Why women of the 1880's didn't wear normal bathing suits...

So I have a few illustration projects that are based in the 1880s and I've been having fun looking at old Sears catalogues and the like and I was thinking that this really is a pretty odd sillouette.The idea of a women fitting this shape kinda cracked me up.

Another gem I found while doing research:

So corsets are important for your hygiene and all ages of women should have the benefits wearing them. Weird world. But then again, we have stilettos...