Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
Summer is officially here. That means weekend beach trips, poolside lounging, and–in cities like New York, where open spaces are hard to come by–lots of public tanning in the parks. It’s all very nice and fun. But for women, there’s more to these activities than just doing them. There’s the dreaded anxiety-inducing odyssey of finding a good bathing suit to wear at them–a suit that looks nice, is comfortable, trendy, and does not require a month-long crash diet of 1,000 calories/day followed by three lemonade “cleanses.” Ah–bikini season and its discontents.
For the, say, under-forty crowd, these discontents arise from the social pressure to sport a specific type of suit at the beach: a bikini. More specifically, for the last decade, the trend in bathing suits has been to bare it all with string bikinis. Most women, disciples of the fashion industry and the magazines that parrot its ideas, have followed the trend blindly, and it’s really too bad that they have. The trend was, and continues to be, objectionable for two reasons. First, string bikinis are so revealing that they leave nothing to the imagination. I’m reminded of something Emma Watson said recently about how, when it comes to what women wear, bearing less can be more. Put another way, more modesty is sexy:
I find the whole concept of being ‘sexy’ embarrassing and confusing. If I do a photo-shoot people desperately want to change me—dye my hair blonder, pluck my eyebrows, give me a fringe. Then there’s the choice of clothes. I know everyone wants a picture of me in a mini-skirt. But that’s not me. I feel uncomfortable. I’d never go out in a mini-skirt. It’s nothing to do with protecting the Hermione image. I wouldn’t do that.
Personally, I don’t actually think it’s even that sexy. What’s sexy about saying, “I’m here with my boobs out and a short skirt . . . have a look at everything I’ve got”? My idea of sexy is that less is more. The less you reveal the more people can wonder.
Second, string bikinis–and the general fashion trend of bearing it all–is often aesthetically offensive.
If you’re a model, a size zero, or have a body-fat percentage of zilch, you can pull off a skimpy bikini. In other words, if you have the body of a fourteen-year-old boy, then string bikinis are for you. Click here to see the famously waif-ish Kiera Knightley in one.
If you’re everyone else–that is, if you are a normal-sized woman–string bikinis won’t look good on you. And yet, every year at the beach, there are women wearing bathing suits that are too tiny for their bodies, even if their bodies are fit. It’s an unflattering look. Just because something is in vogue doesn’t mean that all women should wear it.
Jersey Shore‘s Deena Cortese proves my point.
As does Donatella Versace. The point is not that we all should lose weight so we can look good in a certain type of suit. Obviously Versache is very thin. The point is that we need to work with our bodies to find a suit that looks good on us (and this point, of course, applies to our clothing choices more generally).
So the question is: What looks good? Women’s fashion, like during the golden age of Hollywood, used to be about making women look feminine. Again, revealing less is more sexy, as you can see in these pictures of Marilyn, Liz, and Betty. But recently, fashion has trended toward making women look unfeminine, as I’ve written about before.
With that in mind, I want to sing hallelujahs to two recent articles that have pushed string bikinis off the bathing suit pedestal for women. The first one, from the Wall Street Journal, points to a new and better trend in beachwear: the pin-up doll look of the 1950s. The piece contrasts the skimpy look of recent times . . .
…the hard-body look with high-cut legs and plunging V necklines—launched in the 1980s but long-surviving—or the teeny bikinis of recent years. “That high-rise leg is so sexy, but it’s very hard to pull off,” says Jenny Pyle, designer of the 1 Sol swimwear brand. Her customer, she says, is much like herself: “We’re in our 30s. We have kids. We don’t want to have our butt hanging out,” she says.
. . . with a new look, which is actually old:
With summer comes the dreaded season of swimwear shopping. But this year’s retro-glam looks may ease some of the angst.
The latest suits hark back to the relatively chaste looks of Hollywood’s heyday, with low leg cuts, high-waisted bikini bottoms, shirred and gathered fabric, and tops that offer fuller coverage . . .
Ultrafeminine details such as sweetheart necklines, ruching, and ruffled skirts on suits are hot sellers, she says. “The more feminine styles that we put into the line this year, the customer has really gravitated to,” Ms. Bryant says.
