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'South Pacific' cast models retro-style swimsuits

BY ANNE BRATSKEIR | Special to Newsday

There's a definite retro flair to swimsuits this season -- a little flavor of the '40s and '50s that evokes screen goddesses and fresh-faced girls next door.

With that in mind, we thought it was a timely fashion coincidence that some of the bathing costumes in the current Broadway hit "South Pacific" (set in the '40s) were precisely on trend. So, we brought a few women from the cast -- all play nurses in the show -- to a private residence on Long Island's North Shore, where they strutted their theatrical stuff in the season's very best bathing suits.

What you'll see in the stores (and on our models) reflects a new modesty, while at the same time conjuring saucy pinup-girl glamour. There are vampy one-piecers, boy shorts, high-waisted bottoms, structured bras and let's not forget skirts -- some with tiny little curled hems and others that resemble tennis duds. Details are sweet and frothy -- look for ruffles, bows, polka dots and stripes. Huge floral prints read like vintage wall paper, and crisp nautical references -- swingy sailor skirts among them -- are super smart.

At the photo shoot, our actresses, their hair swept into retro bobs, their makeup classic '40s, frolicked and hammed it up. Several noted that some of the suits were virtual replicas of the ones they wear on stage each night. Oops. This reminded their handler, as the day grew long, that the show must go on -- so they were plucked from the pool and whisked back to Broadway.

Their collective poise and antics got us thinking that, despite reaching backward in time for inspiration, the new suits, thankfully made of high-tech, fast-drying material, look rather chic, sexy and even a bit modern. And the adage of leaving a little for the imagination rather than baring everything may just be the most alluring fashion trick of all. So, if there is a guideline for this season's swimwear, well, we suppose it would be "more is more."