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The Sideless Species The sideless, also called a "spring" brief, uses spring plastics or steel to clamp onto the wearer's body, gripping the crotch with a hold on the pubis and hips (fig. 35-3.5). The sideless is a mechanical fig leaf. The sideless is a completely new and unpredictable fashion innovation of the 1986-87 season (LB198630, PB8702). It occurs at a time when tangas and g-strings are beginning to be seen on the beach and designers are beginning to search for ways to reduce the bikini still further. It is surprising to discover that foundations, so long absent in the string bikini, come to the rescue and provide a "non-line tan" to the side of the culotte. Within a year the sideless appears in mail order catalogues, both in full-bottomed (KN9229) as well as tanga variations (RD8708D). And Cindy Crawford, the first of the supermodels to come out topless, comes out wearing only a sideless in Playboy (CC198820). Sideless Engineering The sideless foundation consists of a rigid frame that essentially spring-clamps onto the body. The tanga shell consists of a inner triangle over the pubis and a single finger of steel or plastic which rides up the cleft of the buttocks. Full bottom styles include a wide frame in both the front and/or the back. With only a little variation maillot may also be sideless (PB9001), and the same engineering used to make it backless as well, making it resonate with the maillot tanga. The waistline of sideless can vary from pubis to above the navel, and the backside can be full-bottomed or tanga (WK9554BS). Sideless Silhouettes Sideless in the late 1980s combines bandeau and fullback (ZX3KC6BS) as well as triangle halter and bare-butt designs (e.g., RD8708C). Shirley another interesting companion is a clamp-on bandeau (LB198620), and, in maillot, a clamp-on strapless top (PB9001). Pasties are also a natural combination with the sideless, if only because they are also affixed onto the body with glue, piercings, or clamps and leave the surrounding skin bare. For example, this mermaid combines shell pasties with a shell over the pubis and rugae (MPA2T2). Possibly the ultimate sideless uses not springs but adhesive (WMA7CH). And of course sideless complements topless silhouettes (CC8820). |
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