Swimsuits that gave girls legs for days

Sometime later I'll write up a proper analysis of how underwear and swimsuit shapes have responded to changes in the violence rate, as part of the larger project on how appearances respond to societal changes. For now I'll just note that progress in how attractively girls make themselves up can easily be lost -- and thankfully recovered -- because of the cyclical nature of fashion. However, it is not due to the "wheel of fashion" that drags along even unwilling individuals, that changes only in order to change. Rather, fashion changes in response to broader changes in society and shifts in people's mindsets, worldviews, behavioral strategies, and so on, the primary driver of which is the trend up or down in the level of violence.

One unfortunate casualty of the past 20 years of falling crime has been super-high-rise underwear, which, as the model from Christmas Vacation is pointing out, shows the full line of the leg from the thigh through the hips and all the way up to the waist. An artificially straight-across line breaks up the natural flow of the curves in the hip area, especially the diagonal line of the pelvic bones that get interrupted by horizontal waistlines but that are there in all their natural beauty when the waistline is cut very high.

Of course this change is much more visible in swimsuits, which follow underwear in fashion but are more public. Whether you were at the beach or just browsing the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, you couldn't have helped but notice how dead the leggy look has been. In fact, the only famous image of a recent celebrity posing in a hip-bearing swimsuit -- and a neon green one, no less -- is of Borat. (Here he is with several girls, all of whose swimsuits are cut straight across.)

It seems only fitting on Independence Day to honor the multicultural and immigrant origins of those who have improved our native culture as sex symbols. So here to revive the "she's got legs" look are a Czech, an American with Greek and Turkish ancestry, and an Australian. God Bless America. (Click to enlarge -- oh just go ahead!)