SWIMSUITS THAT ARE MADE TO GET WET

The best news for amphibious ladies this resort season is that swimsuits are meant to get wet. Until now the swimmer's preference for immersion was either a bikini or a nylon tank suit. New materials have changed all of that. Among the new knits are suits of two-way-stretch Lycra or linen and Arnel that barely brush the body when dry, cling like seaweed when wet. Lightweight-wool suits dry quickly; they are lined with silk for opacity, can be covered when still wet with a silky shift. Even leather has been sheared to skin thinness and treated to withstand the onslaughts of salt and chlorine. The leather swimsuits on the following pages take to the sea as naturally as a seal's skin. The five new suits on these pages, photographed in the waters of Cozumel, are all available at Lord & Taylor, New York; Neiman-Marcus, Dallas; and I. Magnin on the West Coast.

HIBISCUS-PATTERNED LYCRA SHIFT ($19) BY RIKKI OF SPORT TRIO IS STRAPLESS

LEATHER SWIMSUITS GLISTEN IN THE SAPPHIRE SEA OF QUINTANA ROO. THE TWO-PIECE HIP-RIDER IS MADE OF WHITE KID, THE BAREBACK MAILLOT OF SUEDE. BOTH SUITS ARE BY ROSE MARIE REID

SAND-COLORED ARNEL-AND-LINEN KNIT ($26) BY HARBOR ROAD IS HAND-LOOMED TO FIT

ULLA'S SILK-AND-RAYON SHIFT ($18) REPEATS PRINT OF THE WOOL MAILLOT BENEATH ($25)

FIVE PHOTOS

J. FREDERICK SMITH