Vogue has posted an online gallery showcasing Marilyn’s vintage ‘summer vacation style,’ mostly from her early modelling days. She wore this yellow string bikini in photo shoots with Richard C. Miller, Laszlo Willinger, and Bruno Bernard.
While these 1940s bikinis look rather bulky today, going strapless was then considered daring. With many of these ensembles coming from Marilyn’s own wardrobe, she also experimented with prints and other details, including stripes.
Just plain white was her signature shade, though, and by the time of her 1953 shoot with Mischa Pelz (above right), she had perfected the look.
For another beach shoot in Los Angeles (not Long Island as stated by Vogue), Marilyn wore the same two-piece from her Earl Leaf layout, shot a few months prior at Johnny Hyde’s home in 1950.
She could also rock a one-piece, as seen in this Beverly Carlton Hotel poolside shot by Phil Burchman (above left); and her onscreen and offscreen personae merged in another photo by Ernest Bachrach (above right), showing off Marilyn’s polka-dot bikini from Love Nest (1951.)
White shorts were also a starlet staple, as part of a romper suit for a 1945 shoot with Andre de Dienes (above left); with a crisp white shirt in Ed Clark’s Griffith Park layout from 1950 (centre); or with a sweater for Dave Cicero in 1951 (left – incorrectly dated to 1955 by Vogue.)
Moving away from the beach, Marilyn had adopted a more sophisticated style by 1954, wearing a green shirt and slacks for a garden shoot with Baron; and in 1956, while cycling in England’s cooler climes, she paired white sneakers and a dark knit cardigan with her striped top and plain slacks.
Marilyn’s 1920s bathing suit from Some Like It Hot – recently sold at Julien’s Auctions – doesn’t reflect her own fashion era. However the white towelling beach jacket she wore with it is similar to a number of items she favoured.
As Marilyn matured, the swimwear layouts were replaced by studio sittings, with a few notable exceptions – albeit omitted by Vogue – such as Sam Shaw’s Amagansett shots from 1957 (below left), and one of Marilyn’s final sessions in 1962 (at right), photographed on Santa Monica Beach by George Barris.
UPDATE:
Richard C. Miller’s photo of Marilyn in her yellow string bikini is also featured as part of ‘Bathing Beauties,’ a 3-page layout in the August 2025 issue of UK nostalgia magazine Yours Retro (#91, with Cary Grant on the cover.)
The Marilyn Report 