Cat Suit

[Rick H Kennerly]

Don't have a citation yet, but I doubt we've gotten close to the origin of
catsuit.

Selina Kyle AKA The Cat and later The Catwoman appeared in Batman comic #1
in 1940.  While her first outfits were variation of little black party
dresses with floor length cape, the bodice is tight and revealing.  By the
end of Batman #10 she was in a full purple skin tight catsuit outfit
complete with ears, claws and cat of nine tails.  This was in about 1944.

In the mid-40s she's out of the catsuit and back into dresses of various
lengths and boots of varying heights until about 1964 where in several DC
Comics (http://www.super-highway.net/users/altoot/catw38.gif) and a bit
later in the Catwoman TV series (here's the first TV Catwoman, Julie Newmar
http://www.super-highway.net/users/altoot/julie2m.jpg) the catsuit returns
more or less for good.  It appears that during the late 40s and all of the
50s there was a Comic Code, much like the old movie censor code, that her
racy catsuit outfit could not pass.

Of course all the comic books of that era are probably in the hands of
collectors (although the Library of Congress claims the world's largest
collection of comic books), but it's not too difficult to imagine that
catsuit was probably used in one of the comics, the 60s TV series (Catwoman
or Batman), or in television commentary or reviews of the TV series.

rhk