary youthful hour, are now acceptable artifacts of a by-gone day not far removed from the early Iren-age in the eyes of some younger visitors; whea one visits the old-fashioned kitchen wae Ke woot ame oe stove blazing merrily, its hot water kettle a scuttle, and Roary pecicy boerd cosh rolling pla. and one sees the familiar red, black and gold tea-caddy on the shqf and sad-irons with the “new” detachable handles heating at the edge of the stove; when one can smell the spicy aroma of apple pie cooking in the oven and hear the clop-clop of the horse-drawn delivery wagon outside the window, that is what gives one a decided time-lurch. However, I was still able to rationalize the situation and dismiss all this evidence as being a part of my parents’ home and only indirectly associated with me. But when I visited the Museum of Costume at Bath and, specifically, the section on bathing costumes of the last century and a quarter, I knew once and for all that I could not escape history, for it was I. Thad stopped at the display of beach costumes of the early 1920s and there I was in a flash — a skinny kid on the pebbly beach of Burrard Inlet racing about with the others and bursting with pride in my new bathing suit. It was dark blue in knitted wool with a red stripe, a low-necked sleeveless top fastened at the shoulder with buttons, and mid-thigh trunks attached beneath a modest skirt. My mother and the two other women were also modestly arrayed in two-piece bathing costumes of blue and white jersey knit cotton with low-necked short sleeved tunics, knee-length drawers and rubber bathing shoes or sandals and sun hats. Memory crowded in so closely that in a moment | was furiously digging butter- clams out of the damp sand as the tide went out, then almost immediately afterward I could smell the savory odor of the ooking chowder on the beach. Fortunately, the voice of the museum guide jerked me beck to reality. Bathing for medicinal purposes at the spas such as Bath had always been very modest affairs, she said. =~ < Clothes were worn to conceal as much of the body as possible. Therefore, throughout the 18th century, gentle- men wore waistcoats and drawers, and the ladies long, loose-sleeved shifts. The head was always covered with a linen cap or straw hat. During the 1800s, however, sea-bathing had become popular, and here again the women wore the heavy, voluminous woolen bathing costumes — woolen for warmth and because they would not cling to the figure. By the 1860s styles had changed and fashionable magazines began displaying costumes comprised of a short-sleeved, belted tunic and long trousers of cotton material in bright colors. This costume, with extra decor- ations, continued until the 20th century. Caps, shoes and stockings were, of course, still essential. Men, strangely enough, went swimming for most of the 19th century covered only by a beard or handlebar moustache, though drawers were recommended. A museum pamphlet quotes a Reverend Francis Kilvert writing in his diary in 1874 (doubtless with hand lebar, moustache twitching with agitation): “At Shankin one. bas to adopt the detestable custom of bathing in drawers. If ladies don't like to see men naked why don't they keep away from the sight? Today I/had a pair of drawers given me which I could not keep on. The rough waves stripped them off and tore them down round my ankles.” Despite the Reverend Kilvert's protests, by the turn of this century men were wearigg a one-piece costume which looked for all the world like a pair of knee-length long johns with buttons down to the waist. Moustaches were still in and a straw “boater” often completed the costume. Slowly, very slowly bathing suits became more apreciated. As women became more involved in athletics by the 1990s the cute little skirt had disappeared and men’s and women's costumes had gone almost unisex. Elasticized yarn was starting to be used, suits were becoming fashionable and clinging, while shoulder straps narrowed, and large pieces were cut out of the sides. Though the two-piece bikini first appeared in 1935 it was not so called until after the atomic blast on the atoll in 1946. After the austerity restrictions of the war and the appearance of rayons and bright cottons, 1945 saw bathing costumes taking off — literally, as well as figuratively. Trunks for men began to become popular and bikinis of modest dimensions competed with one piece suits for women. With the invention of still newer fabrics, the costume designers are constantly being challenged to make less and less out of more and more so that, as indicated in an earlier column, we will have advanced all the way back to the birthday-suits of the 1800s and one is reminded of the little joke: young woman (in very 80s bathing suit): “I was in such a burry I just threw my bathing suit on. How does it look?” Young man: “Just right — it looks as if you had nearly missed. Help Support the United Way AN OPPORTUNITY to present your suggestions and views on the topic of TAXATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT The Honourable Hugh Curtis Minister of Finance Province of British Columbia Date: Friday, October 12, 1984 Time: Commencing at 9:00 a.m. Place: sondman inn, 1960 Columbia Ave., Castlegar, Details available from the Government Agent's Office Castlegar Savings Credit Union Ae eed? | - .. 2288 Columbia A Rossland, B:C. — Tel. Ab PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA MINISTRY OF FINANC HON. HUGH CURTIS, MINISTER bs 180-DAY TERM DEPOSIT LIMITED OFFER SPECIAL RATE 11% i! Fund Sra ad