bodysuit

All-in-one garment fitting closely from neck to ankle like a second skin; often made from stretch fabric. Associated with fitness and futuristic dress, space-age bodysuits with zip-up front openings were designed for men and women in the 1960s by such pioneer designers as Pierre Cardin and Azzedine Alaïa.

One late-19th-century example was devised by Dr Gustav Jaeger, and made of knitted wool. Bodysuits have been used since about the 1960s for dance and gymnastics, and entered fashion with the craze for body-hugging Lycra garments about 1990; they are now often referred to simply as ‘bodies’ and are found in variants without arm or leg coverings.