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Maillot Skirted Pantaloon The maillot skirted pantaloon evolves from both the bathing dress shortsleeved bloomered, as well as the maillot pantaloon, to which it is also regress eventually. The maillot skirted pantaloon is a transition garment, and both the skirt and the pantaloons will survive it, albeit independently. Maillot skirted pantaloon is most typically a single-layer woven wool swimsuit, usually sleeveless or with shortsleeves and with a built-in miniskirt that obscures but does not hide, thigh-length pantaloons. The braless look lets the breasts move freely inside the garment. The maillot skirted pantaloon is most properly worn with hose or ankle socks, shoes, and a hat (PC2040), but it is not always "properly worn." These accessories comprise an important component of the erogenous zone of the costume, which focus attention on the bare knee and the possibilities of increasing leg exposure by raising the legline and rolling down the hose. The amount of leg exposed both above and below the knee is subject to regulation and censorship, and represents a vigorous struggle during the early decades of the 20th century. Bare arms, even bare shoulders and armpits, are exposures the prudent have failed to stop, and so the battle for leg is fierce. It can be argued that the maillot skirted pantaloon is simply an extreme case of a bathing dress shortsleeved bloomered, (if not the bathing dress middie bloomered), and not a maillot at all. Such classifications fail to observe the pantaloon nature of the new species, and the uncovering of the knee. Furthermore, considering the maillot skirted pantaloon as its own species allows the Bikini Scientist to focus on its important contribution in the invention of the maillot. The maillot skirted pantaloon minus the skirt is one way to evolve to all the maillot species which follow it. Early Evolution Examples of the the maillot skirted pantaloon in the first decade of the 20th century (1900-1910) are virtually non-existant, despite the fact the sleeker and more revealing maillot pantaloon enjoys pinup popularity. The reason for this may be that the maillot pantaloon emerges in a pinup venue, whereas by the late 1910s the more reasoned approach of the skirted pantaloon makes it a tempting choice for the real beach. Examples from the 1920s are even more common because as the maillot gains popularity in the mainstream the skirted pantaloon provides a more modest approach. And even though the skirted pantaloon will eventually loose its pantaloons, aspects of the skirt will actually stick to the maillot up through the 1950s. Thus the influences on the maillot skirted pantaloon include the unitard (KY1650), but also for different reasons the bathing dress and the maillot pantaloon. Compaction of the bathing dress which involves reducing the dress aspect, raising the bloomer to pantaloon length, and rolling the stockings down leads to maillot skirted pantaloon. From a different direction adding a miniskirt to a maillot pantaloon also leads to a maillot skirted pantaloon. The first vector involves exfoliation and a decrease in modesty and will follow forth on the real beach. On the other hand the addition of the skirt adds modesty to a costume heretofore worn by the equivalent of dancers and cabaret gals, so it is more acceptable worn in the real world. Thus the evolution of the maillot skirted pantaloon species is doubly reinforced. This postcard pinup, possibly from the early 1910s, show a pair of bathing beauties whose swimsuits very much retain aspects of the bathing dress and even have their legs completely covered with hose (PC1E57). This is also a transition staging, for soon the knee will be bare and the maillot thinned a bit. But still, the late teens are not a idle period. Hollywood Pinups By the late 1910s the skirted maillot pantaloon is a feature of Hollywood's bathing beauties. One of Mack Sennett's seamstresses may have made this frilly creation for Bathing Beauty Harriet Hammond (HH1710), and perhaps only the fact that it is more pantaloon and less dress settles it into this species. Another aspect that suggests Hammond is wearing a maillot and not a bathing dress concerns the remainder of her costume. A bathing dress with bloomers is properly worn with long hose so that the tops of the stockings are covered by the bloomers. But in the maillot skirted pantaloon the stockings rise to meet the pantaloon, but fail to touch it. This bares the knee. During the teens, the stockings descend down, the legline ascends, and the silhouette tightens (DD1850, PD1810). A bare calf, shod food, and a parasol define the silhouette of a movie star (GS1740) and a beach pinup girl (PC2040). The uncovering of the lower leg happens with both the skirted and unskirted maillot pantaloon (see BSD8832); but perhaps it adding the skirt which balances the baring of leg so that progress is made. The final frontier is the uncovering of the foot, and the abandonment of shoes as part of the bathing costume (PC1L10). Here, movie star Betsy Love models a maillot skirted pantaloon in its most mature form--barelegged and and barefoot as well. She even pulls up the skirt to show you a secret pocket knitted into the pantaloon leg (BL1950). (Unlike the stars of the oughts who pose in flesh-colored body stockings, Love in the 1920s will pose fully nude.) By the end of the 1910s, the maillot skirted pantaloon dominates pinup space while its unskirted cousin, the slightly more revealing maillot pantaloon, becomes rare. Still, the absence or presence of the skirt, and absence or presence of the shoe and sock, and the position of the legline all conspire to produce a very complex matrix of exposures. By the early 1920s however the situation is changing. Driven by practicalities and media, the maillot skirted pantaloon begins to acquire momentum as a mainstream costume and no long a pinup vehicle. It is observed at the first Miss America contest (LM21C5), worn by more established movie stars (ML2750), starlets (SS2510), and is seen on the real beach (JZ2160). Two-tone designs and belts become important fashion accessories (CC25AA). Pinup media revives the unskirted sister species, and bookends the maillot skirted pantaloon between this more daring approach and the increasingly dowdy bathing dress. The garment, it should be notes, is worn by members of both sexes (PC2020, JZ2130, MF2150). Related Species Besides the related species already discussed, the maillot skirted pantaloon provides a direct vector during the 1920s to the maillot skirted, which retains the skirt but reduces the pantaloons to extinction. In the 1940s the back of the skirt will be abandoned, leaving just a sheath in the front; this is the maillot sheath species. Finally, at the end of the day the pure maillot will emerge, the maillot tank, which abandons both the pantaloons as well as skirt/sheath and it is this simplification of silhouette which we would term the quintessential maillot, or the maillot tank. Note that eliminating the pantaloons of the maillot pantaloon takes one to the maillot tank directly, and although this is the path of least resistance, in fact the evolution toward the maillot tank takes more circuitous route. Pinup models and movie stars may provide fashion leadership, but is it real people who have to be comfortable with a silhouette to take it mainstream. |
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