|
|
|
A swimsuit (also swimmers), bathing suit (also
bathers), aqua jammies or swimming costume (sometimes shortened to
cozzie) is an item of clothing designed to be worn for swimming. In
New Zealand English and some areas of Australian English, swimsuits
are usually called togs. This term is less common in other parts of
the Commonwealth where it can also refer to clothes in general. Swimsuits
can be skin-tight or loosely fitting and range from garments designed
to preserve as much modesty as possible to garments designed to reveal
as much of the body as possible without actual nudity. They are often
lined with a fabric that prevents them from becoming transparent when
wet.
Swimsuits in general Swimsuits
are designed to cover at least the genitalia, and in some cultures
women's nipples. Men's swimsuit styles tend to be shorts, trunks,
boardshorts, jammers, speedo-style briefs, thongs, or cut-off jeans.
Women's swimsuits are generally either one-piece swimsuits, bikinis
or thongs.
The monokini, a style of swimsuit that most often takes the form of
a bikini bottom without the corresponding top, leaves a woman's breasts
uncovered. Monokinis are quite common in many places throughout South
America and Europe, though due to particularly stringent taboos they
are almost never seen in the United States, except in places with
a strong European tourist influence. For pre-pubescent girls leaving
the chest uncovered is sometimes considered more acceptable.
Special swimsuits for competitive swimming, designed to reduce skin
drag, can resemble unitards. For some kinds of swimming and diving,
special bodysuits called diveskins are worn. These suits are made
from spandex and provide little thermal protection, but they do protect
the skin from stings and abrasion. Most competitive swimmers also
wear special swimsuits including partial and full bodysuits, racerback
styles, jammers and racing briefs to assist their glide through the
water and gain speed advantages (see competitive swimwear).
Swimming without a bathing suit is a form of social nudity. Special
nude beaches may be reserved for nude sunbathing and swimming. Swimming
in the nude is also known by the slang term skinny-dipping. As an
alternative to a bathing suit some people use their trousers, underpants
or T-shirt as a make-shift swimsuit. At beaches norms for this tend
to be more relaxed than at swimming pools, which tend not to permit
this because underwear is unlined, may become translucent, and may
be unclean.
Swimsuits are also worn for the purpose of body display in beauty
pageants. Magazines like Sports Illustrated's annual "swimsuit issue"
feature models and sports personalities in swimsuits.
History In
Classical antiquity swimming and bathing was most often done nude.
In some settings coverings were used. Murals at Pompeii show women
wearing two-piece suits covering the areas around their breasts and
hips in a fashion remarkably similar to a bikini of c. 1960. After
this, the notion of special water apparel seems to have been lost
for centuries.
In various cultural traditions one swims, if not in the nude, in a
version in suitable material of a garment or undergarment commonly
word on land, e.g. a loincloth such as the Japanese man's fundoshi.
In the 18th century women wore "bathing gowns" in the water; these
were long dresses of fabrics that would not become transparent when
wet, with weights sewed into the hems so that they would not rise
up in the water. The men's swim suit, a rather form-fitting wool garment
with long sleeves and legs similar to long underwear, was developed
and would change little for a century.
In the 19th century, the woman's two piece suit became common—the
two pieces being a gown from shoulder to knees plus a set of trousers
with leggings going down to the ankles.
In the Victorian era, popular beach resorts were commonly equipped
with bathing machines designed to avoid the exposure of people in
swimsuits, especially to people of the opposite sex. In 1907 the swimmer
Annette Kellerman from Australia visited the United States as an "underwater
ballerina", a version of synchronized swimming involving diving into
glass tanks. She was arrested for indecent exposure because her swimsuit
showed arms, legs and the neck. Kellerman changed the suit to have
long arms and legs and a collar, still keeping the close fit that
revealed the shapes underneath. She later starred in several movies,
including one about her life.
After this, bathing wear slowly became less conservative, first uncovering
the arms and then the legs up to mid-thigh. Collars receded from up
around the neck down to about mid-way between the neck and nipples.
The development of new fabrics allowed for new varieties of more comfortable
and practical swim wear.
Due to the figure-hugging nature of these garments, glamour photography
since the 1940s and 1950s often featured people wearing swimsuits.
This subset of glamour photography eventually evolved into swimsuit
photography with the help of Sports Illustrated and swimsuit photographers
around the world.
The first bikinis were introduced just after World War II. Early examples
were not very different from the women's two pieces common since the
1920s, except that they had a gap below the breast line allowing for
a section of bare midriff. They were named after Bikini Atoll, the
site of several nuclear weapons tests, for their supposed explosive
effect on the viewer.
Through the 1950s, it was thought proper for the lower part of the
bikini to come up high enough to cover the navel. From the 1960s on,
the bikini shrank in all directions until it sometimes covered little
more than the nipples and genitalia, although less revealing models
giving more support to the breasts remained popular. At the same time,
Fashion designer Rudi Gernreich introduced the monokini, a topless
suit for women consisting of a modest bottom supported by two thin
straps. Although not a commercial success, the suit opened eyes to
new design possibilities. In the 1980s the thong or "tanga" came out
of Brazil, said to have been inspired by traditional garments of native
tribes in the Amazon. However, the one-piece suit continued to be
popular for its more modest approach.
Men's swimsuits developed roughly in parallel to women's during this
period, with the shorts covering progressively less. Eventually racing-style
"speedo" suits became popular—and not just for their speed advantages.
Thongs were often seen among the more daring and provocative crowds.
But in the 1990s, longer and baggier shorts became popular, with the
hems often reaching to the knees. Perhaps due to the greater weight
of these suits when wet, or perhaps from sheer daring, they were often
worn lower on the hips than regular shorts.
Article Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimsuit |
|
|
