My Current Obsession: Vintage Swimsuits
My obsession so far this summer has been vintage swimsuits and bras.
My question is, is that weird? Do we care that they were worn before or am I just a freak who doesn’t really care? I feel like the idea of wearing someone else’s unmentionables is fine as long as it’s not underwear…but then again what the hell is the difference between underwear and a bikini bottom besides lycra??
But the bikinis and bras that I like are mainly from the 1960s and 1970s. So I feel like any intimate human contact has evaporated over 50+ years, right??
And now I’m realizing even after I just said no to underwear, that I just bought the below vintage babydoll nightie and it came with matching underwear.
What am I NOT supposed to wear them?! IT’S SO CUTE!
The swimsuit in the first photo even came with this cute little matching dress above (and surprisingly was actually made by Speedo in the 1960s). Imagine! Speedo making something with this personality now?! (What happened to personality in design btw?!?) Maybe that’s why I love vintage so much. The prints were just so good and diverse.
So now onto my issue with modern swimsuits & bikinis. At the end of the day there is just not enough structure. it seems like everything now is just a tiny little triangle with (maybe) MAYBE a little bit of padding. But I really love vintage 60s / 70s bikini shapes that had that great cone-like-slightly-pointy-nipple thing going on. When you look at the interior construction of most of the suits below, it looks like something you would find inside of a very well made dress.
I remember reading that Cristobal Balenciaga told the women he dressed who were insecure about certain parts of their body (as I think most humans are) that it was his job to make them feel better and to create their desired silhouette through his craft (i.e. if you didn’t like your arms he would cut the most beautiful sleeve known to man or if you felt your torso was too short, maybe he would give you a drop-waist to even out your proportions. Things like that! Ugh!!! Making clothing used to be such an art. Another reason why I love vintage so much.
So below I’m sharing some of my favorite vintage swimsuits currently on the market. I find Etsy to be the best place for a search and as you’ll see from my selection, Catalina seems to have been the superior brand.
Slide through the photos of this first one to see the STRUCTURE that we used to put into our swimsuits!! Everything now is so floppy!
And lastly, I could not leave you without sharing the above 1950’s rhinestone clad swimsuit. If I don’t see this at Alessandro Michele for Valentino soon I will be absolutely furious!
As always happy { vintage } shopping and have a lovely lovely week wherever you are!
Baci,
Jenny