James,
I think that what attracted us to Lycra was that it was a tighter fit, and swimmers saw that as better advantage. I remember putting on my first lycra suit, which was solid red. It clung to me like nothing I had worn before. I stood in the mirror and you could see every detail, and I mean every detail. I am not sure if the lycra blend back then was different, but it sure seemed like those suits were much more clinging to your parts than the suits of today. My mom was shocked by that suit, almost didn't let me wear it.
Lycra also expanded the color options, so suits got more bold with prints. Our first lycra team suits were white with red trim and a red stripe across the waist line. They looked so hot at that time. We gave the girls quite the show...lol. I think that was 1976?
STS
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