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LouiePart 2 Exclusive Interview with Gloria Smythe (Mortimer Dunn)
September 19th 2007 16:28
Swimwear Designer of the World - the Woman behind Speedo
Her name may not be listed in the Greatest Swimming Olympians of this country, but Gloria Smythe’s contribution to the sport is arguably just as significant as that of any Olympic Gold medalist.
Gloria was appointed as the first ever female Designer ever to be employed into an Executive position at Speedo in 1962. She bought with her a completely new and startlingly original talent to the world of Swimwear.
Gloria’s creations were always chic, witty, sophisticated and flamboyantly Australian. Gloria was daring – she was single handedly responsible for the rising side seams and removal of skirts on our beloved men’s racing swimmers when decisions were still being made on style at the Board level.
It was Gloria’s first Olympic swimwear designs in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games that made headlines with her green and gold vertical stripes for Australia and the worlds’ first ever panel swimwear using the red, white and blue for the American swim team. Prior to ‘64 all countries had worn solid colours. This innovation secured Speedo’s first Export award from the Department of Trade and Industry. It was Speedo whose garments were revered
by 16 of the 18 Gold Medalists of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Speedo had designed swimwear for 21 of the countries competing in the Tokyo Olympic Games. It was the first year that men were allowed to race skirtless and it was Gloria who oversaw the gradual evolution of the sleek, body-hugging racing swimsuit that Speedo has become famous for and which put many of our Olympians on the medal block. It was Gloria who argued that if Australian women were going to ever beat their rivals they would need
much more innovative costumes than the time.
After these games a progression of four new back styles came over the years, the lower contour back, the cross back, the racer back and the super back that had elasticized neck and arm holes.
In 1972 US Olympian Mark Spitz won 7 Olympic Gold medals wearing her famous stars and stripes.
In 1976 Nylon lycra was introduced to add sleekness and speed to the women and mens racing costumes. The 1976 Montreal Olympics were the first competition where Australian women swam without the demure, water-dragging skirts around their thighs and sporting the higher cut leg. This made the Swimming world fall madly in love with her. It was at this time that the launch of the Map of Australia print hit the world headlines with the word
Australia stenciled across it with a catch cry “We’re on the Olympic Map!” This swimsuit was introduced onto the local market after the Games and sold all over the world.
Gloria designed for seven Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games, Pacific Games and World championships etc.
Gloria’s time at Speedo spanned more than 29 years. Although she was the first Female Executive in the company, she was never supplied with a company car like her male colleagues and was paid less. Through her career, Gloria traveled extensively throughout Europe and the US for meetings, conventions and textile, fashion and sportswear trade fairs for advance fashion and colour events. She will never forget the day of her first
international trip in ‘64, when her Company asked her if her husband would
allow her to go.
By the time Gloria was halfway through her career she was designing racewear for 52 out of the 54 countries participating in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games with the majority of the Gold medalists wearing Speedo.
It wasn’t until Gloria had been in the business for more than ten years before her name was given in 1976 to the media as the Designer behind the Speedo label and she was recognized publicly by her organization.
It was Gloria who took her love of fashion into the Swimwear industry and introduced the first fashion prints – in 1965 she launched a 3 colored Leopard Print in Nylon Tricot for racing - a lightweight swimwear textile that dried very quickly. It was followed with a range of new multitoned prints and the addition of bikinis, matching kaftans, shifts, shirts and
culottes as “Minimates”.
Gloria’s influence was not confined to Australia, or to the 60’s and 70’s, and many of the avant gard ideas she pioneered at the time are now the staples of the modern swimwear wardrobe. It was Gloria who for the first time introduced gymwear that was later supplied to the Australian Olympic Gymnastics team for the Moscow Olympic Games and the Los Angeles Olympic Games.
In 1991, Gloria took early retirement on Speedo’s sale to Pentland Group London and just as quietly as she arrived, she disembarked – enigmatic, demure – slipping unnoticed through the crowd with her trunks full of memorabilia. The first two inch side seamed men’s trunk from the 1964 Olympic Games. The first ever women’s costume without the skirt. These treasures are now all held and celebrated in Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum,
The Maritime Museum, and the Manly Art Gallery and Museum.
It is imperative that Australians do not forget that the person who played an integral role in the development of our world class Australian Speedo product was in fact a woman – and not just any woman – but Gloria Smythe, a fine Australian role model with a reserved intelligence, vibrance and endless talent who dreamed only dreams not yet dreamt and reached only for Gold.
