CUTOUTS AND PASTE-ONS IN THE DESERT SUN
The new swimsuitsfor this resort season are made of just enough red to stop traffic by a desertswimming pool or on a Caribbean beach, the other necessary ingredient in thedesign being sun-tanned skin, and a lot of it. There probably is more materialused in the suits in these pages than in any bikini, but the way they have beencut away and stretched around the body's contours you'd never know it. Some ofthe paring away is asymmetrical. The suit in the photograph on the cover, wornby Marilyn Tindall, is made of Dacron knit. It would be a classic bikini if itdid not stretch down to a button on one side. And the suit that Marilyn wearsat right in Arizona's Apache Lake canyon would be a simple, classic maillot—ifit were not sculpted away to its barest essentials. There are other artisticcutouts in the swimsuits on the following pages, and some artistic paste-ons aswell. With the paste-on suits, the beginnings of a new teen-age fad, each girlcan decorate her own body with butterflies, flowers, stars and hearts—a sort oftemporary tattoo.
All of theseswimsuit photographs were taken in the desert and canyon country that surroundsScottsdale, Ariz., a burgeoning resort area described by Liz Smith in anarticle beginning on page 36.
Perched on anApache Lake boulder (left), Lynn Brophy displays a suit that iscollarbone-high, hipbone-low. Framed by reflected desert palms, Marilyn Tindallwears a bikini with its top cut away in graceful curves.
Over and aroundthe barest vinyl bikini Erin Gray has decorated her body with fluorescentpaste-on tattoos. They come in a kit that also contains surgical glue. Otherpaste-ons go way out-like the cartoon of acrobatic surfers at right. A word ofcaution-when the paste-ons come off after a day in the sun, the design lingerson.
WHERE TO BUY
The swimsuit worn by Marilyn Tindall on the cover was designed by Bill Blassfor Roxanne and is of 100% stretch Dacron knit. It is $28 at Bonwit Teller, NewYork City; Bullock's Wilshire, Los Angeles; Goldwater's, Phoenix; Martha's,Palm Beach, Fla. On the opening color page: Marilyn's maillot, designed byRikki for Sport Trio, is of Helanca nylon stretch fabric. It is $27 at HenriBendel, New York City. On the following page, Lynn Brophy wears a swimsuit withhigh square-cut neckline and pared-away back. It is $28 at Bergdorf Goodman,New York City. It was designed by Rikki for Sport Trio, as was the sculpturedbikini worn by Marilyn on the next page; $23 at Gidding-Jenny, Cincinnati;Sakowitz, Houston; all Saks Fifth Avenue stores. The vinyl swimsuit worn byErin Gray on the page opposite this is by Tiger Morse. The cutout vinyl decalscome packaged separately with a tube of surgical adhesive for easy,nonirritating gluing to the skin. The swimsuit is $25, the packet with cutoutsis $2.50. The vinyl swimsuit worn by Erin (above) has a surfing cartoonattached to its strapless bra. It is $23. Both swimsuits and cutouts are atAngie's, Chicago; Bergdorf Goodman, New York City; Joseph Magnin, SanFrancisco; Tiger Morse's Teeny Weenie Shop, New York City.
FIVE PHOTOS
JAY MAISEL