Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 24, 1991                   TAG: 9103200179
SECTION: SPRING FASHION                    PAGE: E-16   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: FRANCINE PARNES/ ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SWIMSUITS, DRESSES FOR THE '90S PUT ACCENT ON THE CURVES AGAIN

It could be '50s nostalgia.

It could be the influence of Madonna strutting her brass bosom on stage during her world tour.

Whatever the reason, fashion designers are throwing women a couple of curves for the upcoming season in the form of sexy bras, molded swimsuits and boned dresses.

Women amply endowed will be corraled with underwires and those with washboard bodies will get a boost with push-up bras.

"It's a look that's come of age," said swimwear designer Anne Cole. "Today, young women want their bosoms to enter the room a few moments before they do."

The return of the bust isn't surprising, she said. "Women have made peace with being women."

Besides, it's fashionable to look curvy.

"Twiggy was the look of the '60s, but now the voluptuous look of the '50s is back," said Karen Bromley, spokesman for the Intimate Apparel Council, a trade group.

If Twiggy stood for the style of the '60s, supermodels with softer silhouettes like Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer represent the look of the '90s. Schiffer, with a striking resemblance to a young Brigitte Bardot, has starred in Guess jeans ads since mid-1988. She was chosen, said Leah Levy, a company spokesman, because "she personifies the body image of the '90s."

Even department store mannequins have voluptuous vital statistics. Dianne Brill, the 40-24-39 New York model and club-scene queen, was inspiration for a mannequin by Adel Rootstein a year ago. Rootstein created the Twiggy mannequin in the '60s, predicting it would exemplify the body of that decade.

"Dianne's being used in department and specialty stores throughout the world, now that the anorexic look is out," said Nellie Fink, executive vice president of Adel Rootstein.

Mannequins aren't the only ones with fuller forms. In the past 10 years, the average bra size for U.S. women has increased from 34B to 36C, which means the girth of the chest has expanded three to four inches, according to Bromley. She attributes the growth to the popularity of surgical breast augmentation and to birth-control pills, which can boost breast size.

Meanwhile, swimwear is moving away from the maillot tank to something more akin to '50s style, enhancing curves for the lucky, creating them for the less fortunate. Anne Cole, designing for Cole of California, said she is introducing a support bra in some of her swimwear styles.

Padded bras also are regaining favor, said Ellen Appel, spokesman for Frederick's of Hollywood. "They give you a figure under your clothes," she said.

Nowadays just about every designer has a push-up bra, said Norma Rutz, divisional merchandise manager of lingerie for Joslins in Denver. Rutz cites stepped-up sales of demi bras at Joslins. "Worn under a sheer top, it's a very attractive look and still in good taste."

No matter the style, today's bras must be sexy.

Judi Wolf, a fashionable Denver socialite and philanthropist with a Jessica Rabbit figure, said beautiful, well-fitting bras are important to her. So important, in fact, that when she travels she carries them on the plane with her so they won't get lost.

"I can't tell you," she said, "how many times I've set off bells at the X-ray detector with my underwire bras because they look like bomb detonators."

Madonna's aggressively sexy bullet bras helped launch today's bosomy look. European designers elevated it to haute couture at the spring '90 shows. Karl Lagerfeld for Fendi showed a one-piece bathing suit with a scrolled bulls-eye over each breast. Yves Saint Laurent's toga covered only one breast, and Giorgio Armani sent a model onto the runway clad only in a pair of jeans and a straw hat.

Bras, corsets, bustiers and lace chemises appear throughout the collections of Saint Laurent, Lagerfeld, Christian Lacroix and Jean-Paul Gaultier.

Paris-based designer Vicky Tiel relies on strategic curved boning, a snug fit in the bodice to secure the boning, and, when necessary, additional padding. " . . . it either bolsters a bosom that's already there or creates a bosom from something that doesn't exist," said Barbara Kling, Tiel's public relations director. "You put the dress on, and there it is."

American designer Victor Costa also hews to form. "All of our strapless gowns or bustiers are boned, so that already gives our clients a little support," said Bob Miller, executive vice president. "If we find that she needs additional help, we always furnish little padded cups sewn into the garment."