A moda praia na revista ilustrada O Cruzeiro (1928-1943)

Abstract

The present study analyzes the beach fashion content published in the magazine O Cruzeiro, produced in Rio de Janeiro, which circulated in the national territory from 1928 to 1985. The period analyzed was from 1928 until 1943. The initial beacon, 1928 - the year the magazine was founded - and the final one, 1943, were chosen because it is the moment in which the magazine undergoes an important reconfiguration concerning the photographic material, due to the adoption of a photojournalistic style that ended up predominating in the publication. The period also allows us to observe how beach fashion was before the creation of the bikini, in 1946. In 1928, the habit of going to the beach had already become popular and, consequently, the magazine started to display in female columns how to behave on the beach, which ended up, among other things, propagating standards of elegance, beauty, health and behavior, mainly inspired by French standards. The material about beach fashion in O Cruzeiro is also marked by American influence, as photographs of Hollywood actresses wearing bathing suits were frequent in the magazine. We intend, in particular, to observe and note, from the texts and images published in O Cruzeiro, how the images and texts about the beach could serve as a model of how to behave and present yourself on the beach for the readers spread throughout the national territory, while at the same time contributed to spread new habits and fashion. The magazine, in a way, through the diffusion of the beach culture, made Rio de Janeiro the ideal of modernity for the country.