Fashion Mogul #7: What Happened to One-Piece Ski Suits?

The Olympics just began. As it turns out, we owe much of the invention and popularity of the one-piece ski suit to none other than the Olympics.

Even more surprisingly, I am not talking about speed suits, which serve a purpose and (hopefully) aren't designed to look fashionable. I am talking about the one-piece, ready-to-wear ski ensembles we see from skiers around the resort.

We owe the invention of one-piece ski suits to the Olympics and the famous late fashion designer Emilio Pucci. Yes, the same name as the still-existent Pucci label that sells a bathing suit for $500 and a black, cotton tee shirt for $385.

This isn't especially interesting on its own. Designer brands with storefronts on Rodeo Drive sell all kinds of things for all kinds of outlandish prices. Who am I to accuse Pucci for his piece of this money-making pie?

What makes the one piece ski suit so interesting, besides its popularity and then drastic decrease to oblivion, is that one-piece ski suits have largely escaped the luxury fashion realm. I have heard them referred to as "fart-bags." You probably have too.

Yes, people in Aspen, dedicated to the art of après-ski, rock one-piece ski suits and surely pay exorbitant prices for them, but they also rock Moon Boots. Most of the world has written off Moon Boots as tacky or simply impractical.

While one-piece ski suits are no longer considered luxurious today, they have a luxurious history.

In 1936, Emilio Pucci traveled to New York to ski with the Italian winter team for the Olympic Games. If he had won, perhaps he never would have pursued a fashion career, and we wouldn't have seen the one-piece ski suit. Luckily for us, and probably Pucci, he did not fare well, competitively.

He attended Reed College in Oregon, and even serveed as a pilot during World War II. He designed the uniforms for the ski team , but his life really changed in 1947, in another ski-related situation, when Pucci designed one-piece ski suits for himself and his girlfriend for their ski trip in Zermatt, Switzerland.

Photos of the high-brow couple ended up on the desk of the Harper's Bazaar editor, and just like that, Emilio Pucci was a bona fide fashion designer.

Nowadays, one-piece ski suits are often spotted on young children and older skiers at the resort. Perhaps this is for the same reason: they are easy to put on and off, and they do a good job of keeping snow outside of one's clothes.

My grandma even wore one on a memorable ski weekend with my family back East, and I remember my dad getting quite the laugh out of that. All things considered, though, it was a wise choice with the wind, snow, and generally unfavorable East Coast weather conditions while we were outside skiing.

In this decade, you don't see the middle of the age spectrum rocking one-piece ski suits that much anymore. Is it because technology has evolved to make this kind of outfit impractical? Is it because of fashion cycles?

Looking back to the '80s, one-piece ski suits were virtually unstoppable. The pages of POWDER Magazine were filled with men and women alike romping through snowfields in one-piece suits of all colors and sizes.

This season, I can't say I saw even one.

If I had to posit a theory, I would guess it is simply a matter of the latest-and-greatest syndrome. We have GORE-TEX, we have bibs and overalls to make the threat of snow creeping into one's pants seem laughable. We have bathrooms at the base and the top of each ski resort.

One-piece ski suits are simply not the best or most modern technology anymore. That doesn't mean they aren't fun for a retro throwback or for wearing in a ski movie. But ask any ski racer if they enjoy wearing their speed suit for longer than a few hours. I'd bet the answer is a resounding "no".

Related: Fashion Mogul #6: Hair, We Used to See it

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