 | This article is missing information about origins in Japanese culture.(March 2017) |
A zentai suit (from Japanese ゼンタイ zentai) is a skin-tight garment that covers the entire body. [1] The word is a portmanteau of zenshin taitsu (Japanese : 全身タイツ, lit. 'full-body tights'). [2] Zentai is most commonly made using nylon/spandex blends. [3]
The costumes are seen at major sporting events in North America and the United Kingdom. They created internationally recognized personalities of The Green Men, two fans of the Vancouver Canucks NHL team. [4] Various professional street dance/hip hop dance groups use the outfits, such as The Body Poets in the United States [5] [6] and Remix Monkeys in the United Kingdom. [7]
Full-body suits are used for video special effects: their unique colors enable the person wearing the chroma key suit to be digitally removed from a video image. [8] Other applications have included music videos (Black Eyed Peas' song "Boom Boom Pow", including the live performance at the Super Bowl), breast cancer awareness, [9] [10] fashion modeling on an episode of America's Next Top Model , social anxiety workshops, television (Charlie Kelly as Green Man), [11] a participant in public art project "One & Other", [12] and social experiments. [13] [14]
Since zentai cover one's face, a fine of up to €150 may be imposed upon those who wear them publicly in France. Furthermore, some sports leagues, such as Major League Baseball, ban the use of the costume hoods. [15]
Companies have created brands of the suits including RootSuit or Superfan Suit in the United States, Bodysocks [16] or Second Skins by Smiffy's [17] and Morphsuits in the United Kingdom, and Jyhmiskin in Finland. Morphsuits has achieved relative commercial success internationally. Between January and late October 2010, the company shipped 10,000 to Canada alone. [18] The Morphsuits brand has actively tried to disassociate themselves from the existing zentai community. [19] Superfan Suits acknowledges in interviews that the outfits have existed previously. [5] The term "morphsuit" has become a generic term in the process; one New Zealand-based newspaper refers to competing brand Jaskins as "one of the main online morphsuit brands." Jaskins company founder Josh Gaskin says their origins are unclear, pegging the first usage with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia .
Notable users of Zentai
A bikini is a two-piece swimsuit primarily worn by women that features one piece on top that covers the breasts, and a second piece on the bottom: the front covering the pelvis but usually exposing the navel, and the back generally covering the intergluteal cleft and some or all of the buttocks. The size of the top and bottom can vary, from bikinis that offer full coverage of the breasts, pelvis, and buttocks, to more revealing designs with a thong or G-string bottom that covers only the mons pubis, but exposes the buttocks, and a top that covers only the areolae. Bikini bottoms covering about half the buttocks may be described as "Brazilian-cut".
Fetish fashion is any style or appearance in the form of a type of clothing or accessory, created to be extreme, revealing, skimpy, or provocative in a fetishistic manner. By definition, most people do not wear these styles; if everyone wears an item, it cannot have a fetishistic, special nature. They are usually made of materials such as leather, latex or synthetic rubber or plastic, nylon, PVC, spandex, fishnet, and stainless steel. Some fetish fashion items include: stiletto heel shoes and boots, hobble skirts, corsets, collars, full-body latex catsuits, stockings, miniskirt, crotchless underwear, jockstraps, diapers, garters, locks, rings, zippers, eyewear, handcuffs, and stylized costumes based on more traditional outfits, such as wedding dresses that are almost completely see-through lace, or lingerie for men.
A skin-tight garment is a garment that is held to the skin usually by elastic tension using some type of stretch fabric. Commercial stretch fabrics ('elastomerics') such as spandex or elastane came onto the market in 1962, and revolutionized many areas of the clothing industry. A wide variety of clothing may be made to be skin-tight, and it is common for clothing to be skin-tight for some uses, such as in stockings, bodystockings, swimsuits and women's bras.
Spandex, Lycra, or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity. It is a polyether-polyurea copolymer that was invented in 1958 by chemist Joseph Shivers at DuPont.
Power Rangers is an entertainment and merchandising franchise created by Haim Saban, Shuki Levy and Shotaro Ishinomori and built around a live-action superhero television series, based on Japanese tokusatsu franchise Super Sentai and currently owned by American toy and entertainment company Hasbro through a dedicated subsidiary, SCG Power Rangers LLC. It was first produced in 1993 by Saban Entertainment, which Saban sold to the Walt Disney Company and then brought back under his now-defunct successor company Saban Brands within his current company, Saban Capital Group, the Power Rangers television series takes much of its footage from the Super Sentai television series produced by Toei Company. The first Power Rangers entry, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, debuted on August 28, 1993, and helped launch the Fox Kids programming block of the 1990s, during which it catapulted into popular culture along with a line of action figures and other toys by Bandai. By 2001, the media franchise had generated over $6 billion in toy sales.
A swimsuit is an item of clothing designed to be worn by people engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, diving and surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sun bathing. Different types may be worn by men, women, and children. A swimsuit can be described by various names, some of which are used only in particular locations or for particular types of suit, including swimwear, bathing suit, bathing attire, swimming costume, bathing costume, swimming suit, swimmers, swimming togs, bathers, cossie, or swimming trunks, besides others.
