|
Fasteners Defined A fastener is any mechanical device that holds together two separate parts of a garment. for example a hook and eye on the back of a brassière. Species of fasteners in the swimsuit over the years include buttons and button holes (CM4720), the pin and the safety pin, the slide fastener, clasp, snap, zipper, velcro, and a variety of technologies that incorporate knots, such as lacing and string ties. Each has its advantages, for example hooks and eyes provide a very secure closing and are widely used with materials incorporating elastics, e.g., a bandeau top, and for garments with lots of foundation. Buttons are more problematical in high stress situations. Knots play an integral role in the string bikini and all matter of tieology. The status of the fastener is indicated by its closure; in simple terms the variant of a fastener is either open or closed. A "variant" is a term employed by Roland Barthes to describe a property of clothing (as thus of the bikini) which varies in some way or another. In the late 1960s and early 1970s fasteners themselves acquire more importance and become part of the focus of the play of the swimsuit. Whole species including the sidegather, sidetie, and the string halter and culotte, all attest to the power of fastenology. With the advent of stretch fabrics it becomes possible to fabricate swimwear without fasteners at all, but prior to this period, they are integral to maillot, soutien-gorge, and culotte. The Eroticism of Closure The study of fasteners--sometimes called fastenology--is an important part of Bikini Science because the fastener is a device that enables a costume to be removed and put on. These changings--these doff and dons--may be a private act, but they may also occur to varying degrees in public. These practices, detailed in tieology, include strapoffs, backstrap unfastenings coupled with lying on the stomach, and retying the typical string brief. All such actions, especially when performed in public, are erotically charged because they suggest the possibility of swimsuit removal. And indeed this is sometimes the case, as on the topless beach, or in a layered changing (CB91C8) Closure also may involve suggestion, and no closure is better suited to this than the button, which always, especially under tension, invokes suspense (e.g., ET6401, RV7948). Lacings One of the first fasteners to play a critical role in swimwear design is the lacing, a criss-cross cord threaded between two pieces of fabric and leaving a gap of skin between (SH5210). Lacing plays a role in species that include the maillot lattice-tie, the vest, culotte lattice-side and to some extent, sidetie and string bikinis. The lattice-tie maillot, and lattice-side culotte bear a common treatment in that a criss-crossing lacing goes up the side of the swimsuit. Threaded like a shoe, with the horizontal base at the top or the bottom, the lacing criss-crosses through eyelets and is tied at its extremity with a bow or a double-bow knot. Lacing is a maillot detail that dates from 1900 and a culotte detail after the late 1940s. In general, maillot lattice-side creates a vertical strip of varying width side exposure, usually from the underarm to the hip. But lacings in maillot can also play other rolls, such as gathering up cleavage in the front or back, on plays on the hip, and always new ideas. All of these details are explored at the above mentioned maillot lattice-tie and culotte lattice-side species. Zippers The zipper is an early 20th century invention and it has played a roll in swimwear since its invention. One of its first uses is the detachable top, an aspect of the male swimsuit which enables the wearer to detach the upper part of the swimsuit and go barechested. Zippers are used as closure devices in bulky briefs of the 1940s, 1950s (LR86AB) and 1960s. The less elastic, but fitted, suits of that era necessitate "getting into" and must be closed up. In these designs the zipper is functional and non-decorative; it is hidden in the back and buried under a flap (JM5610). Zippers are abandoned, of course, with the perfection of the string bikini, but they are re-introduced into maillot circa 1980 as a provocative design element, so that the mailloter, depending upon her mood, might progressively control her deepening of cleavage (Z94614), or flagrantly invite unzipping. Tankinis invite zipper provocation (RP8812), and Neoprene swimsuits use them extensively. Zippers also have been used on the sides of maillots (N198503), as a connecting unit between blouses and briefs, on the sides of skirts, the front of vests and in the front of cutoff jeans. Zippers even provide suggestion on the fronts of tanga (KN9239). Soutien-Gorge Fastenings The fastening possibilities of the soutien-gorge are discussed in detail for each species and summarized in a table (BSD8850). Note that the position of a chest fastening may be in the center of the back or the front or at the side. A bandeau can be tubular, with no closure, or be equipped with a single fastener or tie. If fastened, it can be fastened anywhere on the front or the back, but typically between the breasts (CI9106C) or in the middle of the back. The halter can be made topologically complete with no fasteners at all, or it can be fastened at either the neck or on the cutoff line or at both places. In practice, the cutoff line fastener also can be located anywhere around the body, but it's typically at the center of the back or the center of the chest in front (LR86CB). The bra, too, can be made with no fasteners or with fasteners on the straps or the chest band. In the absence of fasteners the bra must be either loosely fitting or elastic; this (topologically) is the crop-top style, and removed by pulling it up over the head and the arms or by offshouldering the arms and then taking it off the head or feet. A bra may be fastened in the back or front. It is removed by unfastening the back (or front) and sliding the straps off the arms, or by sliding the straps off the shoulders and extracting the arms from them before the back (or front) is unhooked. Its rich variety of removal makes it a favorite in burlesque. Details about unfastening the various neck, shoulder and backstraps of the soutien-gorge species is found at tieology. Culotte Fastenings Because it is topologically simpler, the culotte has fewer fastening variations. Species such as the panty, nombril, and tanga typically have none, or one or two at the side(s), as with the string. The montante, especially with deeper sides, can invite hooks on the sides (GO901104). Front ties are a key design element of the sarong (diaper) culotte. Shorts, jeans and other garments which secure around the waist typically have one vertical fastening element at the back or the side, which does not actually break closure, but simply tightens the garment in. Maillots may have closures for the neck or shoulder straps, as well as hooks or zippers to fit them more tightly to the body. Certain varieties, such as the exercise maillot, have a single closure in the crotch. Skirts and miniskirts may or may not have fasteners at the waist. Culotte unfastenings Unlike a soutien-gorge, in which the neck or shoulder straps can be put into play, or in which the backstrap can be put into play if the subject lies down, the culotte offers few such expendables for public performance. It covers the pubis in the front and the buttocks behind, and whether or not the subject is lying on her belly or back the opposing assets requires coverage. One of the few culotte fastenings put into play by the more adventuresome wearer is leaving the top button or snap of the shorts undone, perhaps even coupled with play of the zipper. The unfastened snap triangulates the navelage (MPA2P0) and invites risk. Caption Fastenology deals with the varieties of connection. |
|
