Ms O'Hara upside down, with legs askew and bloomers exposed, feels a bit embarrassing.
In 1897, when Cambridge's Senate voted on whether to grant women degrees, (male) students rioted and an effigy of a suffragette in bloomers on a bicycle was suspended from the Senate House windows.
At her death in 1901, Victoria bequeathed several dozen pairs of bloomers to her servants ("for loyal service") but only one other complete pair has been found and sold.
The first swimsuits concealed most of the body: women wore bloomers, black stockings, and a dress with short sleeves and skirt; men wore a dark-coloured, one-piece, sleeveless garment reaching to the ankles or knees.
Miller's garment was also the inspiration for "rationals" (sometimes also known as bloomers), the knickerbockers worn by women for cycling and sport in the 1890s.
Amelia Bloomer's reformed trousers ("bloomers") for women did not become fashionable, but they were adopted by women gymnasts, sea bathers, and cyclists.
Window bloomers, such as Abutilon, the parlour maples, have bell-like flowers resembling Chinese lanterns.
Although 19th-century dress reformers tried to introduce trousers for women (known as bloomers), the style was rejected as too radical.
She attracted considerable ridicule for appearing in the costume, and the pantaloons came to be called "bloomers".
What has survived is the name bloomers, which originally referred to Miller's full trousers but was later applied to long knickers worn as underwear in the early 20th century.
With its puffed bloomers and poured skirts and that whipcord lacing harnessing torsos, it was all a bit techno Tyrolean.
