If it seems like dress standards in the 21st century can be strict, let's travel back exactly 100 years to the 1920s.

At that time, women wore heavy wool dresses, stockings, and special shoes to the beach. Swimming in this "wetsuit" was practically impossible the wet wool weighed five kilograms and sank like a stone to the bottom.

But progress was unstoppable. Girls began secretly shortening their skirts and ditching their stockings. In response to this "impudence," the US government created a special unit the Beach Morality Police.

They didn't rescue drowning people. Their main job was to run along the sand... with a tape measure and a ruler!

How it worked:

A police officer would approach a girl relaxing right on the beach.

He forced her to kneel.

He used a ruler to measure the distance from her swimsuit fabric to her knee.

If the gap exceeded 15 centimeters (6 inches), a hefty fine was issued or the offender was sent to the police station, under the white hands!

The most notorious scandal involved Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman. In 1907, she stepped onto an American beach in a tight one-piece suit (which covered everything except her arms and neck!). She was immediately arrested for "indecent behavior."

Annette didn't give up, filed a lawsuit, won, and launched her own brand of practical swimsuits. It was thanks to her courage that women finally could swim properly, rather than just dunk in the water standing up.

What a contrast:
A hundred years ago, police officers walked around with a ruler to measure out every extra centimeter of naked body, and today we search the shelves for swimsuits that cover at least a couple of centimeters of that same body!