PAMELA ANDERSON’S iconic red swimsuit from the 1990s TV show Baywatch (R) is one of the items in the exhibit which looks into a century of swimwear. — DESIGNMUSEUM.ORG

LONDON — From an Olympic gold medal to Pamela Anderson’s Baywatch red bathing suit, a new exhibition dedicated to all things swimming has opened at London’s Design Museum.

Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style features more than 200 items that look at our love of water since the 1920s, be it at the lido, the pool, or in nature.

“The show explores the last century of swimming through the lens of design,” Amber Butchart, guest curator of the exhibition, told Reuters at a press preview last Wednesday.

“We begin in the pool, we move into lido, and then we end in nature and each of those sections allows us to explore different themes, whether it’s materials and making, whether it is the… evolution of swimwear as a fashion object, or whether it is swimming in outdoor spaces and the architecture that allows access for that.”

A variety of colorful swimwear from various decades takes center stage, including a 1950s bikini and a selection of 1980s Speedo briefs alongside an edition of the famed red suit Anderson wore to play lifeguard CJ Parker in Baywatch in the 1990s.

Items date from a 1920s example of rental swimwear to more contemporary and adaptive designs.

Also on show are various items belonging to Olympians — including the first Olympic solo swimming gold medal won by a British woman as well as diver Tom Daley’s Team GB trunks.

Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style runs until Aug. 17. — Reuters

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