They inspire fear, induce envy and prompt women to tears. But now the bikini’s days appear to be numbered.
The itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny two-piece is no longer the automatic weapon in a woman’s beach wardrobe, as proved by celebs like Rihanna, Kate Moss, Stephanie Seymour and Beyoncé, who’ve all donned more demure maillots on vacation in 2012. And designers like Michael Kors, Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld and Norma Kamali are all celebrating the one-piece this swimsuit season, with nary a bikini in sight.
Which means New York women flocking to hot spots in the upcoming winter months are more likely than ever to turn to the one-piece to make waves, say fashion experts.
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Kim Kardashian hits Miami in a demure Michael Kors swimsuit in September, proving modesty can be sexy — even before there’s a baby on board.
Photos: Buh-bye, Bikini!“We are definitely seeing a resurgence of one-pieces,” says Cindy Hahn, the owner of New York-based clothing and swimwear boutique Azaleas. “We’ve ordered about 20 percent more in one-pieces versus last year. The one-piece has been updated so that it’s neither a boring mommy suit nor a scandalous monokini.”
PHOTOS: ONE-PIECE SWIMSUITS
Women ages 18 to 34 make up the majority of Hahn’s clientele, and this season, they’re all about the tank suit.
“Nowhere is the adage ‘What goes around, comes around’ more true than with women’s apparel,” explains ArteMare co-founder and designer Quentin Smith. He says maillot mania is most likely due to “the 1950s pin-up resurgence we’re seeing in many areas of women’s fashion.”
Just like big labels, contemporary and more youth-centric designers like Wildfox, We Are Handsome and Roxy are adding colorful versions of the full-on bathing suit to their repertoires.
“Hell, yeah — maillots are definitely where it’s at,” says New York-based swimwear designer Malia Mills. Mills reports a steady increase, too, with sales of maillots up 17 percent this summer over last.
Swimwear retailer Threads & Fins in Newport Beach, Calif., is also surfing the trend. “The one-piece is back with a vengeance,” says Threads & Fins owner Michael Townsend. “There are now some subtle and wonderful tweaks that make the one-piece modern and fresh to the eye.”
And designers are only too happy to oblige customers seeking this new kind of swimwear chic.
“It’s far more exciting to design a maillot than a bikini,” says swimwear designer and Jeremy Scott protégée Lenny Leleu. “I love the challenge in covering up more.”
Whether it’s adding a few well-placed cutouts or embracing a vintage-style silhouette, the maillot allows for more reveal-or-conceal creativity, Leleu says. “I think that might be one of the reasons you’ll see more one-pieces on high-end fashion runways.”
New versions of the tank suit aren’t exactly a return to modesty. Designers are spicing up their offerings by showing suits with plunging necklines, strategic cutouts and down-to-there zippers. Hahn says tank suits in siren-red hues or colorblock prints, along with ruched ones that hide flaws, are best sellers.
Some lines, like Threads and Fins’ aptly named Minimale Animale, leave little to the imagination. “It uses a lot of mesh, higher-cut leg lines, and so the one-pieces are really quite bold,” explains Townsend. “I think it’s great for women not to be concerned about their tan lines.”
The one-piece has been overshadowed by its itsy-bitsy counterpart, the bikini, ever since it was invented by French engineer Louis Réard in 1946 and named for the infamous nuclear testing site Bikini Atoll.
It immediately caused ripples at Cannes and Hollywood, with bikinis covering — sometimes just barely — the enviable assets of pin-ups from the ’40s and ’50s like Bettie Page and Marilyn Monroe and, then later, ’60s sex goddesses like Sophia Loren and Brigitte Bardot. But in the decades that followed, the one-piece made a comeback, propelled by athletic supermodels like Cheryl Tiegs and Cindy Crawford, and blonde beauties like Bo Derek in “10.”
One tank suit, in particular, set a new standard for sexy swimwear.
“I think about the iconic 1976 poster of Farah Fawcett in her bright-red one-piece,” Smith says. “It’s one of the most enduring images of American beauty.”
In the ’80s, Brazilian bikini girls, with their dental-floss thongs and teensy tops, became the new standard. Even though Pamela Anderson put a new twist on Fawcett’s red suit when she appeared in “Baywatch” in the early ’90s, the two-piece has reigned for decades as the only beach garment suitable for goddesses.
But finally, that’s starting to change.
Mills believes social media sites like Instagram and Pinterest have helped pave the way. “We know the world is a stage now more than ever before, with the individual stepping into the spotlight, unafraid to make a statement and define it as her very own,” she says. “The one-piece is an outfit in and of itself — a statement piece that says I dare to be different.”