12 years ago by
When I was growing up in Corsica, beach fashion was this: topless.
My mother and her friends would roll down their one pieces (which would then become just bottoms)(and yes, trends are complicated: it was the fashion to go topless AND wear a one piece at the same time) as soon as their feet would hit the sand, and then roll them back up when it was time to go swimming, but then roll them back down in the water. Yeah, the whole thing was a little complicated. Roll up, roll down, roll up, roll down. All this means is that…
…I knew my mother’s friend’s breasts by heart.
Yeah, I got that the idea was to be as tan as possible without having tan lines, but really, I didn’t want to know that much about the people going to the beach. C’mon now, TMI!!!
The thing is that everyone was doing it. Either join in on the fashion, or be the leader of the losers.
It wasn’t so much my thing. Nudity, or semi-nudity, never did bother me… But the beach (or the pool) always seemed to be a very social place* and I never understood what was so great about going talk naked in front of all these people.
So I spent most of my adolescence being very attached to my bikini**, total nun-power.
And then the obligatory topless trend passed, and now, in Corsica, everyone does whatever they want and everyone is just fine with that.
Why am I going through all this?
Because now I live in the USA.
And here, being topless on the beach is like indecent exposure. It’s not necessarily illegal every where. But no one does it.
LAST minute edit : I was having dinner with friends yesterday and one of them, who has kids, told me that it was actually illegal to go topless in America, even for kids. Little girls have to have their top on. (This is pretty surprising for the French girl that I am : in France, you usually only start wearing a top when you become a teenager. All your childhood, you run on the beach only with the bottom. It’s still like that, isn’t it ?) Anyway. Maybe it depends on each state? Do you know?
Except maybe in Miami Beach, where I’m writing you from right now.
Well maybe because it’s a beach frequented by a lot of Europeans (Aaaaah, Miami). Here, you’ll find a few girls daring enough to go topless.?
Well, of course, people spend their time looking at them, of course, seeing as people just aren’t used to it. But in general, Miami is a VERY sexy city. Not necessarily topless sexy, but sexy none the less. It’s a little contradictory, I know.
Take East Hampton, for example, where NO ONE is topless. There you’ll find very chic beach outfits, fluid white dresses, straw hats, LL bean bags, you get it.
In Montauk, where NO ONE is topless, it’s super hipster on the beach, cut-off shorts, ironic vintage t-shirt…
But in Miami, where almost NO ONE is topless, I’ve seen a few oddities like:
– Three girls in stilettos and tiny bikinis at the pool. I observed them for you. So what they do is they take off their shoes to go swimming and to tan, but they put them back on to walk around the pool. I thought that maybe that’s what you do only at Hugh Hefner’s place, but actually, nope, it isn’t.
– Girls whose front was not topless but whose bottom was hardly covered with a tiny little thong (in France we call those “ficelle” which means “thread”)
– Girls who weren’t topless but with a bathing suit top so small that you can see top cleavage, side cleavage, AND under cleavage. Basically the top is a nipple cover.
– Gangs of girls in stilettos and high-heels on the street. With big hats. Not to go the the beach or anything, just strolling down the street. In Miami, it’s normal.
In short, you don’t go topless in Miami, but your body is exposed to the max of the max.
After the initial shock wore off I said things like, “Scott look!!! We’re in a Sean Paul video!” and the adaptation phase where I went “Hey, but I love Sean Paul !”, I ended up getting used to the atmosphere in Miami Beach*** and just accepted the fact that I looked like a nun in my cut offs and ironic vintage t-shirt.
And now, I actually like Miami.
You won’t find me strolling down the street in stilettos and a bikini any time soon. I’m saving that for my Sean Paul video reenactments, and those only happen at home****.
I always find that the more that you show, the less is left up the imagination.
I’ve always preferred suggested sensuality, the lighter beach outfits, even going topless at the end of the day when everyone has left the beach, or even skinny-dipping in the little secret creak that only I know about in my village in Corsica.