Over at Cafe Mom, we have a second piece about the demerits of bearing it all on the beach. Mary Fischer explains women are not the only ones who prefer a more modest look. Men prefer regular bikinis and even one-piece suits to the overly vaunted string bikini:
After reading the results of a poll conducted by Marie Claire based on what types of swimsuits men most like to see women wearing on the beach or at the pool, I’ve gotta admit that I was a tiny bit shocked. I mean, it wasn’t a surprise that out of the 100 men who were surveyed, 93 percent of them preferred a standard two-piece, but the fact that a regular bikini fared higher than a string bikini? Yeah, that surprised me a bit. I guess men aren’t as into the whole dental floss thing as I thought?
And another type of suit on the list that had me scratching my head a little bit? The chic, ’50s-style retro looking suits. Men aren’t exactly fans of those, considering only 21 percent found them to be attractive. (What would Marilyn Monroe say about that?)
And while one-piece bathing suits did better than I expected, with 65 percent of men preferring them, tankinis only pulled in a 53 percent approval rating. Hmm. Guess I’d better think twice about ditching regular two-pieces all together and going for a sportier look this summer.
Judging from these results, it seems as though men prefer suits that are feminine and show off a woman’s best assets without being too terribly revealing. They like skin–but they don’t like too much skin. Huh. Interesting.
Does this mean that we can kiss the string bikini goodbye, in favor of a more feminine and elegant look? I hope so. What makes me even more hopeful is that young women, as well as old, are rallying around the retro-glam look that accentuates our natural hourglass figures, rather than an unnatural and boyish androgyny.
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Aug '10
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
Bearing less can be more.
Midge here could stand to be bearing about ten pounds less right now, come to think of it.
Edited on June 14, 2012 at 9:43pmJun '10
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
Young women might be looking for a soul-mate, but a lot of them are advertising for something entirely different. They really have to make up their minds.
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
Funny. I'm going to Ecuador this summer, and spent two months hunting for a swimsuit to take with me. I was specifically looking for something that looked like it came from the 1940's — and I finally found it at J.Crew. High waisted briefs that are described as "a sophisticated take on vintage swimwear, styled with pinup-perfect proportions", and a halter top.
This comment feels like an advertisement. I assure you that I'm not being paid by J.Crew for my endorsement.
Jun '10
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
Here's one from back when I was young. Is this the retro look you're talking about?
Note the hour glass figure.
Edited on June 14, 2012 at 9:58pmNov '10
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
I think I could bear a great deal, but I'm not up to baring much.
Edited on June 14, 2012 at 9:59pmAug '10
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
Gals who wear string bikini tops are probably either
The number of adult women who can sport an entirely natural full bust flatteringly with nearly no support is rather small.
For some of us prone by nature to being fatties, sagginess is the price we've had to pay for staying slim (or at least slimmer than nature apparently intended) since our teens.
Dec '10
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
I immediately thought of Susie Brown of the Janedear Girls who goes for the Bettie Page look and pulls it off reasonably well.
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
Diane Ellis, Ed.: Funny. I'm going to Ecuador this summer, and spent two months hunting for a swimsuit to take with me. I was specifically looking for something that looked like it came from the 1940's — and I finally found it at J.Crew. High waisted briefs that are described as "a sophisticated take on vintage swimwear, styled with pinup-perfect proportions", and a halter top.
This comment feels like an advertisement. I assure you that I'm not being paid by J.Crew for my endorsement. · 10 minutes ago
Adorable suit -- I love it.
Nov '11
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
A return to 40s and 50s fashion? Yes, please! The only thing wrong with this post is that it doesn't have enough Elizabeth Taylor pics.
Here's what I don't understand about the terrible decline of women's fashion, maybe the ladies can explain it to me. The only reason I could come up with for women to toss aside those beautiful Hollywood Golden Age type dresses for today's t-shirts and tight jeans uniform would be comfort/ease-of-wear, ie that 'dressing up' takes too much daily effort, while just putting on some pants and a shirt is so easy even men can do it. But, several women bloggers I know regularly complain that it is, in fact, almost impossible to find comfortable, attractive clothes that fit well in today's styles - that, unless you have the figure of a teenage boy, the pants and tops are ill-fitting and unflattering, and that in fact the old-style dresses are much more comfortable and forgiving.
