Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Diving in Style

This week I'm taking the opportunity to air out some of the museum's dirty laundry...literally. As I poked around the collections in search of missing items, I stumbled across two fantastic denim diving outfits that originally belonged to Wesley and Constance Mueller. The Muellers were pioneers in the world of underwater photography, beginning in 1934 when there were no commercially produced underwater cameras or housings. Not to be deterred, they fashioned their own equipment, complete with matching denim diving outfits. They sewed lead into their jackets and pants so that they "wouldn't ride up in the current (McKenney 1981)." They even sewed their initials into the garments, presumably so that they wouldn't mix them up. Of course, the Muellers weren't out to make a fashion statement on the bottom of the ocean. In fact, Wesley and Constance rarely saw anyone besides each other on their adventures. They wore the heavy denim to protect themselves from posionous coral and any underwater creatures with sharp and potentially harmful extremities. Still, they must have known how "cool" they looked.

Wesley and Constance Mueller diving in their denim suits (Bahamas, 1938).


The Muellers' denim suits, now housed in collections at the History of Diving Museum.

That got me thinking about the role of fashion in the history of diving and how it has affected the evolution of divewear. I immediately thought of Art McKee (subject of several previous blog entries) and his preference for a Speedo and Converse sneakers (his original "Chucks" are on display at the History of Diving Museum, see photo). They certainly kept him comfortable during his dives, an important factor in diving safety. But what about those of us who aren't pioneers in the field of diving? What do we like to wear beneath the waves? Well, the answer to that question has changed over the years, as evidenced by these magazine advertisements from old issues of Skin Diver (in the library at HDM).

Advertisements from 1970 Skin Diver magazines.


Advertisements from 1977 Skin Diver magazines.


Advertisements from 1984 Skin Diver magazines.

Of course, the Muellers and Art McKee didn't have the luxury of wearing wetsuits in the early days, as they weren't "officially" invented until 1952 by Hugh Bradner (Taylor 2008). Over the years, as recreational diving became more popular and less expensive, style became an increasingly important component in marketing wetsuits. Let's face it, everyone wants to look good, especially when they are wearing a skin-hugging neoprene suit. The advertisements above clearly illustrate this, with color and designs increasing significantly over time, until ultimately exploding in a blinding flash of color and hair in the 1980's. Not everyone prefers a wetsuit (see Jacqueline Bisset in her famous diving outfit from the 1977 film The Deep), but their functionality remains the most important factor in their success, keeping divers and other watersport enthuisiasts warm, bouyant and scrape-free.

So the question now becomes: what do you like to wear when you dive? Do you have a favorite or funny diving outfit? We want to hear about it! Comment on our blog below or post a picture of your favorite diving outfit to our new Flickr pool! To get the sharing started, here are photos of Erin and I modeling the very latest in wetsuit fashion. Ok, maybe not the very latest...but it certainly beats 1984!


Austin Bell and Erin Wolfe wetsuit modeling at the Marine Mammal Conservancy in Key Largo.

McKenney, Jack (1981). Wes and Connie Mueller: Pioneers in Underwater Cinematography. In Skin Diver, October 1981, Vol. 30, No. 10, pp. 44-46.

Taylor, Michael (2008). Hugh Bradner, UC's inventor of wetsuit, dies. In San Francisco Chronicle (May 11, 2008). Accessed July 8, 2011. Web link.

13 comments:

  1. It's great to see a comment about Connie and Wesley Mueller, I am their great nephew. Connie was my grandmother's sister. My uncle built most of their equipment except for the helmets, which were made by Snead in Jersey City, NJ. My uncle's father was Sam Mueller of Mueller's Spaghetti.

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    1. I would be interested in connecting. I knew Wesley and Connie in the 80's when I lived in Florida.

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  2. i have been searching for Wes & Con Mueller's films RENDEZ-VOUS ON A REEF and ISLAND ODDITIES, the soundtracks of which I knew off-by-heart, word-for-word.
    I showed these two movies several times a week, for a number of years, in Nassau, Bahamas, sponsored by ESSO.
    I would love to show them to my children and grandchildren.
    PAUL C. ARANHA

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  3. i have been searching for Wes & Con Mueller's films RENDEZ-VOUS ON A REEF and ISLAND ODDITIES, the soundtracks of which I knew off-by-heart, word-for-word.
    I showed these two movies several times a week, for a number of years, in Nassau, Bahamas, sponsored by ESSO.
    I would love to show them to my children and grandchildren.
    PAUL C. ARANHA

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    1. I'm in the process of pulling my parents copy off of VHS. My parents were friends with the Muellers and somehow ended up with a copy on VHS. Give me a reply if you are still looking. I can help you out.

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    2. I posted a copy I pulled from VHS.

      https://youtu.be/RcTSt7fWIok

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    3. AT LAST! Thanks to you I just enjoyed watching RendezVous in the Reef.
      Thank you, so very much.

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  4. My dad has rendezvous on a reef. I grew up going to connies house as a kid in palm beach. She was like a grandmother to me as a kid, always had sherbert and an incredible shell collection

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    Replies
    1. I posted a copy I pulled from VHS.

      https://youtu.be/RcTSt7fWIok

      Delete
  5. I also have a VHS copy as well, actually of two different documentaries. I’m going to convert them over to DVD if someone would like a copy. Mike Tobey

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  6. I have to confess that I have not visited this site since I posted my comments in 2016 and I am delighted to read all the replies that have been posted.

    If Mike Tobey is still offering DVD copies, I would certainly like to have one. Meanwhile, I will try to get my son to download it from YouTube.

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  7. Stay clear of managing within the mother board mainly because this will trigger you to ease in addition to slip. Tend not to possibility seeking to complete dives which might be difficult if you definitely really know what your are performing. Flips in addition to rotations are really trendy, they will not be value yourself. An occasion you had that can hold people protected is usually to never ever leap by itself. Have another person to you in the case of disaster, exactly who will let you when you slip. website

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  8. There's more than meets the eye to the story behind Jacqueline Bisset's famous wet t-shirt http://www.thedeepfilminglocations.com/2020/10/where-was-jacqueline-bissets-wet-t.html

    ReplyDelete