The swimwear industry took off in the 20s.Knitwear companies expanded their market to include swimwear.With its beautiful beaches and warm waters,its unsurprising that the West Coast emerged at this time as a hotbed of swimsuit manufacturers with Catlina,Cole of California,and Jantzen all setting up shop there.The West Coast was not coincidentally the home of burgeoning Hollywood,and this proximity led to the early adoption and wide dissemination of new bathing suit styles in popular films and publicity photographs.The boyish figure favored in the 1920s affected the style of the bathings suits,which were shorter and very much mimicked mens bathing trunks.As ever, modesty becomes a priority for moralists.Below is a 1922 photo of Washington policeman measuring the distance between knee and suit at the Tidal Basin bathing beach after Col. Sherrell issued an order that suits not be over 6 inches above the knee - KIT- Seaside Splendor by PAM LEFORS +MONIKA DESIGNS