So yeah, I’m not against being half-naked in a relatively private setting, but on a beach that’s more crowded than 5th Avenue on Saturday, I prefer to keep my things to myself.
Total nun power like. What about you? How is it in your country? How would you like to do it?
—————–
* Maybe I grew up in a rather untouched part of Corsica?
** Except the time when I lost my SUIT BOTTOMS in front of everyone after a perilous leap into the pool.
*** The Miamians (yeah) would be oh so displeased that I’m talking about Miami Beach like it’s all of Miami. So, let’s give credit where credit is due.??
**** One day Scott filmed me dancing to Temperature and I had to threaten him to throw his phone out the window if he didn’t delete the video. Pffffff, guys.
Translation : Tim Sullivan
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On a très envie de voir tes imitations de clip de Sean Paul maintenant ! Tu n’aurais pas du nous en parler ! :)
http://www.pose-mag.fr/2012/04/n11-en-ligne/
La mode de la plage change, c’est fou ça ! Mais bon heureusement qu’on est pas obligé de ( toujours ) la respecter … comme celle de la rue !
http://www.younglington.wordpress.com
Ha! I think sometimes that the super revealing bathing suits somehow seem more inappropriate than being topless (though this is still from a bikini kind of girl).
http://anna-gemutlichkeit.blogspot.com/
C’est vrai, il a supprimé la vidéo ?
mais de quel village parles-tu en Corse , j’adore cette île alors je suis curieuse ;)
Mon pays, c’est la Corse. Plage quasi déserte et donc… tenue allégée ;-)
http://girlwithcamera1.blogspot.com/
C’est vrai qu’à Miami c’est contrasté : pas de topless mais je me souviens avoir vu des filles sans soutien gorge porter un haut en dentelles pour flâner sur Ocean Drive … très provoc.
Bon séjour !!
In Itally where I go all these chic milanese women go topless. For me, it’s a big no but I don’t mind if other people do what they want. It’s a free country :)
Bisous
La plage, il y en a dans mon pays mais elles servent seulement quelques mois de l’année et l’eau est toujours froide! Vivement le Canada.
Gaby Lang,
http://gabylang.blogspot.com
Au Brésil ça ressemble un peu à ta description de Miami, les corps sont surexposés mais le topless est un interdit qui ne semble pas écrit, sauf qu’on ne peut pas enlever le haut du maillot sans avoir tous les attentions vers soi, alors on n’en fait pas! Mais les bikinis, ils sont si petits qu’on croirait très bien que les gens les ont achetés taille enfant, quoi!
Ca me rappelle une anecdote : lorsque j’étais jeune fille au paire à 17 ans chez une famille Américaine. Nous sommes partis 1 semaine à Ocean City. Une fois à la plage, ils me regardaient tous bizarrement. Quand ils ont vu que je gardais le haut, ils m’ont avoué qu’ils stressaient tous à mort de peur que je retire mon maillot. Ils pensaient que tous les français faisaient cela mais ils n’osaient pas m’en parler !
Perso je ne mets pas ma poitrine au soleil, j’évite d’ailleurs de trop m’exposer, de peur d’avoir des taches et la peau trop abîmée en vieillissant…
elsa
http://www.elsamuse.com
Nonne power pour moi aussi Garance!
Au Brésil la plage est très nude aussi… Je me suis retrouvée à Rio avec mon 2 pièces et j’avais l’air d’un mamie en maillot Damart :-)
Bises!
Sarah
sarigami.fr
on all the beaches I’ve been to in America, there are always little girls running around without tops. I don’t think it’s unusual at all! Perhaps that is a New York law?
Ah en Californie je confirme, c’est illégal d’être topless. Des filles ont manifesté en mettant des stickers (?) sur leur tétons car je crois que la loi dit qu’on ne doit pas les voir. Moi ça ne me dérange pas tant que ça d’un point de vue personnel, mais je ne considère pas le topless comme un attentat à la pudeur, ayant bien connu le maillot roulé sur les plages de l’Atlantique quand j’étais petite/ado. Non seulement il fallait roulé le maillot mais en plus il se devait d’être super échancré! Ah misère.
