Suit Up : Swimwear: The bust gets top billing in 1991. Designers raise it, lower it, reveal it and conceal it.
The word for 1991 swimwear is magic . Two-piece suits convert to one piece with the flick of a waistband; peek-a-boo mesh inserts are intriguing and concealing; sexy suits are fashioned from girdle-strong fabrics; textured surfaces are made to look like velour or corduroy, and there are endless ways to increase, decrease, raise, lower, conceal and reveal the bust.
The trends surfaced recently at the California Mart, where swimwear companies held this year’s International Swimwear/Activewear Market (ISAM) in their showrooms. The exception was Israel-based Gottex, whose cruise ’91 collection hit the runway during a “Fashions for Peace” benefit Wednesday at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
The bosom gets top billing from everyone, including Miriam Ruzow, president of Gottex, who discussed the next most important issue: fabrics. At Gottex, they include “an unexpected match of patterns and textures; beautiful, bright colors and some psychedelic prints; artist-inspired prints and the influence of the ecology.” With many companies, including Gottex and E. Stewart, offering Pucci-inspired ‘60s prints, there is every chance of Pucci overkill by summer. The environment is another prevalent theme. Baja Blue, for example, adds subtle touches--a suit done in “Jacques Cousteau” blue and a suit with fish swimming across the front.
Baja Blue, a fresh line from Beach Patrol Inc., is one of several promising newcomers. Another, Juice, a junior/contemporary line from Cole of California, makes its first splash with suits trimmed in raffia, shells, sequins or rubber. Dive Boy, a Miami-based company, is offering some of the thinnest, most sensual fabrics and some of the sexiest designs.
In a season of unusual cuts, colors and fabrics, the names are almost as fascinating as the products. Huit uses a suede-finish fabric so soft and clinging that it is called “Peau de Peche,” or peach skin. But no one seems to have as many captivating titles as Anne Cole, who has changed Cole Jr. to Hot Coles and peppered her collections with styles called “Bosom Buddy,” “Twin Peaks,” “Two-Car Garage” and “Lunch Box.” Lori Ovington, a Cole sales representative, speculated the lunch box reference means “you can put everything inside.”
