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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Retro swimsuits

My mom just sent me these photos of my grandmother at the beach. She was English but moved to Chicago (so brave) to marry my grandfather, who she had met during the war. I love her retro swimsuit and lovely round face--and how my grandfather is gazing at her!

118 comments:

  1. Aloha Jo,

    I really enjoyed this post on retro swimsuits. Where I live you still see a lot that look today, mixed in with bikinis. Fashion here is less is more. Lol.

    Mahalo,

    Hawaii Daily Photo

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  2. She has a touch of Marilyn Monroe about her. Beautiful.

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  3. beautiful pictures..

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  4. She looks like a fun lady. Great pictures!

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  5. Love vintage photography!
    The last photo is quite scary for me...I have fear for the sea & sharks- still traumatized eversince I watched JAWS!

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  6. Oh my goodness.......
    How lucky you are to have these!

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  7. Beautiful! I wish my parents and grandparents had been documented more of their lives. It's so nice having these pictures. I'm afraid camera-shyness is a family trait though!

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  8. I think I need a retro swimsuit! :)

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  9. I really love the retro swimsuits that are coming back. There are a lot more available today!

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  10. WOW! How amazing to have these images!?! They're fantastic ; - )

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  11. these are lovely photos! what fun. i'd love to play in a retro swimsuit. i just now found your blog. and i love it. :)

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  12. Such joyous photos - thanks for sharing them!

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  13. what lovely photos and memories for you to have and cherish!!

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  14. what a treat to have these! and what a beauty!

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  15. Wow, what a great picture! I'm sure you will treasure that always...my Mom has dozens of pictures of generations past...so cool.

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  16. these are fabulous shots!!!

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  17. These pictures are fabulous! I love old photos.

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  18. Waow ! Les pin-ups reviennent au goût du jour ! Nouvelle tendance années 30/40... avec un zeste de peace and love et bientôt quoi... la mode des pays de l'est !... sous les anciens régimes ! Pourquoi pas !
    Super les photos ! Sorry, I speak french !... and girls are very beautiful !
    Ciao !... Kisses !

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  19. Just the story of moving to Chicago for love would make this a fabulous post. The swimsuits make it wonderful.

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  20. these are AWESOME! how glamorous are they?! you MUST find a way to have these framed for you home!

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  21. that is so interesting!

    your grandmother is beautiful!
    now i know where you get it from :-)

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  22. those are great!

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  23. So fun to see our ancestors when they were young. Funny timing, because I just emailed my mom this morning asking for some of my grandparent's wedding photos. I never got to know any of them, so it would be a special way for me to have them in my home.

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  24. I love vintage photos!
    and this ones are so nice
    your grandmother is so pretty

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  25. I love these photos. You have me looking at all the old pictures I have stored away.

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  26. You can just see the love! She (and your grandfather) seem so happy and they are so gorgeous!!!

    Since you didn't get to enter my Inspiration Board Contest, I do hope you will come on over and vote for your favorite!!!

    -Kelley
    www.myislandwedding.com

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  27. Yay! I love old photos like this! Your grandma was darling!!

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  28. I love their suits! They are so adorable!

    Old photos are so full of life, aren't they?! I love looking at my family's!

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  29. Love it! She looks a lot like my grandmother, I must find old photos now.

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  30. so lovely! so fun that you have these.

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  31. She was so stunning...and what a great story you have of her. You're right, how brave!

    E

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  32. Lovely photos!

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  33. What great pictures!

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  34. I have pictures of my grandmother and grandfather on the beach when they were about this age.. and my grandmother is wearing the same style bathensuit. I love to look at their beach pictures because 1. I can see how much they loved eachother and 2. how sweeeet my gma's bathensuit was!

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  35. These are the greatest photo. You are so fortunate to have them!

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  36. So glamorous! Love the old bathing suits!

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  37. these photos are fantastic. i especially love the cute little shoes they have on in the first pic!!

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  38. What an amazing artifact. He adores her and you can clearly tell!

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  39. Wow those are gorgeous photos! You can just see how much your grandfather was in love with your grandmother in that last pic! I love it!

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  40. These pictures are AMAZINGGG!!! I can't believe she had these!

    Love the suits, love the playfulness/sassiness with the tongue, and LOVEEEEE that gaze.


    *happy sigh*

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  41. I love how your grandmother's friend is wearing socks at the beach! Makes me smile. What special photos to have. xo

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  42. my grandmother did the same thing! she was a truck driver for the RAF and my grandfather was a truck driver for the US army when they met.

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  43. I love the curve and design of these old swimsuits. Gorgeous photos too.

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  44. i've been trying to find the perfect high-waisted retro bikini, any ideas on where to find a modern takes on this vintage classic?

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  45. yes, katie diana! here are some gorgeous ones: http://www.glamour.com/sex-love-life/blogs/smitten/2009/05/which-of-these-three-retro-swi.html

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  46. also, less expensive options at Victoria's Secret and Urban Outfitters. good luck! xoxo

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  47. Anonymous6:27 PM

    Love these shots!! My grandparents met in Sweden during the war and spent 4 years writing to each other after spending only one night "swimming in the light of the moon." I have a picture of them together the day my grandmother finally moved to New York...magical!

