Ugly swimsuits

[mamadeb]

Truly modest swimwear.

I'd rather wear a t-shirt over a one-piece, thank you.

Comments

[gryphons-lair.livejournal.com]

Good lord, those are hideous. And black would be horribly hot.

Do people actually buy stuff like that?

[ailsaek.livejournal.com]

Oh my. I will never, ever, be that modest.

[gingicat]

Would a short-sleeved leotard work as a swimsuit, if it covered the collarbones?

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

Different tastes; I seriously considered buying one or more of those, except they're awfully expensive. (This is not meant as criticism of you or your preferences.)

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Honestly.

So did I. Even if they are, to me, ugly.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

With a skirt and longer sleeves...

:)

Which is why, if I were buying a new swimsuit, I'd probably go for a tankini and skirt combo, to be worn with an old (and short-sleeved) t-shirt.

[gittygiggles.livejournal.com]

those truly are some of the ugliest things i've ever seen

[gingicat]

*nod* It looks like the suits shown on that page you linked to are designed to not lose their shape when wet, so as not to do the body-silouhetting (sp?) thing.

[leahmiriam.livejournal.com]

I'd rather not go into the water or to a beach if I had to wear one of those to do so. I wear long, thin, 100% cotton indian style skirts with thin long sleeve shirts. It is lightweight and cute :)

[gryphons-lair.livejournal.com]

designed to not lose their shape when wet

Ah, that would account for the stiffness, then.

They look horridly uncomfortable, though. And if they don't soften up when they get wet, I'd think they'd be difficult to actually, y'know, swim in. Splash around, go wading, yes, but swim? Like, lap swimming? If nothing else, they'd generate a huge amount of drag.

[jetis.livejournal.com]

I'm rather fond of the culotte swimmer, myself.

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

The pool here in the apartment won't let people wear T-shirts. They might not like those suits either but perhaps if we claimed religious reasons? It would definitely help to be able to say it is a swimsuit.

I'll probably get one for my daughter.

[tpau]

well, it beats whtthe ladies at Brighton Beach did... The very religious hasidim would always be at he beach, as it was wicked hot, but they woudl go itnothe water in their shirts and jumper dresses and such... it looked really uncomfortable and kindof silly

a friend of mien got somewhere (i think JCPenny's) these swimsuits for her kids that are like one piece PJs with long sleeves and long leggings with a skirt liek thing attached for the girls. it covered everythign except the head. it was this weird thin fabric that breathed but did nto allow UV light to go through, so no tanningor burning.

[lexin.livejournal.com]

Um...why is this necessary? (Realising I'm sounding really dumb here.)

[elke-tanzer.livejournal.com]

I don't have religious reasons for wanting anything like this, but I find myself wondering if their lycra undersuits can be worn without the over-layer.

Frankly (and this may be TMI, sorry), current fashionable trends stipulating that women be hairless in places where most adult humans have hair growing while in public... well I'd dearly love to have a swimsuit with sleeves and upper-leg-covering, rather than a tank-top sleeved swimsuit which has a narrow crotch area and high-cut leg openings.

Hmmm. Interesting link!

If you don't mind me asking... and my apologies for being clueless about this stuff! In some of that website's photos the women are wearing hats, but in other photos, they aren't. How do you manage hair-covering for swimming?

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

For certain practicioners of certain religions, modesty is important. For example, I'm an Orthodox Jew and I take our version of modesty, "tzniut", very seriously. This means that when I'm in public (meaning seeable by men not members of my immediate family), I wear tops that cover my collarbones and elbows at all times and skirts that cover my knees whether sitting, standing or climbing stairs. I do not wear trousers in public. Also, as a married woman, I keep my hair covered in public. There are various interpretations, and I know Orthodox women who do not follow these rules so strictly, and others who follow them more strictly.

Certain right-wing Christian sects and Muslim groups have their own rules of modesty that have some intersection with mine.

This makes swimming in mixed company problematic at best. These suits, which I suspect are designed for the Christian groups, are meant to answer those problems. The normal Orthodox solution is to not swim with the opposite sex.

And, yeah, I was tempted, but they don't look pleasant to swim in. Also, just speaking for O Judaism - women are supposed to dress modestly, but in ways where they feel they look good. I can come up with ideas that would be just as modest but much cuter and more practical.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

The overlayers are attached to the underlayer with a zipper.

