One of the most famous swimsuits in television history is now on display.
Here at London’s Design Museum, this is the bright red one-piece worn by Pamela Anderson in ‘Baywatch’.
Seen by over a billion people a week at the show’s peak in the 1990s, the costume helped define the look and style of the era.
Designed by sportswear brand TYR, the suits were adapted for each actor’s specific proportions and were based on uniforms worn by real Southern California lifeguards.
The high-cut silhouette, deep red colour and glossy finish made the suit instantly recognisable.
Closely linked with Anderson’s slow-motion beach scenes, it’s now a lasting pop culture image.
This iconic piece is the centrepiece of “Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style”, a new exhibit at the Design Museum.
Amber Butchart, guest curator of the exhibit, says: “This is Splash: a century of swimming in style, and we are exploring the last 100 years of swimming through the lens of design. So, thinking about fashion, thinking about architecture, thinking about performance, design materials and making all of these kinds of areas. The show itself is divided into three sections in which we swim. So, we begin in the pool. We then move into the Lido where we are now, and we finish in nature.”
In the Lido section, the exhibit reflects on the golden age of British outdoor swimming, featuring swimwear from the 1950s sold at Harrods and made by American brand Cole of California.
These suits highlight the moment when swimming became as much about leisure and travel as it was about sport.
The exhibit also includes one of the earliest surviving bikinis, dating from 1951 and based on the original design by French engineer Louis Réard, who first introduced the garment in 1946.
Réard named it the “bikini” after Bikini Atoll, the site of U.S. nuclear testing, predicting the outfit would be just as explosive.
“Through those sections, we think about different themes, whether it is leisure, the democratisation of travel, entertainment, things like Pamela Anderson’s swimsuit. Swimming on screen, through to things like materials and making, health and wellbeing. So, these social history strands as well,” explains Butchart.
At the heart of the exhibit is the Anderson swimsuit, both for its fame and for what it represents in terms of bodies, beauty standards and performance on screen.
It also speaks to Anderson’s more recent efforts to reclaim her image and narrative, including designing her own swimwear range in 2023.
Butchart adds: “I think this is probably the most well-known piece of swimwear in the show, and possibly even in the world. I think people will always recognise this very flaming, bright red piece of swimwear. It’s very of its time for the 90s with its really high leg cut as well, so you can see how it was kind of inspired by, but also feeding into fashion trends. The costumes for Baywatch were all based on actual Southern California lifeguards’ outfits, like what they wore for their work. And they were developed with a sportswear company, but each tailored to each actor’s particular proportions and measurements.”
The exhibit also highlights modern global designers, such as Andrea Iyamah, whose Mulan bikini, featuring her signature “Eden Ruffle”, draws inspiration from creation myths and femininity.
Also on show is a bikini by Kenya-based Ohana Family Wear using a pattern inspired by Ghanaian Kente cloth, showing that contemporary swimwear has also been reshaped by cultural heritage.
Another focus of the exhibit is how swimming styles are gendered and how the history of men’s swimwear has often been overlooked.
A display of Speedo briefs from the 1980s to the 2010s shows a shift towards more revealing, performance-focused design.
“A lot of the time when people tell histories of swimwear, it’s all focused on women’s bodies and swimwear getting smaller,” says Butchart.
“And I wanted to think about it from the perspective of men’s swimwear as well. The high point of that, I suppose, is what we today call the Speedo created by the brand Speedo. This has a really interesting history to it, because in the 1960s, Speedo had a designer called Peter Travis in Australia, and he was really instrumental in terms of creating swimming trunks that had been smaller than ever before. He was gay, and he was bringing his appreciation of the male form into his designs and was also thinking about performance.”
Peter Travis’s work for Speedo meant briefs hugged the body and optimised swimming.
At the time, the suits were considered so provocative that men were arrested on Bondi Beach for wearing them.
His openly gay identity shaped his designs, which celebrated rather than concealed the male form.
While widely adopted by Olympians, such as Mark Spitz, the briefs have also drawn controversy.
Bans at public pools and theme parks were criticised for targeting queer men under the guise of family-friendliness.
Swimwear for elite performance is also on display.
Objects worn by Olympic swimmers and divers, including Tom Daley’s hand-knitted trunks and jumper from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are on show.
There’s also swimwear from Alice Dearing, the first Black woman to swim for Team Great Britain.
Next to it, a cap worn by Yusra Mardini, a Syrian refugee who competed as part of the Olympic Refugee Team in 2016 and 2020.
Art critic Tabish Khan says: “When coming into Splash, I did know that it was going to be about swimwear, and obviously the Pamela Anderson swimsuit has been getting a lot of press attention. What I didn’t realise was that there would be a lot more to it than just the fashion elements. So, for example, it talks about the politicisation of swimming pools. It talks about the male gaze; it talks about the artwork around it. And I think that provides for a much more rounded experience of the exhibition.”
Splash! also looks at who swimwear is designed for, and perhaps who’s excluded.
Across 200 objects, the curators of Splash! aim to tell a layered story.
One of design, identity, power and pleasure, and how swimming has both reflected and shaped society over the past century.
“Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style” runs at London’s Design Museum from 28 March until 17 August 2025.
Credit: Africa News
