Victorian-era beaches

It wasn’t black. Bathing costumes were usually blue. And your answer is because styles change and modesty was valued.

As long as we're here, why is the guy in the middle strangling his mother?

Totally normal to me!! But where are their gloves?

[quote] why is the guy in the middle strangling his mother?

They look to be about similar age to me.

Didn't men -- in some countries of this era -- swim nude in male-only settings?

Imagine going in the water wearing all that material.

Actually wet cloth acts as a cooling agent.

And if you were female and wanted to go out for a swim, you stepped inside one of these bathing machines, changed into your swimwear as you were wheeled out to shore, and went into the water with your modesty intact.

I think that's early 20th century, Edwardian and not Victorian.

Only mixed gender beaches were like that. Most beaches were segregated by sex, and of course the men swam naked. I used to swim naked at the Y on men-only night when I was a lad.

Interestingly, Thomas Eakins' famous painting [italic] The Swimming Hole [/italic] depicts American college guys swimming nude at a lake during the early 1880s.

I wonder if American culture was less prudish about nudity at that point vs. English.

That doesn't seem like such a bad idea if sunscreen isn't available.

Queen Vicky

It doesn't look comfy.