Swimming hats can be worn to keep your head warm; to keep your hair from floating around; protect your hair from the pool chemicals; or to streamline your swimming. Swimming hats have been around for a long time. Many pools, mainly in Europe, insist on hats and many supervised wild swimming areas also insist on hats for visibility.
Swimming hats as we know them were first developed in the 1920s. During this era, caps were designed in the style of aviator helmets worn by pilots during that time period. Other swimming caps of this era featured a shower cap shape. They were usually made from rubber with chin straps to secure them. During the 1940s rubber was needed for the War effort and the wearing of swimming hats became less popular. The 1950s, and 60s saw swimming hats fashionable again until the 1970s, when the fashion for long hair on men and women made the swimming hats of the day impractical.
During the last decade swimming hats have again become a fashion statement, with better quality material and design. There are now hats to cover the longest of hair and all different shaped heads.
The lido has always seen some swimmers, dedicated to keeping their heads covered, more recently with the modern silicone hats. The City of Peterborough Swimming Club (COPS) have their own branded swimming hat. This summer the lido management designed and sold their own Vivacity branded silicone swimming hats.
During the last 10 years two friends Jessica and Nicola, calling themselves ‘the Lido Ladies of London’ decided to improve their fitness and customise their swimwear. Through social media with photoshoots, they made hats and swim wear glamorous.
. https://www.lidoladies.co
During the June summer solstice swim of 2023 these friends appeared wearing brightly coloured and decorated retro swimming hats. They often appeared, happily chatting away while swimming and became known as the ‘Chatty Hat swimmers’.
This year, during the long hot summer, other hats appeared. A quite different style of hat. These were a turban, Carmen Miranda style headwear, topped with brightly coloured flowers. This group of ladies also called their hats ‘Chatty Hats’ and they called themselves the ‘Lido Bells’ inspired by the image of the lido’s first weathervane of a bathing belle.
Many swimmers some new to the lido have commented on their fun antics and laughter. We asked the Lido Belles for a comment. This is what their spokesperson, Megan Studholme-Dooley, shared:
“The Lido Belles. We wear our ‘Chatty Hats’ to make us approachable and encourage people to come over and talk/chat and support the Lido without any pressure. It highlights the Lido and the struggle to keep it relevant and more importantly open for future generations.”
