What Is a Bodysuit?
Definition
A bodysuit is a close-fitting one-piece garment that covers the torso and bottom and usually fastens between the legs, worn as a top under trousers or skirts. Unlike a leotard, which is made for dance and acrobatics, a fashion bodysuit replaces a tucked-in top, so it stays smooth at the waistband.
Key facts
- Also called
- body (British English)
- Origin
- Unknown; word recorded from 1963 (Merriam-Webster). The New Zealand Fashion Museum traces the 1980s fashion bodysuit to the leotard.
- Category
- Clothing
- Typical materials
- Stretch knits such as cotton or nylon with Lycra/spandex; sequins, neoprene or stretch vinyl for club wear
- Key construction feature
- One piece covering torso and bottom, usually fastening between the legs
- Formality level
- Casual to evening, depending on fabric and what is worn over it
- Word origin
- From “body” and “suit”; Merriam-Webster gives the first known use as 1963.
Where does the bodysuit come from?
The fashion bodysuit grew out of the leotard, the one-piece garment of dancers and acrobats. The New Zealand Fashion Museum dates the leotard’s rise to fashion status to the 1980s fitness boom. Underwear relatives have their own roots. The Museum at FIT traces the teddy to early 20th-century combinations.
The words
Merriam-Webster dates the first known use of “bodysuit” to 1963. The older word “leotard” is recorded from 1881, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary. It is named after Jules Léotard (1830–1870), a French trapeze artist “who performed in such a garment”. That source credits him with wearing the garment, not with inventing it.
Underwear and dancewear relatives
The Museum at FIT’s 2014 exhibition Exposed: A History of Lingerie traced two close relatives. The teddy, a one-piece lingerie garment, was derived from the combination undergarments of the early 20th century. A 1969 body stocking by Emilio Pucci for Formfit Rogers was made in a printed blend of Lycra spandex. Its low-cut back, high-cut briefs and seamless fit made it nearly invisible under revealing clothes.
The 1980s: from studio to street
The New Zealand Fashion Museum describes how the fitness boom of the 1980s gave the leotard, “once the preserve of ballet dancers and acrobats”, fashion status. In the hands of the New York designer Donna Karan, it says, the leotard became the form-fitting bodysuit, which she called “the modern girdle”. It was designed to be worn instead of tuck-in tops under other garments. It came sleeveless or with long or short sleeves, and moved from day to evening with a change of jacket, skirt, trousers or jewellery. New Zealand designers also made club bodysuits in sequins, neoprene and stretch vinyl.
What makes a bodysuit a bodysuit?
A bodysuit is one close-fitting piece that covers the upper body and bottom and usually fastens between the legs, so it behaves like a top that cannot come untucked. Merriam-Webster’s narrow sense is “a close-fitting one-piece garment for the torso often with sleeves”. Its broader sense covers suits that reach over most or all of the body, which is where a unitard sits.
Because a bodysuit has to stretch over the body, it is usually cut from a knit such as jersey or rib knit: a knit’s loops are what give it stretch. An elastic fibre is often blended in.
Bodysuit vs its look-alikes
| Garment | What it covers | Made for |
|---|---|---|
| Bodysuit | Torso and bottom, usually fastening between the legs | Wearing as a top under other clothes |
| Leotard | Torso and bottom, one piece | Dance and acrobatics; a fashion item from the 1980s |
| Fitted tank top | Torso only | A quick-change top; the New Zealand Fashion Museum calls it “a crotchless variant of the leotard” |
| Teddy | Torso and bottom, cut as lingerie | Underwear, derived from early 20th-century combinations |
| Body stocking | Torso and bottom, seamless and low-backed | Disappearing under revealing clothes |
A quick test: if it fastens or closes between the legs and you would wear it tucked into a waistband, it is a bodysuit. If it has legs of its own, look at a jumpsuit or a romper instead.
What are the main types of bodysuit?
Bodysuits are told apart mainly by sleeve, by back and leg cut, and by whether they are meant as a top, a foundation layer or eveningwear.
| Type | How to recognise it |
|---|---|
| Sleeveless, short-sleeved or long-sleeved | The everyday top forms; the 1980s bodysuit came in all three |
| Body stocking | Seamless, with a low back and high-cut legs in the Museum at FIT’s 1969 example; made to vanish under clothes |
| Lingerie bodysuit | Cut-outs and stretch fabrics; a foundation garment that, as the Museum at FIT notes of one designer’s work, is “also designed to be seen” |
| Thong or G-string back | A thong or G-string back; an Auckland swimwear shop owner recalled the 1980s G-string leotard as the one style that “went a step too far” |
| Club or evening bodysuit | Sequins, neoprene or stretch vinyl, made in 1980s New Zealand for club wear |
How do you tell a well-made bodysuit?
