As I was posting a reply to "coolest swimming inventions" about improvements in bathing suits, one of the things that struck me was the variety of patterns now available. "Back in the day" the choices seemed to be solid or stripes. But that got me thinking...what are some of the ugliest/stupidest suit patterns you've seen or had to wear? Three come to mind for me:
1. My first swim team had thin, vertical black and yellow stripes. We looked like bumble bees, and of course we endured endless cracks about "buzzing off".
2. A summer swim camp I attended in the 70s had white bathing suits. Yup, solid white. And they were one of the first lycra suits...so you can imagine how long they lasted before becoming transparent. Embarrassing...
3. About a month ago I tried on a reversible suit. One side had an aquatic animal theme - dolphins and so forth. On the hangar it looked kind of cute. Then I tried it on, and all the gals in the change room started to laugh. I looked in the mirror, and saw that I had a dolphin "leaping" out of my crotch and another aimed for my right ***. Needless to say, I didn't buy it!
Okay...I have to respond to this one.... The ABSOLUTE ugliest suits were the Ocean suits I had to wear when I swam on a club team as a kid....and...this dates me...it was back in about 1960-63. This was pre-lycra and there was no such thing as a competitive suit that actually fit. They were made of nylon and they had "conservative" bottoms that looked somewhat reminiscent of Huggies diapers when they started to wear out. The bottoms would sag, the elastic would wear out in the leg holes and you sort of looked like you were wearing a nylon toga. Also, the straps had no "give" and they were cut wide. Since your parents were always getting a size too big (you were supposed to grow into them before they dissolved at the end of the summer) the straps were too long and they would fall off your shoulder during any stroke....causing a sort of "swimming in an arm sling" effect. To rectify this we used to tie a shoe string through both of the straps in the back so they wouldn't fall off our shoulders when we were swimming. Thanks God for the invention of stretchy polymers! Oh...it didn't matter what color you bought....they all faded and there was no way any color was ever attractive. The only advantage they had over the earlier versions of competitive suits was that they WERE NOT wool!
Sally :p
Okay...I have to respond to this one.... The ABSOLUTE ugliest suits were the Ocean suits I had to wear when I swam on a club team as a kid....and...this dates me...it was back in about 1960-63. This was pre-lycra and there was no such thing as a competitive suit that actually fit. They were made of nylon and they had "conservative" bottoms that looked somewhat reminiscent of Huggies diapers when they started to wear out. The bottoms would sag, the elastic would wear out in the leg holes and you sort of looked like you were wearing a nylon toga. Also, the straps had no "give" and they were cut wide. Since your parents were always getting a size too big (you were supposed to grow into them before they dissolved at the end of the summer) the straps were too long and they would fall off your shoulder during any stroke....causing a sort of "swimming in an arm sling" effect. To rectify this we used to tie a shoe string through both of the straps in the back so they wouldn't fall off our shoulders when we were swimming. Thanks God for the invention of stretchy polymers! Oh...it didn't matter what color you bought....they all faded and there was no way any color was ever attractive. The only advantage they had over the earlier versions of competitive suits was that they WERE NOT wool!
Sally :p