Her name may not be listed in the Greatest Swimming Olympians of this country, but Gloria Smythe’s contribution to the sport is arguably just as significant as that of any Olympic Gold medalist.
Gloria was appointed as the first ever female Designer ever to be employed into an Executive position at Speedo in 1962. She bought with her a completely new and startlingly original talent to the world of Swimwear.
Gloria’s creations were always chic, witty, sophisticated and flamboyantly Australian. Gloria was daring – she was single handedly responsible for the rising side seams and removal of skirts on our beloved men’s racing swimmers when decisions were still being made on style at the Board level.
It was Gloria’s first Olympic swimwear designs in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games that made headlines with her green and gold vertical stripes for Australia and the worlds’ first ever panel swimwear using the red, white and blue for the American swim team. Prior to ‘64 all countries had worn solid colours. This innovation secured Speedo’s first Export award from the Department of Trade and Industry. It was Speedo whose garments were revered
by 16 of the 18 Gold Medalists of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Speedo had designed swimwear for 21 of the countries competing in the Tokyo Olympic Games. It was the first year that men were allowed to race skirtless and it was Gloria who oversaw the gradual evolution of the sleek, body-hugging racing swimsuit that Speedo has become famous for and which put many of our Olympians on the medal block. It was Gloria who argued that if Australian women were going to ever beat their rivals they would need
much more innovative costumes than the time.
After these games a progression of four new back styles came over the years, the lower contour back, the cross back, the racer back and the super back that had elasticized neck and arm holes.
In 1972 US Olympian Mark Spitz won 7 Olympic Gold medals wearing her famous stars and stripes.
In 1976 Nylon lycra was introduced to add sleekness and speed to the women and mens racing costumes. The 1976 Montreal Olympics were the first competition where Australian women swam without the demure, water-dragging skirts around their thighs and sporting the higher cut leg. This made the Swimming world fall madly in love with her. It was at this time that the launch of the Map of Australia print hit the world headlines with the word
Australia stenciled across it with a catch cry “We’re on the Olympic Map!” This swimsuit was introduced onto the local market after the Games and sold all over the world.
Gloria designed for seven Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games, Pacific Games and World championships etc.
Gloria’s time at Speedo spanned more than 29 years. Although she was the first Female Executive in the company, she was never supplied with a company car like her male colleagues and was paid less. Through her career, Gloria traveled extensively throughout Europe and the US for meetings, conventions and textile, fashion and sportswear trade fairs for advance fashion and colour events. She will never forget the day of her first
international trip in ‘64, when her Company asked her if her husband would
allow her to go.
By the time Gloria was halfway through her career she was designing racewear for 52 out of the 54 countries participating in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games with the majority of the Gold medalists wearing Speedo.
It wasn’t until Gloria had been in the business for more than ten years before her name was given in 1976 to the media as the Designer behind the Speedo label and she was recognized publicly by her organization.
It was Gloria who took her love of fashion into the Swimwear industry and introduced the first fashion prints – in 1965 she launched a 3 colored Leopard Print in Nylon Tricot for racing - a lightweight swimwear textile that dried very quickly. It was followed with a range of new multitoned prints and the addition of bikinis, matching kaftans, shifts, shirts and
culottes as “Minimates”.
Gloria’s influence was not confined to Australia, or to the 60’s and 70’s, and many of the avant gard ideas she pioneered at the time are now the staples of the modern swimwear wardrobe. It was Gloria who for the first time introduced gymwear that was later supplied to the Australian Olympic Gymnastics team for the Moscow Olympic Games and the Los Angeles Olympic Games.
In 1991, Gloria took early retirement on Speedo’s sale to Pentland Group London and just as quietly as she arrived, she disembarked – enigmatic, demure – slipping unnoticed through the crowd with her trunks full of memorabilia. The first two inch side seamed men’s trunk from the 1964 Olympic Games. The first ever women’s costume without the skirt. These treasures are now all held and celebrated in Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum,
The Maritime Museum, and the Manly Art Gallery and Museum.
It is imperative that Australians do not forget that the person who played an integral role in the development of our world class Australian Speedo product was in fact a woman – and not just any woman – but Gloria Smythe, a fine Australian role model with a reserved intelligence, vibrance and endless talent who dreamed only dreams not yet dreamt and reached only for Gold.
Gloria Today
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