In the annals of lingerie and swimwear history, the quest for a flattering silhouette is as old as the corset itself. Today, Us Weekly's roundup of 17 swimsuits for women over 40 - designed to visually slim thicker thighs - echoes a centuries-old dialogue between structure and self-expression. At The Lingerie Museum, we see this not as a trend, but as a continuation of the craft that began with the first elasticized girdles of the 1920s.
Consider the high-waisted bottom, a direct descendant of the 1950s "merry widow" corset, which offered tummy control without the steel boning of earlier eras. Brands like Cupshe, whose striped one-piece channels the vertical elongation that Coco Chanel popularized in the 1920s, understand that optical illusion is a form of engineering. The color-blocked bikini, with its dark side panels, owes a debt to the 1930s "slenderizing" swimsuits that used contrasting fabrics to carve the waist. Meanwhile, the swim dress - a nod to the 1910s beach pajama - skims the thigh with the same gentle diplomacy as a 19th-century bathing gown, but with modern spandex and ruching.
What these 17 designs share is not compression, but curation. They draw from a lineage of shapewear innovation - from the 1960s Lycra revolution to the 1990s push-up - to create confidence, not concealment. At The Lingerie Museum, we celebrate how each high-cut leg or strategic stripe is a quiet conversation with history, reminding us that the most sophisticated silhouette is one that knows its past.
Originally reported by US Magazine