So if the jeans look isn't actually easier and more comfortable, and it's definitely uglier, why did so many women adopt it?
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
Midget Faded Rattlesnake: Gals who wear string bikini tops are probably either
The number of adult women who can sport an entirely natural full bust flatteringly with nearly no support is rather small. · 8 minutes ago
So true and well put. It makes me wonder how many wardrobe malfunctions there are on the beach every year.
Nov '11
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
and you know that they must know deep down it looks good, because on any 'important' occasion, like commencement or new year's or oscar night, when they try to look their best, they all of a sudden dress very conservatively. it's just the other 360-some-odd days of the year they decide looking good doesn't matter!
May '10
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
The wifeösphere went shopping with fear & trembling for a bathing suit for our daughter (who is only 10, but hey: it's never to early to start fighting the modesty wars). She was thrilled--ecstatic, really--to find something that the kid liked that was also modest, with a retro skirt built into it. Glad to see it's a trend. I dearly hope it's not a fad, or it'll be over with the summer.
Jul '10
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
There are very few women who look good, nay, look okay, in a skimpy bikini. And string bikinis are just not feminine. Period.
For those of us who are noticing more and more gray, for the past few decades the hunt for the perfect bathing suit has become increasingly elusive with each passing year.
The good news, tho, is that catalogues of late are showing beautifully cut suits, and their number has increased each year for the past few seasons. That may mean that those women who forget their glasses when shopping for a suit, or those who shop in boutiques with soft lighting and “slimming mirrors” may be the only ones on the beach looking, well, ridiculous.
Mar '11
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
I avoid beaches, so swimsuits are basically irrelevant to me.
But I admit that I *love* seeing women in dresses and skirts, and find trousers and shorts to be entirely unfeminine and uninteresting - and low hipped trousers are mildly revolting, however pretty the woman wearing them.
There is a prettiness and an elegance to dresses and skirts. The alternatives cheapen women. And let's face it: people don't value cheap.
May '11
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
I think this article could only be written by a woman.
String bikinis look wonderful on a very feminine body. If you show more of your body, then more of your body needs to be toned and healthy to look good.
If your body has flaws, you should opt for more covering, if what others think is what is important to you.
There's a lot of pressure on a woman to look nice and so therefore there is a certain pushback or even dread for revealing more of her body and having more of her available for scrutiny.
But don't make the mistake of thinking that it takes the body of a 14 year old boy to wear a string bikini. That doesn't look nice at all. Do not confuse flab for curves.
Edited on June 14, 2012 at 10:25pmMay '10
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
I've always found it interesting that women (and men) feel embarrassed if caught in their underwear but reveal more in swimwear.
Take it from an Aspie: cultural norms don't always make sense.
May '10
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
As for aesthetics, I'll repeat what I said a week or two in another thread:
When a man calls a woman beautiful, he is describing her. When a man calls a woman sexy, he is describing what he wants to do with her.
Beauty is the greater compliment. Aim to be beautiful.
Aug '10
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
To really rock one of those dresses like a Golden Age starlet, you've either got to have a naturally slender waist or...
a girdle.
I'm lucky in that respect -- my waist is probably my only major anatomical area that could regularly be dignified with the title slender, and I prefer bustiers and boned dresses to bras (when I can find them!)
Many women aren't so lucky.
Why aren't corsets, etc, more popular? Honestly, I don't know. People think they're uncomfortable, but are they really less comfortable than your average bra, which requires you to bear the weight of your, ah, femininity on your shoulders?
Aug '10
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
True.
On the other hand, breast tissue is largely fat. Many women find that being toned and slender elsewhere is paid for with saggier bosoms, since less fat means less breast tissue as well. And string bikinis are not designed for sagginess.
As I said, some gals have it -- fat breasts, skinny everywhere else. Many don't, and do themselves no favors by dressing like they do.
Edited on June 14, 2012 at 11:00pmJan '11
Re: Pin-Up Girls & Our Summer of Modesty
This was going around the Interwebs a few months ago. Though I don't think the top row shows today's varsity team, the point was obvious and agreed upon by nearly everyone I saw comment.
Also, who knew Bettie Page was so darned cute!?
Edited on June 14, 2012 at 11:08pm