Je me souviens bien de maman aussi avec son une pièce Eres qui le roulait… Enfin le pb du une pièce si je peux me permettre ce sont les marques d’ou le topless…
Ce que tu viens de décrire à miami c’est tout ce que je déteste des USA tu ne fais pas de topless mais en fait c’est pire car c’est vulgaire alors qu’une jolie fille avec un maillot triangle topless c’est charmant ;-)
http://www.clemenceandme.com/
I would be like you, Garance, in a nun habit of shorts and t-shirt!
http://styleseer.blogspot.com
I don’t go topless, if only because I like bikinis so much… But americans are always so moral, if people want to go topless, then they should be able to do so!! They’re just boobs!
Elisa
Wandering Minds Fashion
http://www.ourwanderingminds.com
I didn’t wear a bikini top until I was about 7…and I’m from Minnesota FWIW.
Thank you Garance,
one, for “observing and reporting” on the girls by the pool with their stilettos on (and off…then on again, repeat)That’s so weird,isn’t it? Where do they come from anyway? Weird weird…and on the streets too…tssh tssh What are they thinking?!?
two, for highlighting that these sights occur in Miami Beach and Miami Beach alone..where unfortunatelly all sorts of weirdos and fashion impaired people congregate:) Again, where do they think they come from?
Hope that this time around you get to enjoy the city..If you manage to find nice subjects, please share your pictures with us.
And again, if you find time, go have a facial at Elle Spa @ The Eden Roc where they use all Tammy Fender products …great.. or maybe drive a little further north and go to Tammy Fender Holistic Spa in Palm Beach.. That will be a great escape from the sights of Miami Beach:)
All the best,
Mon pays est un peu plus au sud de la Corse, et le Topless n’est juste pas une option envisageable.
Le bikini à la rigueur … sur certaines plages … si il n’y a pas trop de monde. En ce moment la grande tendance qui se développe ça serait plutôt le burkini que la possibilité de se foutre oualp pour bronzer utile (et accessoirement disposer de son corps comme bon nous semble…).
Comme quoi à quelques kilomètre près le gouffre entre les mentalités est parfois impressionnant… Au final le principal c’est vraiment de pouvoir faire comme on l’entend dans le respect des gens qui nous entoure.
En tout cas profites bien de cette incroyable ville !
http://en-mode-parisienne.com
Well, isn’t having little girls to wear bikini tops actually sexualizing a body part that still has no any sexual characteristics? That is just absurd…
Or maybe it is just me and the south-eastern European thing. Not only that toples on grown up women is normal, but it is absolutely usual that the little kids run around beaches completely naked. Not all the kids all the time, but it is considered to be completely normal, even “healthier” (you can always hear a parent trying to take off a wet bathing suit from his/her kid with “You will catch a cold!” at 35 degrees Celsius). Believe me, we all have at least one photo from a beach with no clothes on, happily playing in the sand or proudly posing by a boat.
Cultural differences are so interesting and of course, there is no right or wrong way…but I admit that having a normal, relaxed attitude towards a naked body seems just a bit more … logical. And yes, I do go topless a lot, but I am not a nudist, only because I love my beautiful bikins so much!!!
Eh, I’m from Greece. Anyone who’s done any island hopping has done topless. And during the 90s and early 00s, I did too. Then I just started preferring my bathing suit to gravity ;)
No way topless for me, really. I just untie my bikini when I lay down on my belly (to keep the back free of no-tan signs as much as possible) and tie it up again when I stand up. Stop. My boobs on open air? With all those people around? NEVER!
ahah it’s not because I’m puritan or something, I just don’t like it… I don’t even like to see other naked women around me. Also at the gym, there are girls chatting with each other completely naked like it’s the most normal thing in the world… I don’t like this too very much… My naked body, I keep it for me and for the people I choose to show it too ;-)
I don’t know why but it makes me feel more “precious” and also more sexy… Bah it’s complicated.