Speedo International Limited is an Australian-British distributor of swimwear and swim-related accessories based in Nottingham, England.
A catsuit is a one-piece form-fitting garment that covers the torso and the legs, and frequently the arms. They are usually made from stretchable material, such as lycra, chiffon, spandex, latex, or velour, but may use less elastic materials, such as leather or PVC. Catsuits frequently close by means of a zipper at the front or back. A catsuit is regarded as outerwear, but not normally street wear. Catsuits are also used for sexualization or other types of sexuality.
A bodysuit is a one-piece form-fitting or skin-tight garment that covers the torso and the crotch. The design of a basic bodysuit is similar to a one-piece swimsuit and a leotard, though the materials may vary. Thong or T-front thong bodysuits usually have the crotch opening moved up to the front to underbelly area to increase the wearer's comfort. A bodysuit may have sleeves and varying shoulder strap and collar. Bodysuits can be made from a number of fabrics, including cotton, lace, nylon, etc. In general, textile bodysuits include expandable fiber such as spandex for a better fit to the shape of the body.
A mechanical counterpressure (MCP) suit, partial pressure suit, direct compression suit, or space activity suit (SAS) is an experimental spacesuit which applies stable pressure against the skin by means of skintight elastic garments. The SAS is not inflated like a conventional spacesuit: it uses mechanical pressure, rather than air pressure, to compress the human body in low-pressure environments. Development was begun by NASA and the Air Force in the late 1950s and then again in the late 1960s, but neither design was used. Research is under way at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on a "Bio-Suit" System which is based on the original SAS concept.
Competitive swimwear refers to the swimsuit, clothing, equipment, and accessories used in the aquatic sports of swimming, diving, artistic swimming, triathlon, and water polo.
Animegao kigurumi is a type of masked cosplay that has its origins in the official stage shows of various Japanese anime but has also been adapted by hobbyists. In Japan, most performers refer to this kind of cosplay as 'kigurumi' instead of 'animegao', which has been used overseas in order to differentiate the cosplay from the onesies sharing the same name. The term 'doller' had also been used when referring to kigurumi cosplayers, but today mainly refers to BJD-styled masked cosplays. Although kigurumi remains a minor part of Japan's cosplay scene, it began attracting overseas attention in North America and Europe around 2005.
A burkini is a style of swimsuit for women. The suit covers the whole body except the face, the hands, and the feet, while being light enough for swimming. This type of swimwear was designed with the intention of creating swimwear for Muslims who observe hijab in this way. The amount of skin covered is about the same as the person wearing a full body wetsuit and a swimming cap.
Clothing fetishism or garment fetishism is a sexual fetish that revolves around a fixation upon a particular article or type of clothing, a particular fashion or uniform, or a person dressed in such a style.
Catsuits are a recurring costume for fictional characters in various media, as well as for entertainers, especially for use in musical performances. They are sometimes referred to as "bodysuits", especially in reference to a full-body suit worn by a man ; catsuit is typically used only in reference to women.
Many stylistic variations of the bikini have been created. A regular bikini is a two-piece swimsuit that together covers the wearer's crotch, buttocks, and breasts. Some bikini designs cover larger portions of the wearer's body while other designs provide minimal coverage. Topless variants are still sometimes considered bikinis, although they are technically not a two-piece swimsuit.
Dmitrij Alexejevič Jaškin is a Russian-born Czech professional ice hockey player currently playing with Ak Bars Kazan of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He played five seasons for the St Louis Blues and one season with the Washington Capitals and Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League (NHL). Jaškin was selected first overall in the 2010 KHL Junior Draft by Sibir Novosibirsk, and was drafted by the Blues in the second round, 41st overall, in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.
The Green Men, known as Force and Sully, are supporters of the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). They are known for sitting beside the opposing team's penalty box during Canucks games at Rogers Arena wearing green full-body spandex suits. The suits are zentai, from the SuperFan Suit brand. Forsyth wears a neon green suit while Sullivan, the shorter of the two, wears a darker suit. The two were inducted into the ESPN Hall of Fans in 2012. They have also appeared in a Pepsi billboard advertisement, wearing Canucks jerseys.
Morphsuits is a company in Edinburgh, Scotland that distributes branded spandex costumes that cover the entire body, a brand of zentai suit. Offering over 80 different designs, it was founded by brothers Ali and Fraser Smeaton and their flatmate Gregor Lawson.
Jany Temime is a French costume designer. She is best known for her work on the final six films in the Harry Potter film series, each of which garnered her Saturn Award nominations. She won the Costume Designers Guild Award in 2012 for the 2011 film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 and in 2013 for the 2012 film Skyfall.
From the man in the skin-tight yellow Morph suit to the existential humanitarian who did absolutely nothing, 2,400 people have now climbed the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square to take part in Antony Gormley's artwork.
