second thoughts on Nkinis

[sagehen]

Jim Landau writes:
>I am hardly an expert on women's clothing, but I do not believe that
>two-piece bathing suits, skimpy or otherwise, were at all common in 1946.
~~~~~~~~
As Wilson notes, two-piece bathing suits were  old news by 1946.  The
earlier models were fairly substantial, built much like the underwear of
the time.
Halter tops which had been around for quite a long time, were often
improvised with just a large bandana folded diagonally, run around the ribs
just under the breasts and and tied in back. The apex would be folded over
& pinned and a cord or ribbon run through the resulting casing and tied
around the neck.  At any rate, the bare midriff was well known.  What the
bikini DID (shockingly) reveal was the navel!  And. of course, the bare
cheeks of the buttocks.
Another bare-midriff style that was popular throughout the war years was
the man's shirt with the tails tucked up and tied in a knot over the breast
bone.
A. Murie