Victorian nostalgia  [19 July 2009]  By Rob Horning  The NYT
Ideas blog linked to this essay by Paula Marantz Cohen about the
lack of modest swimsuits in The Smart Set, and I was reading
along, completely buying into it. “Bathing suits: absurd, wrong-
headed garments. I continue to be mystified by how people
continue to buy and wear them.” Yes, I thought. I have often
heard these complaints. It seems crazy that bathing suits are so
immodest. Why don’t we wear dignified bathing costumes like they
did in the olden days? “We laugh at the old bathing costumes,
but we should be laughing at ourselves. It’s a lot more
ridiculous to see her thunder thighs and his man breasts.” Yes,
there is something shameful about prurient self-display. Let’s
close up the beaches until common decency returns!  Then I
mentioned the article to a friend, and she said patiently that
it would be extremely uncomfortable to actually try to swim in
one of those Victorian get-ups, and that the reason swimsuits
have become more immodest is in