The 1960s mid-to-late 1960s
The Catsuit
A close-fitting one-piece covering body, arms and legs, made possible by new stretch fibres - the Space Age designers' idea of future dress, and Emma Peel's action-ready uniform on The Avengers.
The catsuit is a one-piece garment that covers the body from neck to ankle, usually with long sleeves, fitting closely all over. It sounds simple, but it depends entirely on fabric: a woven cloth cut that close would be impossible to move in. The catsuit only became practical as fashion with the stretch fabrics that arrived in the late 1950s and 1960s.
The key development was spandex, a stretchy synthetic fibre that DuPont introduced under the brand name Lycra around the start of the decade. Blended with nylon or other fibres, it made knits that stretched and recovered their shape, so a garment could hug the body and still let it bend and move. Stretch jersey, knitted synthetics, and later PVC and leather made catsuits possible in many different looks.
The Space Age designers loved them. For Courrèges, Cardin, and others, the catsuit was the ideal body-suit of the future: sleek, simple, unisex, and a little like an astronaut's or diver's suit. It fitted perfectly with the decade's space race imagery, and it looked especially striking with white go-go boots, helmets, and visors in the Space Age silhouette.
The catsuit's most famous wearer, though, was fictional. On the British television series The Avengers, Diana Rigg's character Emma Peel wore sleek catsuits - including leather ones - that let her fight, climb, and kick her way through each episode. The designer John Bates created her 1965 wardrobe, including the famous black leather catsuit, and for the 1967 colour series Alun Hughes designed stretch-jersey jumpsuits nicknamed "Emmapeelers." Emma Peel's catsuits made the garment a symbol of the capable, independent, modern woman, as well as a very glamorous one.
In everyday life, catsuits were more of a statement than a staple - they were demanding to wear, and not everyone had the confidence. But they left a big legacy. They led directly to the stretchy jumpsuits of the 1970s and the bodysuits and aerobics wear of the 1980s. I think the catsuit shows how a new material can create a new garment, and how quickly fashion, film, and television can turn it into an icon.