Anyway in Italy we did the same: only bottoms until we were teens (or one piece)… And oh the joy for the first bikini! It meant that we were grown-up enough to wear it… I remember with my friends, all 11-12-13 year-olds looking at who will wear the bikini first… And then it was the bikini challenge: who has the prettiest?
I like these things like taking your time to discover how to be a woman, slowly, savouring the moments of change… It’s like when you discover your first make-up, or the first pair of heels (very late for me).
ahhh nostalgy
But it’s like the topless, I mean… Why show up everything altogether? I find it sexier to hide something
I think I wrote some totally nonsense comment but anyway… I hope you got what I mean :D
Al
Its a latina /caribbean culture seeping in. In such countries that its almost dangerous to go blankly naked (macho culture)…but the idea is to go as close as possible to it. Hence the super short shorts/skirts and overly ambitious cleavage WITH the super-high heels. Its all about making your lady-bits look as taunt as possible.
Now i dont even like Sean Paul (and my god we are from the same country) but to see a video you dancing to Temperature would be priceless!!!!
I am not necessarily in favour of going topless. I think it is often TMI, but in terms of equality, women should be allowed to do exactly the same as men. Women should be legally allowed to be topless, even if they do not always use that freedom.
Forcing women to keep the top on means that their body is sexualised by society.
It is a matter of equality. There is the same number of women who fantasise about men’s pectoral muscles (and abs!) and of men who fantasise about women’s breasts. Saying that only the women’s breasts are an object of sexual desire is demeaning for women and against basic equality principles.
http://davidikus.blogspot.com
Plus
Cecilija wrote:
[quote]Well, isn’t having little girls to wear bikini tops actually sexualizing a body part that still has no any sexual characteristics? That is just absurd…[/quote]
I second that, too.
I’m with you. My bits stay covered outside my home. I don’t need laws against toplessness, or anything, and I don’t mind strategically moving pieces out of the way to avoid tan lines, but for myself, there are certain things I don’t want strangers seeing.
And by the way, the nuns I knew never wore bikinis! So you’re not one of them. :)
xo
If it comes to being topless on the beach it still exists in the whole (I’m guessing) Europe (for the small kids usually). I come from Poland and I’ve never heard about some illegal issues with that. That’s just silly, isn’t it?
Love your blog xx
Aha, it’s funny what’s seen as acceptable in some places and not in others. I would definitely be a ‘nun’ though- I’d just feel so self conscious!
http://www.topmoumoute.tumblr.com
Allaiter bébé en public ou faire du sein nu sur la plage, quelle différence finalement ? Ces messieurs sont-ils torse nu ? Même si je ne le pratique pas moi-même pour protéger des UV cette zone de peau fragile, je trouve hypocrite de l’interdire et de permettre de montrer le reste…
Faudra t-il un jour avoir l’obligation de porter des soutiens rembourrés pour ne pas voir un téton qui pointe ?
Americans are capable of the best and the worth… Little girls shoudl’nt be “sexualised” and “hide” their “”boobs””… There is nothing wrong at all for a little girl to be like any other kids with a bottom.
Nudity is a real cutural question.
And I am topless in Corsica as well and don’t go the States on holidays. :)
Hi Garance! I’m from Chile and I spend everyday of summer vacation on the beach, but in my region it’s common to see families so no half naked people, but in the exclusive beachs you see several girls that get off the top and then when they have to swimm put it again…I think is very normal to try to get very tan but to be on topples when you are swimming mmm very weird for me.
I think that is more brazilian or from Argentina
Kisses
I sometimes feel that here in Germany, where I live, it’s maximum exposure on the beach. Which has its positive sides, like the other day, when I went to the beach with no idea of how hot the day was going to be, and I could go for a quick swim naked without being arrested or even looked at. However, I find it truly awkward if people spend whole days on the beach either naked or topless. I’d never do that, I mean what about dermatological health, let alone aesthetics? I don’t like the nudity culture we have here at all. Fortunately we don’t have much summer to speak of. :)
On the other hand: the literal-mindedness of Americans never ceases to amaze me. As you said, they go practically naked but at the same time they are wearing bikini tops and bottoms, just so they can say they don’t expose themselves in public? That’s plain bad logic. And I find it extremely strange how they act around the nakedness of young children.
