From the chest to the base of the legs, a single piece of cloth covers the body continuously. Although the cloth never breaks, the high-cut leg line, the deep cut-out at the back, and the shallow V at the chest make one all the more aware of the covered region. One-piece swimsuit fetishism (ワンピース水着) is the taste for the single-piece women’s swimsuit covering the body from chest to hip, and for the figure it presents as an object of arousal. Distinct from the two-piece bikini, the racing swimsuit designed for competition, and the school swimsuit for swimming class, the decorative, fashion-oriented one-piece as summer wear has formed its own domain of taste.

Etymology and definition

English “one-piece” means “in a single continuous piece”, denoting a garment in which top and bottom are not separated; Japanese calls it wanpiisu mizugi. The object of the fetish here is the non-competitive, fashion-and-decoration one-piece: distinct in cut, material, and design from the function-first competition racing swimsuit and the school-issue school swimsuit, it is the resort wear and poolside fashion item of summer.

History

In the early twentieth century, women’s swimwear was standardly a knee-length one-piece with a skirt. The 1907 arrest of the Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman for wearing a body-clinging one-piece on a Massachusetts beach is a symbolic event in modern women’s swimwear history; the Kellerman-type clinging one-piece subsequently became the mainstream of women’s swimwear in the first half of the twentieth century. In the 1930s, halter-neck and backless one-pieces (with a large cut-out at the back) spread, and from the 1970s the high-cut, raised to the base of the thigh, became standardised. From the 2000s, varied derivatives have arisen: the “monokini” with cut-outs at the sides and belly, frilled and skirted one-pieces, and halter-neck types.

Contrast with the bikini

The specificity of the one-piece is clearest in contrast with the bikini. Where the bikini appeals through the shrinking of cloth area and the fragility of its strings, evoking the premonition of exposure and undoing, the one-piece covers the body with a continuous single cloth while intensively exposing only limited points: the high-cut, the back opening, the chest V, the side cut-out. The intuition that “a one-piece is sexier than a bikini” arises from the contrast between the quantity covered and the quantity exposed, that is, the region shown being smaller than the region not shown, so that the air of modesty and the intent of exposure coexist. This aesthetic of suggestion and restraint constitutes the one-piece’s particular appeal. Unlike the bikini, the one-piece must be removed by pulling down from above or up from below, a one-directional motion, with no instant undoing of strings; this physical constraint produces the impression of a “hard-to-remove garment” and works to heighten its strength as an object of desire.

The structure of the taste

The leg appeal of the high-cut is the first core. The line raised from the hip toward the crotch makes the whole thigh look visually longer; though separated by cloth, the entire leg from hip to heel surfaces as a single continuous line. The back opening is its own appeal: backless, cross-back, and halter-neck one-pieces expose the upper half or whole of the back, the asymmetry of a covered front and a widely open back producing an effect where the visual impression inverts with each turn. The variety of chest tailoring, deep V, shallow V, heart shape, bustier style, halter-neck, gives a wide range to match the wearer’s body. Finally, the decorativeness of material and tailoring, glossy satin, velour, metallic fabric, frills, and lace not seen on competition suits, places the one-piece nearer to a fashion and sexual item than a functional garment.

Derived forms

The standard high-cut type is the basic high-cut form; the backless type opens widely at the back; the halter-neck type ties behind the neck; the monokini has large side cut-outs; the frilled and skirted types strengthen decorativeness; metallic and high-fashion types appeal through material; and the leotard-type swimsuit derives from ballet and gymnastics.

Cultural reference

In adult works, the one-piece is tightly bound to settings of “resort”, “hotel pool”, and “summer celebrity”. Where the bikini carries a popular, youthful sign, the one-piece tends to function as the sign of a somewhat mature, refined woman; actresses over thirty, married-woman roles, and older-co-worker roles often choose the one-piece over the bikini. In swimsuit gravure, the high-cut and backless one-piece holds a stable appeal alongside the bikini year-round, with solid-colour glossy one-pieces in black, navy, and red long supported as a gravure staple. In two-dimensional expression, the one-piece is often used as a sign of a character’s “grown-up side” or “consciously sexy dress”; staging a character who usually wears a two-piece in a one-piece for a special scene has established itself as a technique signalling a deliberate change of character type.

See also

• Bikini — the contrasted two-piece swimsuit
• Kyouei mizugi (Racing swimsuit)
• Suku-mizu (School swimsuit)
• Chakuero (Clothed erotica)
• Chakui (Clothed play)
• Heel
• Lingerie