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!
Former Member
Sarah,
On a female swimmer, Stars and Stripes look cute, on a male swimmer, it looks gay. :p :lol:
I dunno, maybe it's just the stares and laughs I got when I had that speedo.
lainey,
have you tried the bikini splish suits? I always wear 2pc now that they are available!
Now I tried a few "tankinis" 3 years ago those were terrible for swimming, the top rolls up and down or ballons out and chafes! All the pain of a 1 pc with 2 parts and less coverage.
I still have my try tankini I don't know why!
no I haven't tried the bikini's, I prefer a one piece for swim workouts. To me, every bikini, not just Splish's, look like the girls might make an appearance when turning, diving, etc. :eek:
Originally posted by tjrpatt
The paper suit that was big in the 90s. Those suits were thin and tight as hell. Thank god those suits disappeared. It is nice to wear race suits that are comfortable.
Oh yea I remember those, wore them in the late 80's --Oh! Oh! the rubber suit too! I think these suits were the predecessors to these new $400 Fast Skin suits...
That also reminds me of when my coaches made up try on suits and the smallest we could get into, they would the tell us to order the next size smaller.
:p
Ok, it's from the sale rack, and it's pretty bad...
Speedo suit, striped vertically with blending shades of fuschia and purple, and purple zebra stripes going horizontally... it only makes a rare appearance at the pool, but it's rather memorable when it does!
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
Originally posted by tjrpatt
The paper suit that was big in the 90s. Those suits were thin and tight as hell. Thank god those suits disappeared. It is nice to wear race suits that are comfortable.
They haven't disappeared completely. I bought one for my daughter (shes 9) from the meet last weekend. It was on clearance, but they must still be hanging around. I kept mine from the last event that I swam just to remind myself that I could cram into one of those at some point in my life!!!
This is somewhat off topic but seeing as I am often am off topic in my daily life, what's the deal with the US team girls swimming in two piece suits at training camps this year? I looked at the swimcam pictures on USA-Swimming of training camps in Palo Alto and Spain and a LOT of the girls in the pictures were in bikinis!?! Is this fatskin technology taking over with the idea that skin is slower than the suits? Is this a tanning thing? ANYONE?!
Ok, back on topic, Meli I think that suit sounds fun. I love crazy loud suits. They are a riot. I have a tie-dyed looking one that has purple, red, orange and magenta in it. It's awesome. It's probably my favorite. I think its funny to swim in hideously ugly suits. I own many a normal suit, too. But rock on to the ugly ones! My favorite thing is to order grab bag suits because it's such an adventure.
Originally posted by SwiminONandON
My favorite thing is to order grab bag suits because it's such an adventure.
Opening a grab bag shipment is a bit like Christmas - I like that feeling of anticipation - of wondering what is inside. I figure if it's really bad I can always wear it at 6 AM practice when it's dark and nobody is awake enough to notice.