A well-made bodysuit has seams and leg openings that stretch without cracking. Its side seams hang straight, and its fibre label is clear.
Read the fibre label
- Look for spandex by name. Under US law, a fibre under 5% of the weight is normally listed as “other fiber”. The rule lets a brand name it when it has a clearly established functional significance; its own example is “96 percent Acetate, 4 percent Spandex”. So a bodysuit label may name 3% or 4% spandex when the fibre has a clear function.
- No elastic fibre at all means the stretch comes only from the knit’s loops, which also let a knit change shape in the wash.
Test the seams and edges
- Pull each seam gently from both ends. A University of Idaho extension guide to sewing knits gives this test: the seam should stretch without the thread breaking. Popped stitches, or a seam that stops the fabric stretching, are red flags.
- Check the leg openings and hems. The same guide says hems in knits should have “give”, be inconspicuous and not be wide.
Hang it up and look
- Follow the side seams. On a knit cut true, they run straight down and the garment hangs straight. Side seams that twist round the body are a red flag; the guide links twisting side seams to pieces laid along the ribs rather than parallel to the fold.
How do you wear a bodysuit?
Wear a bodysuit wherever you would wear a tucked-in top: the point is a smooth, unbroken line at the waistband.
- With high-rise trousers, jeans or a pencil skirt, so the waistband sits over the body of the suit rather than the fastening.
- Under tailoring. A long-sleeved bodysuit under a blazer keeps the front flat when the jacket is open.
- Day to evening. The New Zealand Fashion Museum notes that the 1980s bodysuit changed with the jacket, skirt, trousers or jewellery worn over it, which still works.
- Size by torso length, not just chest. Fasten it and sit down: if it drags on the shoulders or cuts at the leg, the body is too short for you.
How do you care for a bodysuit?
Follow the care label, and treat a bodysuit as the knit it is: knits can change shape in washing, and some fibres, such as cotton, shrink considerably. The University of Idaho guide advises that if a knit keeps shrinking, you drip-dry it or dry it flat rather than tumble-dry it. Fasten the snaps before washing so they do not catch on other clothes.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a bodysuit and a leotard?
Both are close-fitting one-piece garments that cover the torso and bottom. A leotard is made for dance and acrobatics and is named after the French trapeze artist Jules Léotard. A fashion bodysuit is made to be worn as a top under trousers or skirts and usually fastens between the legs. The New Zealand Fashion Museum describes the bodysuit as the leotard reworked for fashion in the 1980s.
Is a bodysuit underwear or outerwear?
It can be either. A body stocking is made to sit unseen under clothes: the Museum at FIT showed a 1969 example cut to be nearly undetectable under revealing styles. A day bodysuit is worn as a visible top in place of a tucked-in shirt. The museum has also shown cut-out bodysuits that act as foundation garments yet are designed to be seen.
What is a bodysuit called in the UK?
In British English a bodysuit is often simply called a “body”, as the Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries note. The garment is the same: a close-fitting piece covering the upper body and bottom, usually fastening between the legs. Shops in the UK use both words, so search for both when you are looking for a particular style or fabric.
Why do bodysuits fasten between the legs?
Most bodysuits fasten between the legs, as the Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries definition notes, typically with snaps or hooks. The fastening lets you open the bodysuit without pulling it off over your head, which matters when you need the toilet. When trying one on, sit down with it fastened and check that the closure lies flat under your waistband and does not dig in.
What does 4% spandex on a bodysuit label mean?
It means four parts in a hundred, by weight, are spandex, the elastic fibre. Under US labelling rules, fibres below 5% are usually lumped together as “other fiber”, but a brand may name one when it has a clearly established function. The rule itself uses “96 percent Acetate, 4 percent Spandex” as its example, so naming a small share of spandex is permitted.
Is a bodysuit the same as a teddy?
Not quite. A teddy is a lingerie garment, which the Museum at FIT traces to the combination undergarments of the early 20th century; the example it showed, from about 1988, is silk charmeuse and lace. A bodysuit is usually close-fitting and knitted, and is made to be worn as a top. Lingerie-style bodysuits sit between the two.
Sources
- Bodysuit, Merriam-Webster
- bodysuit, Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries (Oxford University Press)
- leotard (n.), Online Etymology Dictionary
- Exposed: A History of Lingerie, The Museum at FIT (2014)
- Fitness & Fashion (text by Cecilie Geary), New Zealand Fashion Museum (2017)
- 16 CFR § 303.3 Fibers present in amounts of less than 5 percent, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (US Code of Federal Regulations)
- How to Sew with Knit Fabrics (Current Information Series No. 138), University of Idaho Cooperative Extension Service (1970)
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