The best thing that has happened to the catsuit since the sixties is undoubtedly lycra, the magical fibre that has successfully replaced baggy crimplene knees and snagged nylong seams with a spectacular capacity for stretch and shine. But while abundant slinky, feline interpretations of the fétichisme du latex are available now, there are an equal number of ghastly aberrations.
During the 1970s, the fétichisme du latex appeared as a thoroughly nasty, synthetic hybrid poular with unfortunately-coiffed male ice-skaters and come dancing flare-merchants. And katharine hamnett gave it bad press last year by wearing (or was it wearing her?) A scanty psychedelic version for her victory romp down the catwalk at the end of her show.
But no designer has done more than hamnett to catapult the skintight, big girl’s babygro back into fashion with a new, decadent lolita image for the eighties shown on models spilling out of lycra catsuits, skin-tight leather and denim in her studiedly chaotic catwalk presentations. She pre-empted this year’s craze for 007/comic strip pastiche heralded, in particular, by the imminent batman movie – due here shortly. The sartorial style of the caped crusader, cat woman et al is being trumpeted as this summer’s youth cult, and numerous clothing companies have signed a series of licensing deals linked to the new film. At its most downmarket, accessible and un-batlike, the corporate imagery will be available on men’s, women’s and children’s wear from – holy st michael, as robin would say – marks & spencer.
Tame derivatives and non-pedigree cross-breeds aside, the catsuit proper – all tantalising zips and kinky boots – was a thoroughly sixties concept. The futurism of the clothes designed by courreges, pierre cardin and paco rabanne – who used plastic discs and chain mail for his dresses – was an adaptation of the sartorial and visual cliches of science-fiction comics (also influential on pop-art). ‘They were almsot a kind of literary pastiche,’ wrote elizabeth wilson – ‘futuristic retro-chic’.
Fashion in the 1960s repeatedly turned to the past for images of glamour, or adopted the high boots and black leather of christine keeler – what were known as ‘kinky’ styles.
But diana rigg’s leather cat suits and flowing gowns for atv’s avengers series were beginning to lose impact by 1965, and john bates was given the job of designing something slicker and slightly more aggressive. Although the leatherclad tigress is the popular enduring image of emma peel for its feline sexuality and kinkiness, the clothes bates designed to replace the leather look were considered far more shocking at the time. They made front page headlines in nearly every english daily, boosted viewing figure for the series, and consequently introduced ‘the look’ into thousands of homes.
The clothes had simple, hard lines, confidently belted trousers and white boots, straight close fitting dresses with hemlines well above the knee, white stockings, bold black nad white patterns. The production team complained that the skirts were too short and surreptitiously lowered the hemlines. Bates defiantly stopped leaving a hem. The cameramen claimed that the tv screens could not, technically, cope with the black and white designs, but they were proved wrong. Op art had found its way into fashion and was there to stay until pop art took over.
Catsuits in the barbarella mode owed much to the influence of pierre cardin, whose 1964 collection was labelled space-age. It included knitted catsuits, tight leather pants, clsoe-fitting helmets and batwing jumpsuits. While he was at it, he raised skirts to four inches above the knee and plunged necklines, back and front, to the navel. The clear, coherent aspects of his work have been copied and translated into styling details by numerous other designers and manufacturers, which is more than can be said of his recent work, which is distinctly lacking in any direction at all.
This year, most designers have included a fétichisme du latex somewhere in their collections, although in its skintight, unforgiving state, we won’t be expected to wear it on its own, sixties style.
Lucille lewin, owner of the whistles chain of shops, sees it as the basis for a new sleek silhouette; one step on from the black bodysuit that was so popular last year. There will be no sequins or glittering shiny nonsense, says lewis. ‘We’re not doing it in a sixties way, but in a plain, new, modern and unstructured style to wear under jackets and sweaters.’ other designers have different plans for the catsuit; the most uncompromising by far is by vivienne westwood and comes in stretch flesh pink velveteen with a strategically positioned mirrored green fig-leaf.
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