Summer fashions, coast to coast

Nothing screams "I am a potholder!" quite like rickrack. At first I thought this was some ultra-modest version of a bikini (because the pool), but it turns out it's "playtime separates." Playtime separates, like rompers, should not be worn by adults. Remember this. It will probably come up again.

The loving-hands-at-home look of this item implies there will be a pattern for it further back in the magazine. Not so. In June of 1953 you could actually pay money for this ensemble, from Casual Time of California. The halter top was five bucks and the "apron shorts"--a term I was not previously familiar with but which will immediately be entered on my list of Forbidden Fashion--would set you back $8.

They are made of a fabric called Twistalene--one of the thousands of it's-so-new-we-just-made-a-name-up-out-of-thin-air substances that abounded in the '50's. And where art thou now, Twistalene? Where art thou now?