That said: I so prefer to cover myself with a pair of shorts, a floaty dress or a skirt, sooo much more comfortable, especially with sand and heat all around you.
Oh my god! cela me rappelle le cuisant souvenir de mes huit ans de petite francaise fraichement arrivee aux US, et du premier cours de piscine avec la classe. J’etais LA SEULE portant uniquement le bas du maillot…. Je crois que ce fut ma premiere honte physique, et j’avais beau etre une allumette, on sait combien les enfants peuvent etre cruels… voila Garance, tu as remis à jour un incident refoule! :-)
Oui, ce sont les réflexions qui nous passent par la tête aux US! Chez nous au Pays-Basque, c’est un peu comme en Corse! Mais à Las Vegas où les filles sont à poil en boite de nuit (mais elles ont des Jimmy Choo aux pieds donc elles ne sont pas completement nues!) c’est interdit d’être topless à la piscine. Je me suis d’ailleurs fait arrêter par la police pour cet outrage à la piscine du Mirage. Big LOL! J’habite Montreal où on peut faire ce qu’on veut et appartenir à la tribut fashion que l’on veut sans être regardé ou jugé. Que de liberté!!! Mais personne n’ose encore le topless à la piscine!
Ahahahah!
It doesn’t seem that far away the roll up, roll down! Every summer, we spent 2 months on the beach, and my mum was collecting these one piece swim suits…. WITH THE PAREO matching the swinsuit! Of course!!
That was an other ara where everybody would do what the wanted without too much self awareness.
Wait… What am I saying… Have you ever been to the beach in St Tropez?? Yes, it feels like nothing has changed!
Thanks for the sunny post Garance ;) GREAT ILLUSTRATION!
Xx
http://murmureparis.wordpress.com/
Garance – do people wear thongs to the beach in the South of France? I do sometimes at the private beaches in Cannes but I’m not sure if it’s appropriate… I don’t walk around like that though, it’s only for lying down.
LOL! That’s so cute. Oh the cultural differences eh?
http://www.iris-teo.tumblr.com < please check it out. fashion , life & love.
Growing up in Mexico in a very traditional conservative town, prudence was the norm. Imagine my surprise when I visited an aunt in Mexico City and we went to “the club” (Country Club) many wealthy women prancing around in the latest trends and since the I wasn’t expecting to visit this place, my dad bought me a swim suit at one of their shops and I was told to go change in the women’s room. Oh dear. My first exposure to a room FULL of naked women of all shapes and sizes. Fully naked, having conversations and talking about their day as if nothing… I must have been about 7 or 8 years old and I just remember looking down at the floor and looking for the nearest vestibule which were apparently empty.
I guess pudicity varies from country to country and area to area. But yeah I doubt I’ll ever forget that creepy image out of my head!
http://www.houseofhemingway.com
Chez moi, Saint-Malo que j’affectionne en Saint-Malbeach ;) et bien on s’expose comme l’on veut.
Je connais également toutes les poitrines des copines de ma maman.
Et maintenant c’est moi à 23ans et depuis mes 20 ans qui fait du Top less sur mes petites plages “criques” moins fréquentées que les grandes plages touristiques. Et oui la sensualité suggérée est vraiment mon créneau. Pas de vulgarité même en top less’. :) :) :)
This is a really interesting conversation you’ve started.
Culture plays a HUGE role in the way I feel about this.
I was born in Karachi, Pakistan, a city with a massive, beautiful beach, and women never go into the water, unless it is at the rich private beaches. But even then, they don’t go in bathing suits, they go in their traditional clothing – fully clothed, and just roll up their pants. And then I spent my childhood in the Middle East, and the same thing, we never showed any part of our bodies…so the idea of going topless was literally blasphamous.
