Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Remembrance of Bikinis Past

Fast Times at Ridgemont High was on HBO (in the olde days kids, before Tivo and Netflix, hell, before the average family even had a VCR) about four times a week one summer when I was little. And though I had difficulty relating to the film’s risqué plot lines at a time in my life when risky behavior meant making prank phone calls, one thing did register indelibly in my young mind: Linda Barrett’s (as played by Phoebe Cates) red bikini. (This bikini is burned onto my boyfriend’s brain too, as it turns out, though apparently for entirely different reasons.)

Not just a bathing suit, this bikini symbolized the incredibly sophisticated lifestyle I imagined all teenage girls led, girls like my babysitter who laid out in the backyard wearing coconut scented suntan oil and drinking diet soda. I’ve had a thing for ‘80s-looking red bikinis ever since. My favorite Linda Barrett-inspired styles? Check out this Lisa Curran, this Lauren Moffatt, and this Rosa Cha.

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