Vintage Swimsuits and Beach Wear - 1963

Want to play guess the designer again? Who made this cotton terrycloth beach cover-up in 1963?

Answer later.

We've met Irene Galitzine before. Her design talent brought us palazzo pants in 1960. Here, she offers a wild and wacky beach set consisting of a white knitted orlon romper with a chartreuse green and white knit oversize collar. Wild, no? So, where's the wacky?

It's in this hand-knitted cover-up cape in the same chartreuse and white orlon. The collar of the romper pops out atop the cape. It's like wearing granny's afghan to the beach! Gotta love those Italian designers!

This is one of my favorite swimsuits I've ever shown you. We've also talked about Tom Brigance before. Here, he takes black and white plaid nylon and fashions it into a two piece suit with a belt. The top has a high neck at the front that dips lower in back. Brigance for Sinclair suit sold for $25.00 in 1963 (about $178.00 in today's dollar).

Jantzen pops black and white stripes over a black bottom in Helanca nylon. Sold for $20.00 in 1963 (about $143.00 in today's dollar).

Back to that terrycloth beach cover-up at the top of this post. Did you guess it? It's Emilio Pucci. In cotton...terrycloth. I've seen plenty of his work in silk jersey. I've seen his work in velveteen. But never in terrycloth. He made a cotton bikini to match. I love it.