I consider myself a modern, liberal, liberated, secular Muslim but even to me the idea of going topless is very uncomfortable. I don’t judge, but I don’t think I could do it.
xoxo
http://www.natashafatah.blogspot.com
~Natasha Fatah~
pouyyaya, le bikini + talons aiguilles, mais c’est de la “fuck me shoes”, alors? en tout cas merci pour cette tranche de vie, marrante et très bien vue!
I grew up in Mexico (with all the usual trips to the beach), and being the catholic country that it is topless was definitely not an option. But during our summer holidays in Holland (where my father is from), topless was the norm (and I’m pretty sure it still is). Lets just say that I was a lot like you Garance and clung unto my bikini top for dear life.
But yes, interesting point on what you say about Miami Beach- might be even less scandalous to just go topless isnt it?!
Paola
http://www.ThePvdHJournal.com
i come from a Mediterranean country and i always thought of topless as an unhealthy option- not because you’ll catch a cold. because when the UV is too high you risk breast cancer- once again i want to point out that there are many factors that contribute to breast cancer.
being topless at 2pm is definitely considered.
apart from that it doesn’t shock or irritate me! i much prefer it to ficelles!!!
En Guadeloupe, on voit de tout.
Mais il est vrai que cela reste assez mal vu ici les femmes seins nus sur la plage.
Pour ce qui est des jeunes, lors des journées “plage” elles n’ont aucune gêne à se mettre en string (dieu merci il y en a des comme moi qui ont beaucoup de retenu…).
Inutile d’aller dans ce genre d’événement pour en voir des dénudées et qui plus est, vulgaires…
J’aimerai me mettre au streetstyle mais il m’est impossible d’en faire dans ma propre île, vraiment impossible. :(
In Austin, all humans are allowed to go topless. Women at Barton Springs lay out sans top, only wearing a tiny thong bottom. Of course, this is a laid back town. The first sign of spring is a sighting of the old guy who dons a thong to ride his bike around town! When I was in Nice years ago, having been raised conservatively Catholic in the southern US, I took off my top nervously because all the local women weren’t wearing one. I found it liberating!
Nudity laws are either by state or locality in the US, although I’ve never heard of them applying in any case to very young children.
I think in the U.S. local laws govern whether or not a woman can go topless. Here in NYC it’s been legal to go topless since the ’90s, but it’s just not done (unless apparently you take the subway way out to Jacob Riis Park which has a nude section). I think that I and many American women simply feel too self-conscious about our breasts to be happy going topless. Because toplessness is frowned upon, we only see perfect (possibly retouched) specimens in fashion spreads or “art” photos (or the inflated versions on porn stars), and then feel like ours are all wrong–whereas in reality breasts are as varied as any other body part. It’s unfortunate that these puritanical rules instead of “protecting” us (or whatever they’re meant to do) just end up giving people a complex–and making some American men weirdly breast-obsessed!
Et bien, pour moi, en Ecosse, tu peux tenter le topless, mais il va te falloir fissa des bons medocs anti-pneumonie !
Pour répondre à votre question sur les enfants en France, il est bien sûr autorisé (et usuel) de ne mettre qu’une culotte aux petites filles MAIS il est IMPOSSIBLE de trouver dans le commerce autre chose que des bikinis complets (inclus Petit Bateau, Bonpoint, Monop, …). Donc discussions sans fin avec N1 (7 ans) pour savoir pourquoi je m’escrime à jeter le haut alors qu’elle trouve ça sooooo chic.
Il faut quand même avoir l’esprit sacrément tordu pour trouver qu’une enfant torse nu c’est provocant… arg
Aux USA je n’ai jamais vu PERSONNE faire du topless, en tout cas vers Los angeles… je pense qu’il y a qu’en France où nous sommes à ce point libre lol
xxx
Anne
http://www.melledubndidu.fr/
Tes souvenirs d’enfance et d’adolescence sur les plages de Corse sont les mêmes que les miens sur les plages du Sud de la Bretagne.
J’ai le même âge que toi, Garance. Donc moi aussi j’ai connu cette période où le topless était de rigueur dès que l’on posait un orteil sur le sable.
