France, 1891
Unidentifed photographer

At the end of the 19th century, women of “high society” intent on swimming in the sea would use horse-drawn changing cabins pulled as close to the water as possible in order to limit the amount of time they would be seen in a bathing suit. Tis image, taken by an unknown photographer on a beach near the seaside resort town of Houlgate in Northern France, shows three young girls in elegant resses presumably waiting for their mother to emerge from her cabin before they head of to frolic in the sea.