However, the latest trend for Olympic swimmers seems to be suits that cover the body, so I'd assume such things are available for the general public.

Also, you might check out Land's End (http://www.landsend.com). They specialize in suits with standard modest cuts, including boy legs and skirts.

As for hair coverings - I haven't gone swimming since I started covering my hair, but I'd just wear a standard bathing cap.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

The little girl ones do look cute. At least, the culotte style.

[elke-tanzer.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I have boy-leg bottoms from Lands End from a few years ago, but they look kind of odd on my shape... I'd prefer biker-short type legs. Good point about the olympic styles. Maybe I'll hit the specialty swimshops. I kind of like buying two-pieces, because my top and my bottom are two different sizes, but unless I go with a style like I've seen Indian women wearing as their stretchy top underpart beneath a sari... hmmm. That's an idea!

Thank you! I love brainstorming with creative folks!

[iroshi.livejournal.com]

Okay, is it terrible of me to wonder what's so ugly about them? Except for the third one, which even I have to agree is just...ugh.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Pauses to awww at Brianna....


I don't know. They just look unflattering and utilitarian. Like housedresses to swim in.

[miriam-heddy.livejournal.com]

The big question for me is, how the heck can one of these things be considered "slimming" if you can't see the body anywhere underneath the baggy fabric? I could wear a fleece blanket over my head and be similarly slimmed.

I totally understand why observant Jews might want one of these, but then to buy one that's advertised as "slimming" seems sort of like covering your head with an outstandingly expensive wig that looks better than natural hair would. Sort of undoes the whole modesty thing, doesn't it?

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

The "slimming" seems to be constructed along "slimming" lines - princess seams and contrasts that visually lengthen the body.

One of the reasons I suspect this is from a Christian group is because they seem so unattractive. To quote Lisa Aiken, the idea behind modesty for an Orthodox Jewish woman is be "attractive" - feeling pretty, well-dressed, feeling good about one's appearance, fashionable if that's what she wants, all those positive things - but not "attracting" - not sexy. At least one rabbi thinks women should wear pretty clothes so that the clothes get the attention, not the woman.

These are built, they claim, to focus attention on the hands and face.

[norabombay.livejournal.com]

Having seen the site before, I'm pretty sure it's a christian group.

You might have good luck with one of the half size wet suits- the ones that go elbow to the knee.

No skirt though.

But you should be able to get some sort of long sleeve sun proof shirt- one of the ones sold for lifeguards. And I think you can certainly either get a suit with a short skirt, or one with a matching skirt/pareo.

I think it depends on what you intend to swim. For the beach the matching skirt should do it. For serious laps, I would go with the short skirt and a women only pool time.

Heck, for once the hair won't even be an issue.

And look at the cute swim caps you can get:
http://www.swimoutlet.com/subcatmfgprod.asp?0=288&1=314&2=-1

I want the one with the flowers.

[miriam-heddy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can see where there's some illusion thing happening with princess seams and elongating the eye and drawing attention to the hands and face (because you can't see much else). Although as for the rabbi's argument...

I'm not at all sure I buy the distinction between attractive and attracting, particularly because I do believe that when you feel attractive, you attract other people far more than when you're feeling shlubby, and that's independent of what you wear.

Have you ever felt sick or crampy and put on nice clothes instead of baggy sweats, and then ended up standing up straighter and then feeling better? And then people end up talking to you instead of sort of avoiding you?

If you have that "I look great" attitude on, then people look. Men look.

And when you've got your attitude on, and feel attractive, the men who notice the clothes and not the woman are the gay men, which is not the point, I suspect *g*, and doesn't really do much for the rabbi's argument.

Not to mention (and hell, I'll mention it), clothing, if a man does notice it, is as much visual as it is tactile/imaginary. Men often like velvet and velour, not because of how the light shines off it, but because of how it feels (or they imagine it feels). Silk, likewise. So there's a connection between clothing and sex, and it's at the level of the imaginary and the fetishistic (as any shoe-man will tell you, or any man who's into watching women put on their stockings).

Women (Orthodox or otherwise) can rationalize the choice to buy the sparkly clothes and the high quality wig. But somehow, I think that in this case, I think negotiating between female desire and male desire is trickier than Aiken and that rabbi's argument allows for).

Folkwear

[profitne.livejournal.com]

Folkwear has a middy in their pattern collection that has gathered swim trunks to wear under that looks a lot better than these.

Profitne