Clothing Definitions — definitions of garments and clothing terms from Apparel Search
A skin-tight garment is a garment that is held to the skin by elastic tension. Many skin-tight garments are also one-piece garments. In athletics and performance applications, skin-tight garments, or skinsuits, provide protection and performance benefits in dancing, gymnastics, swimming, cycling, skating, skiing and running: they enhance muscle support and reduce muscle vibration, lessen wind and friction drag, protect against cuts, stings and abrasion, and give effective protection from the ultraviolet rays of the sun. The United States military has also used skin-tight bodysuits in mission-specific environments, partly because a close garment does not snag on branches, wires or other obstructions.
In athletics and performance applications, skin-tight garments -- or 'skinsuits' provide protection from injury from dancing, gymnastics, swimming, cycling, skating, skiing, and running by enhancing muscle support and reducing muscle vibration, lessening wind and friction drag, and it also serves as protection from cuts, stings and abrasion, and as effective protection from UV rays of the sun. These also include other related athletic clothing.
The United States military has also utilized skin-tight bodysuits for use in mission specific environments, for both the benefits listed above, but also because skin-tight garments are not as susceptible to snagging or catching on branches, wires, or other obstructions.
In an individual sense, skin-tight garments are often considered sexy on an attractive body, as they allow the exhibition of the natural curves of the form. People who are on the look out for a mate often start wearing clothes that are tighter.
Skin-tight garments are fetishized by some people, perhaps on the basis that the garment forms a "second skin" that acts as a fetishistic surrogate for the wearer's own skin. Skin-tight garments are often a persons first sight of the body's sexy curves, and this mind imprint can easily develop into a fetish in later life. The most common forms of this are spandex fetishism and rubber fetishism, in which the skin-tight material is also shiny.
Skin-tight garments are often depicted as "futuristic" clothing in science fiction: see also sex in science fiction.
Learn about compression clothing which is tight fitting.
Latex clothing including liquid Latex
polo neck (turtle neck)
jeans or Levi's
diveskins
jammers
Future Force Warrior combat suit
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| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/skin-tight_garment ). 5/26/06 |
The skin-tight garment is a modern category because it depends on elastic fibre. Natural fabrics can be cut close, but only the invention of rubber thread and then synthetic elastane gave cloth real recovery: the ability to stretch over the body and pull back to its shape all day without sagging. A small percentage of elastane in a knit transforms its behaviour, which is why the same fibre appears in swimwear, dancewear, hosiery and athletic clothing. The garment is patterned in the negative: pattern pieces are drawn smaller than the body's measurements by a calculated amount, and the difference between the garment's resting size and the wearer's size is what generates the holding tension.
Fit is a balance. Too little tension and the garment wrinkles, rides and loses its support and drag benefits; too much and it restricts breathing and circulation and strains its own seams. Makers grade that balance by activity: a competition skinsuit is tighter than a training garment, and a wetsuit's thickness adds stiffness that its pattern must allow for at the joints. In science fiction, skin-tight suits became the visual shorthand for futuristic clothing, a use that fed back into real design for space and high-performance sport.
Elastic fibres set the care rules. Heat, chlorine and sunlight degrade elastane, so skin-tight garments are washed cool, kept out of tumble dryers where possible, rinsed after swimming, and dried in shade. Stored unfolded and unstressed, the elastic lasts longest. When a garment stops recovering, bagging at the knees or seat and staying stretched after wear, its working life is over, however sound the rest of the cloth looks.
By elastic tension. The fabric is knitted or woven with elastic fibres, commonly elastane, and cut slightly smaller than the body, so its stretch holds it against the skin over its whole surface. No waistband, straps or closures carry the main load, which is why the fit feels even and why the garment moves with the wearer.
For measurable practical benefits: muscle support that reduces vibration and fatigue, lower wind and water drag from a smooth surface, and protection of the skin against abrasion, stings, cuts and sun. Compression clothing applies the same principle with graduated pressure and is used in training, competition and recovery.
Leotards, unitards and bodystockings for dance and gymnastics; tights and stockings for the legs; one-piece swimsuits, dive skins and wetsuits for the water; catsuits as full-body one-piece garments; and close-fitting stretch jeans and turtleneck tops in everyday dress. Space activity suits and advanced combat suits apply the principle at the technical extreme.