Design drawing for Anna & Boy 'Woollen Mermaid' swimsuit

Maker Anna & Boy (Australian)

Date2009

Object number00046079

NameDrawing

MediumPaper, ink, pencil, fabric & metal pins

DimensionsOverall: 295 x 420 mm

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Anna & Boy

Terms

DescriptionDesigners Anna Hewett and Lill Boyd created this drawing to conceptualize their response to the Australian National Maritime Museum's 'Woollen Mermaid' project. Their swimwear label Anna & Boy was established in 2005 and has become a growing player in the Australian swimwear market. This drawing consists of an A3 sheet of paper with ink and pencil sketches of a swimsuit alongside sample patches of black fabric.HistoryAnna & Boy was established in 2005 by former Vogue magazine colleagues Anna Hewett and Lill Boyd. The pair gradually identified a lack of inspiring swimwear, which motivated the development of their label. Their fashion design and visual communications studies along with industry experience have combined to create a chic, fashion attitude to swimwear with a strong emphasis on unique prints and clean simple design. Anna & Boy is one of the contemporary swimwear designers invited to reinterpret the classic one-piece swimsuit using a technologically advanced wool/lycra textile for the Australian National Maritime Museum's 2009 exhibition 'Exposed! The Story of Swimwear'. The use of this fabric articulates the technological importance of performance textiles to fashioning a modern garment, whilst acknowledging the importance of wool as a yarn to Australia and the swimsuit's history. Anna & Boy's design was a low leg and modest silhouette harking back to the original suit worn by Kellerman. The traditionally heavy nature of the wool is broken with transparent mesh panels to accentuate the female form. There is a cheeky frivolity and femininity with laser cut frills running along the internal seam details. The swimsuit is finished with a gold peach trinket – the Anna & Boy signature. In the early 20th century most swimsuits were produced in wool. There was early experimentation with developing rib-like knits that were more elastic, followed by the use of Lastex, a rubber yarn that created a garment with less sag and drag. In the 21st century, advances in textile technology have resulted in the development of wool jersey fabrics with a high compression Lycra component. Looking to the past and designing for the future, the swimsuit designs embody a contemporary aesthetic and active glamour inspired by the original mermaid, Annette Kellerman. Kellerman (1886-1975) was the 'Australian Mermaid,' the 'Diving Venus' and the 'Perfect Woman.' Through a career as a long distance swimmer, diver, vaudeville performer and silent movie star she became a global identity associated with glamour and physical beauty. She was the first woman to attempt to swim the English Channel, and swam her way across Europe and the United States. Kellerman was a controversial individual. She was allegedly arrested for indecency preparing to swim along the coastline at Revere Beach, Boston in 1907 and expressed her independence and self-possession through bodily spectacle in daring swimsuits styled on the existing one-piece swimsuit design for men. There were initially no modifications made to the original, masculine design; no structuring to the contours of a woman's body, in particular the breast area, and it would not be until the 1930s that designers would feminise the swimsuit, and new technology would assist the development of textiles that would enhance its fit and performance. Kellerman's innovation was revealing the female body, which had been concealed beneath layers of clothes and corsets for centuries in the public arena. She was a role model for women, encouraging self-motivation and self-development. Kellerman extolled the virtues of exercise and a healthy diet to shape the body naturally. In 1918 her book 'Physical Beauty: How to Keep It' was published, and it promised that through a series of simple daily exercises in the home, every woman could achieve a level of physical beauty that was essential to the wearing of a body hugging one-piece swimsuit with confidence. As a prototypical Hollywood star she prefigured the celebrity culture focused on the body that has predominated since then.SignificanceThis drawing shows the design emphases of Anna & Boy, one of Australia's new generation swimwear brands, both in the representation of its 2009 collection and in its imaginative response to the Australian National Maritime Museum's 'Woollen Mermaid' brief. The 'Woollen Mermaid' swimsuit highlights a modern aesthetic inspired by the original Australian mermaid Annette Kellerman.