Trouville Plage From the canvas bathing houses there issue at high water the ladies in ' bloomer ' costumes and straw hats , who are careful to let neither their faces nor their hair touch the salt water , who swim with one foot on the bottom , and who never bathe without an escort of male friends . People of all nations saunter along the boarded walk across the sand . Frenchmen in light blue suits , white boots and small thermometers fastened to their hatbands ; Englishmen in ' loud ' patterns ; Russians in top boots , red sashes , and white duck jackets ; Germans in tight trousers ; Swedes , Turks , Americans , Italians , Negroes , Cubans 1874