A one-piece swimsuit is a usually skin-tight garment stitched in one-piece used by women when swimming in the sea or in a swimming pool or while on the beach. The one-piece swimsuit usually covers the front part of the body.

History
The history of women swimsuits dates back to the times of ancient Roman and Greek civilizations. At that time public bathing was common and popular. But after the fall of the Roman Empire, public bathing and with it the swimwear went out of style for hundreds of years.

Before the invention of the bikini, virtually all swimsuits were in one-piece. There are many types of one-piece swim suits namely tank suits, monokini, thong swimsuit, sling bikini, pretzel suit, stringbodys, maillots and halter necks but the most common type of one-piece suit is the maillot or tank suit, which resembles a sleeveless leotard, or bodysuit.

Another recent innovation in one-piece swimsuits is the bodyskin, which resembles a unitard or wetsuit. Although these cover the entire torso, arms and legs, their function is not modesty, but reducing friction through the water for professional swimmers. Their surface is made of technical fabrics engineered to make way through the water in the same way as fish or shark skin.

Styles Of One-Piece Swimsuits:
There are many different styles in which a one-piece swimsuit is designed. Some of the different styles are briefly explained below.

• High Legline One-Piece Swimsuit: The hi-legline one-piece swimsuit is defined as having the leg-line above the waistline when worn. The high leg line one-piece swimsuit came into being in the early 1980s with the popularity of hi-leg leotards used by women for aerobics. Many countries such as Japan, Europe and the US are the traditional countries where high-leg one-piece swimwear can be seen at pools, beaches and at swimming and diving competitions.

• One-Piece Swimsuit Cutout: A one-piece swimsuit with holes cut out in them is called a one-piece swimsuit cutout and they first came into fashion in 1930's and are still very popular form of one-piece swim suits. They include many types like the front and back cutouts, side cutouts, asymmetrical cutouts, necklines and leglines and many cutouts.

• Pretzel And Slingshot One-Piece Swimsuit: The pretzel one-piece suit takes its name from its shape, where the top is twisted before being put over the head so, it provides a criss-cross motif with bareness below. It is sometimes also called a "twister." The pretzel emerged in the early 1990s with a desire to discover new fashion lines.

Some other styles of one-piece swimsuits are :-

• T-Front one-piece swimsuit,
• Suspender one-piece swimsuit,
• Rolldown and
• Tanga.

Fabrics Used In Making One-piece Swimwear:
Different fabrics used in one-piece swimwear are Aquablade, which is a chlorine resistant fabric containing 80% polyester and 20% spandex or lycra. Others include spandex, cotton, nylon and neoprene. The most popular fabric among these is spandex, most of the swimsuits contain some percentage of spandex to give the suit perfect stretch and fit. The one-piece swimsuits are available in a wide variety of colors and prints like floral prints, stripes both vertical and horizontal and abstract prints.