It Takes A Snake

“I don’t line spiders and snakes, and that ain’t what it takes to love me…”

-Jim Stafford



WE BET Jim Stafford’s gonna be singing another tune when he meets up with this year’s crop of bathing beauties. Not only do women love snakes, they love all reptiles- provided, of course, they come in skimpy Lycra tricot.

Swimwear has come a long way from the utilitarian suits of the Fifties and early Sixties. Beach-blanket bikinis and grandma girdles have all but been eclipsed in the wave of peekaboo patterns and French-cut thighs.

This year has few exceptions in the bare-all department. Brazilian-cut one-piece wraparounds epitomize the saying, “If you’ve got it, flaunt it.” Here’s the perfect opportunity for you-and everyone else’-to evaluate your assets. Bold prints are out in full force, too. But to keep you from being swallowed up in them, designers have cheekily minimized the bold to maximize the bronze.

Yet a few design houses-Norma Kamali, Yves St. Laurent, and Got-tex, among others-valiantly return to decorum this year with nostalgic one- and two-piece Forties-vintage suits that entice with what is not seen.

So, what’d ya say, jim?