In 1858, Winslow Homer, who was later to become a well-known American painter, was welcomed into the society at Newport until it became apparent that he wanted to sketch the bathers for a weekly newspaper (see fig. 4). So great were the ensuing objections that he was permitted to complete his sketches "... provided he depicted the bathers only in the water and only above the waistline and without divulging the identity of the bathers."[38] [38] B. BROOKE, "Bathing-dress with Hat and Gloves," _Hobbies_ (August 1958), vol. 63, p. 90. As can be seen in figure 4, these sketches serve more as a testament of Homer's fancy than as an accurate historical statement on style. The two feminine legs exposed in the water from just below the knee to the toe and the feminine head coverings appear to be anachronisms. According to several other illustrations of the period, these women were undoubtedly wearing long drawers. The young artist at 22, however, has been described as having an eye for feminine beauty and a sense of fashion. He seems to have exploited to the full the decorative possibilities of hoop skirts blown by the breeze or agitated by some pretty accident to discreetly reveal a trim ankle. A drama of breeze versus long skirt appears with the small feminine figure in the left background of this print. The force of the waves and the motion of the frolicking bathers gave the artist opportunity to show two more pretty accidents. The only head covering he showed for feminine bathers was a ruffled cap that framed the face. Other sources show Newport bathers wearing the less attractive wide-brimmed straw hat (fig. 9). The straw headgear worn over these caps seems more likely since Newport's fashionable belles would surely have sacrificed appearances and worn a straw hat to avoid an unfashionable sunburn and tan. [Illustration: Figure 9.--BATHING HAT of natural color and purple straw, c. 1880. (Smithsonian photo P-65409.)] Nevertheless, Homer's sketch reflects characteristics seen in certain surviving examples from the 1860s--namely that the top was becoming more fitted, being attached completely to a belt with the fuller skirt pleated or gathered to the bottom edge of the belt. In the Design Laboratory Collection of the Brooklyn Museum there is an 1860 black poplin specimen that may be a bathing dress. This example is trimmed at the shoulder seam with epaulets, an example of the extent to which fashion was finally playing a part in bathing costume.[39] [39] Photograph and pattern appears in Blanch Payne, _History of Costume_ (New York: Harper & Row, 1965), pp. 518, 583-584. The dresses described above appear peculiar not only to 20th century eyes, but they also seem to have amused mid-19th century correspondents. One writer in 1857 declared that,