Mais avec mon 85D difficile à assumer à 15 ans, c’était, en ce qui me concerne, totalement inconcevable. D’ailleurs, même avec un haut de bikini, il était déjà difficile de faire face aux regards des garçons.
Je me souviens qu’à la fin des années 80-début 90, il y a eu cette tendance des caleçons d’hommes portés topless. Toutes les ados à la silhouette de crevette se baladaient ainsi. Même pas envisageable pour moi avec ma silhouette méditerranéenne (même avec un haut, j’avais droit à la comparaison avec la chanteuse italienne Sabrina, lorsque tout le monde dansait sur “Boys, boys, boys” – sumpa !).
Ce que j’ai adoré à cette époque, en revanche, ce sont les maillots de la ligne Jenna de Rosnay : très surf, belles couleurs flashy et coupes à la Stéphanie de Monaco. Je devrais faire quelques recherches dans mes placards chez mes parents. Je suis sûre que je retrouverais les miens, les élastiques détendus et le lycra délavé.
Bref, ça c’était pour les côtes du Sud de la Bretagne où, dès midi, des brochettes entières de Desperate Housewives s’exposaient à demi-nues des heures durant. Aujourd’hui, on les retrouve liftées de la tête aux pieds.
Mais en Italie et en Espagne c’était exactement la même chose. De Capri à Barcelone où nous passions une partie de nos étés, c’était même le topless en string.
Je dois dire que ça m’a toujours plutôt gênée, ces exhibitions de tétons sur les plages. Cela érotisait considérablement ces lieux qui, comme tu le dis, sont des espaces de sociabilité. Je me demande ce qu’il pouvait bien se passer dans la tête des hommes. Se sentaient-il transformés en voyeurs et en affreux lubriques malgré eux ? Ca me fait penser à cette chanson de Patrick Courtin, “J’aime regarder les filles qui marchent sur la plage”. C’était ça l’ambiance, à l’époque du topless.
Je suis contente qu’aujourd’hui cette mode soit passée. On ne voit plus une seule jeune femme retirer le haut de nos jours. Les seules à faire de la résistance sont celles que j’évoque plus haut et qui avaient 30 ans dans les années 80.
En fait, le topless, c’est devenu totalement ringue, comme le bronzage intensif, du reste (ça va ensemble). Et c’est tant mieux.
J’ai la vidéo !!! (Nan, même pas vrai… Et puis, je n’aurais pas osé !)
Excellent billet, j’ai adoré… et bien ri, une nouvelle fois.
Pour avoir testé certaines plages des Etats-Unis et celles de la côte atlantique française en particulier, effectivement, c’est la nuit et le jour !
Profite bien de Miami BEACH (et ramène-nous du soleil à Paris, c’est bien gris, ici. Il n’y a que les plantes pour savourer ce temps pluvieux.)
Nathalie
Here in Canada the legality of (female) toplessness is under provincial jurisdiction, so it’s different everywhere (although we’re pretty laissez-faire about it for the most part, I think). I remember when Ontario overturned its law banning female toplessness and suddenly there was this spate of women mowing the law topless or just parading themselves up and down the road with no top on, slowing traffic down to a stand-still for hours. There were hilarious fears that the boobies would destroy our society (?!) but most women aren’t too interested in walking around with their gals exposed to the elements (go figure!) so now it’s no big deal. I’m like you, not too interested in over-exposure, but couldn’t care less either way if someone prefers to be topless on the beach.
Haha America is so silly about what we accept as appropriate (clothing in the form of strings) and not appropriate (exposing yourself without the strings). It’s really no different. I prefer a bikini that gives me support and a moderate amount of coverage but that I still feel sexy (for me). The heels/wedges/stilettos/etc at the pool drive me nuts. I get it, your legs look longer and you (hopefully) walk with better posture, but let’s be real and casual here, it’s a pool.
