Catsuit

Catsuits were occasionally worn as a fashion item at various times from the 1960s to the 1990s. During the 1970s and 1980s, they were worn for aerobics and disco dancing. Around 1980, disco dance catsuits briefly became a street fashion item in the United Kingdom.

Athletes in sports such as speed skating, bobsled, winter triathlon, ski-racing, cycling, bodyflight and gymnastics wear garments similar to catsuits, called unitards, which are specifically geared to the needs of the sport involved. Also similar in appearance are wetsuits and drysuits used by scuba divers, and the speedsuits used by competitive swimmers before the more extreme forms of the suit were banned. Also, in tennis Serena Williams would sometimes wear catsuits, two examples are the 2002 US Open and the 2018 French Open.

The name "catsuit" is attributed only since about 1955 or 1960.[2][3] The origin of the name is unknown; it may refer to a slinky, catlike aspect given the wearer by some versions.[4]

Actress Lee Meriwether as Catwoman in 1966

The catsuit is often worn in movies, television, music videos, and computer games.

• In comics and their spin-off movies, catsuits are often worn by superheroes of both sexes. One well-known icon is Catwoman, the villainess/anti-heroine of the Batman series, and a heroine in the Batman series, Batgirl, also wore catsuits. The Black Panther of Marvel Comics counts as a male example.
• Scarlett Johansson wears a catsuit playing Natasha Romanoff, a fictional Marvel Comics superhero, the Black Widow, in a number of films, beginning with Iron Man 2 (2010),[5] then Marvel's The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) And Avengers: Endgame (2019).
• The lead female characters of the Underworld film series and The Matrix wore catsuits.
• Female villains and heroines in spy films may wear catsuits, such as the Baroness and Scarlett in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
• An iconic use of catsuits in popular media was on the British television show The Avengers, where Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman) and Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) wore tight leather catsuits; leather was chosen because it lit well in studio lighting and did not split during action scenes.
• Shirley Bassey wore a sleeveless chiffon catsuit for a gatefold album photograph, and in concert.[6]
• Cher has also worn catsuits in concert.[7]
• In popular culture, catsuits have become the stereotypical costume of dominatrixes.
• Lara Croft, heroine of the Tomb Raider franchise, has worn catsuits in specific segments in Tomb Raider 3 and Chronicles.
• In the Star Trek: Enterprise TV series, the Vulcan commander T'Pol (portrayed by Jolene Blalock) wore a uniform sometimes described as a catsuit.[8]

• Media related to Catsuits at Wikimedia Commons