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  48. oh my goodness! anonymous! that is SO romantic!!! i would love to feature the photo on Cup of Jo, if you'd want to share. xoxo joanna_goddard (at) yahoo (dot) com

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  49. I love this post. I love it so much that I am totally going to rummage through my grandma's old photos and post ones of her & my grandpa when they first met & first became smitten with each other. I also love the bathing suits, have (a lot of) curves & plan on wearing retro inspired ones this summer!

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  50. These are some great pictures. So full of life.
    :D

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  51. Wonderful old photos.
    xo

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  52. wow, they're gorgeous. how fantastic is it that this is your family?

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  53. I love retro swimsuits, I haven't photos of my grandma in the beach...
    I have a post about retro and pinup swimwear in my blog too.
    kisses

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  54. What a lovely photo of your grandparents together. I love the one of your grandmother sticking her tongue out! I asked my mom for photos of her parents together and she could only find ones of them not together! I wanted them for my scrapbook. These are in great shape for old photos...all the ones my mom has are getting torn up and falling apart. And some of them are really small.

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  55. Aw she is amazing! (and check her out in that saucy bikini!)
    Off topic...looooooooooved the Michael Cera poll. (He's such a cutie...can't wait for the new movie!)

    : )
    alex

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  56. what great pictures! so fun and sweet, especially that last one. love how they are just standing in the water, posing for the photo!

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  57. Your grandmother and grandfather are so cute! You can tell in that last picture just how enamored he was with her.

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  58. Priceless. Women were so sexy then, no?

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  59. those suits are so flattering!
    I want one!

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  60. I love, love, love when the blogs I love to follow put up pictures of their past, especially when it is pictures of their relatives. Your grandmother seemed like she was a sassy woman, filled with life. I hope she remained so even as she grew older, and I hope I can do the same.

    Thanks for the great post, your blog always brightens my day.

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  61. I love these old swimsuits. I have been making some, and I want to start making some to sell, but am having trouble finding fabric I like for them.
    Your Grandmother is an English beauty - with some gumption! My mother was English and a precocious beauty too!
    Laurie K.

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  62. Gorgeous grandma! Do tell the story of how she and your grandpa fell 'smitten'!

    xo

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  63. Fabulous photos. Your grandmother looks like a livewire. Love her laugh - that's true spirit.

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  64. you're so lucky to have these photos! They're fabulous!

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  65. I love old photos, these are priceless!

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  66. Wonderful Photos! She is a doll, really priceless to have.

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  67. These are absolutely magical pictures...feels like I want to know more about her.

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  68. She looks so beautiful! Thanks for sharing her brave spirit.

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  69. oh i love these photos!

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  70. i got chills when i read this! she is so gorgeous, thanks for sharing the pictures and a little bit of your family's story.

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  71. it is so lovely that you have access to these family photos. i love how her friend is rockin the tiny socks with her open toed shoes; i still don't have the guts to try it.

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  72. I love the pic's. My mother used to have a really cute one that I used to wear all the time.

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  73. i love that picture of your grandparents at the bottom, i have a picture just like that one with my grandfather just staring at my grandmother with this adorable look on his face :) it puts such an amazing feeling in my heart

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  74. Love these photos! What a treasure to have this piece of history! {Also, found it comical to see the socks with sandals at the beach!}

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  75. I was going to ask you where you found these fabulous photos! I love that they are of your family:) isn't it great to have them? I have so many of my grandparents when they were younger...a few of them on their honeymoon. I love it.

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  76. Oh wow!! How romantic! How thought provoking! Just imagine our grands thinking the same thoughts of our swimsuits. I just love these photos. Before I read the caption, I thought they were models posing as "normal beach goers". Your Grand is beautiful!

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  77. Such great photos!
    Seems like such a fun era in terms of fashion!

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  78. These are totally amazing. I'd love to see more women in one of those 40's-style pin up bathing suits.

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  79. These are incredible! I love old photos. I was looking at my mom's and MIL's pix and they were hot babes back in the day! I want to enlarge and frame them to hang up as sort of a diptych.

    Great swimsuits!

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  80. these are fantastic photos! your grandmother looks like she's having a great time!

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  81. One of my favorite things is admiring old photos of my grandmother from the 30's and 40's. I love seeing her in her young, carefree days and she always looks so glamorous! Your grandmother is a total cutie-pie pinup (how awesome is the one with the tongue!) and I love her fun spirit, which totally comes through decades later.

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  82. I have a few similar family photos with same smiles but, not so sure those were swim suits...technically.

    Everyone always seemed so delighted with the day, any day...all the days.
    Post war I suppose.

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  83. The exact same thing happened with my grandparents, my grandmother was English then moved here for her American soldier :)

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  84. Anonymous3:18 AM

    Great pics!!! Please make sure you keep these priceless pictures backed up. I use Safecopy online backup, www.safecopybackup.com, to backup all my pictures. I also share them with my families around the world. I'm very happy with it. You should check it out and make sure you keep these pictures safe.

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  85. You're so lucky to have these! I love old photos of my grandmother :)

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  86. Beautiful grandmother + retro swimsuits + Chicago = AMAZING! xo

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  87. Love the socks and shoes. So classic.

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  100. Love all things retro, wish I could find more vintage clothes that would fit me right.
    These photos remind me of my grandparents' pics.

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