Friday, December 23, 2011

Crazy for Cabana!

CRAZY FOR CABANA!  Tall glasses of cool, highly alcoholic drinks in hand were de rigueur for those incredibly handsome men and women who whiled away the hours having fun under the sun on sporty yachts, or by kidney-bean-shaped pools -- back in the fabulous 1950s when men actually vied to look as fashionable as their female counterparts in those smart and sexy cabana sets! Matching boxer shorts (trunks) and tops (shirts) were absolutely cool gear for guys during those hot days when next-to-nothing was all that men and women wanted to wear.  The king of cabana sets was American swimwear manufacturer Jantzen, as witnessed in the photo (top) and advertisement (bottom right) with outfits rendered in Hawaiian prints and manly plaids. Even Simplicity sewing patterns (bottom left) offered home sewers a way to create their own terrycloth-lined cabana sets for the men in their lives.  And we absolutely love the matching his and her swimsuits shown above -- alerting everyone on board just who belongs to who when wearing these sexy, snappy suits!! Rival swimsuit manufacturer Catalina called their version of cabana outfits "sports sets"; and men's clothing manufacturer McGregor dubbed theirs as "sun sets."  Call them what you will, but do call us the next time you see a handsome hunk wearing a set of these, okay?