xoxo
http://www.thewrittenrunway.com
well, I live in the Costa Brava (Spain) and it happens the same as in Corsica, everyone does whatever they want. but maybe it’s because of my shyness but I hardly ever go topless, I’m affraid to run into any of my friends or someone I know with no top… it could be really awkward for me to talk to them with my boobs exposed… hehehe! however, I’ve been topless in some occasions, you know, when I find a little beach which is no crowded and there’s no risk to find anyeone I know!
je porte un regard féminin sur la nudité à la plage complètement désérotisé et “dévulgarisé”. pour moi tout est question d’attitude une personne peut paraître vulgaire à cause de son look et/ou de sa façon de se tenir, de se comporter, de parler etc… parfois cela tient à un détail…
pour ma part je fais du topless voire du less tout court selon les plages où je me trouve (sud de la france).
le regard des hommes est certainement différent, et même très certainement différent d’un homme à l’autre…
après en matière de maillot c’est comme pour les fringues en général, est beau ce qui va, allez zou toutes en bikinis c’est si beau !!!
À Barcelone nous faisons la vie moins compliquée, c´est la liberté de faire ce qu´on veut sans gêner les autres. La plupart des plages sont top less ET non top less. Et chaqun se trouve à l´aise. Même avec la nudité totale. (seulement permise à certaines plages)
Don’t know how legal it is, but in South Africa a few women do still dare to go topless on public beaches. It is however frowned upon. Beach style in Cape Town varies but mostly tends to be classic or surfer comfort. I believe a well cut bikini is WAY SEXIER than revealing all.
Et voici ce que mentionne le site des affaires étrangères français :
“Les Américains sont très tolérants en matière vestimentaire. Cependant, le monokini est formellement proscrit, même pour les petites filles. Les enfants, bébés compris, doivent porter un maillot (changer un nourrisson en public peut choquer).”
http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/conseils-aux-voyageurs/conseils-par-pays/etats-unis-12311/
cqfd.
moi aussi arrivant en floride au début des années 90 avec mon maillot une pièce rouge vicidomini façon “je suis la manaudou des piscines”, j’avais été surprise de l’over sexytude des filles à la plage, décolletés plongeants et culotte riquiqui. Le sex appeal des françaises en avait pris un coup tout à coup ;o)
Sur la théorie du topless en général, moi j’dis, si on se parle de petits seins ça passe s’ils dépassent le 90 C, on oublie, à moins de vouloir jouer dans un porno.
Sur la théorie du topless aux US, c’est autre chose. Petite anecdote : j’étais à la piscine d’une résidence avec une copine qui fait un petit 85 B et des habitants de l’immeuble sont allés cafter à la responsable de l’accueil qu’elle était topless et que c’était outrageusement choquant. C’est pas choquant ça ?
http://www.ladenicheuse.com
Au Canada, c’est l’été 3 semaines par année alors l’accessoire ultime c’est un paréo-qui-peut-aussi-servir-de-foulard-si-le-vent-se-lève. Ou une bonne veste qui sert aussi de coussin.
Maintenant que je réalise la pourritude du climat estival chez moi, pas étonnant que je sois la seule hystérique à courir en bikini sur la plage en Espagne à 20 degrés en fin septembre…
Au dessus de 20 degrés toutes les options sont ouvertes, c’est limite cannicule, non ?
Pour ce qui est du topless, j’ai une annecdote. J’étais en bikini sur une plage à Barcelone à essayer de bronzer sans marques – mais sans enlever mon maillot (braf, de la gymnastique) – lorsqu’une vieille dame alors assise près de moi m’a abordé. Elle m’a crié “si j’avais encore des seins comme les tiens, je vivrais toute nue !” (la dame devais avoir près de 80 ans et parraissait encore très bien). Depuis, je suis un peu moins gênée lorsque je vais à la plage à Barça. Mais je ne sais pas si j’y arriverais ailleurs.
Hi Garance,
I’m a lawyer living in New York. It actually isn’t illegal for women to go topless in America. Laws vary by states but in New York, the law is where ever men can be topless, women can be too. This of course includes the beach and I’ve often see topless New Yorker’s by the ocean. Try a different beach this summer, topless women are out there!
In the very liberal Denmark where I’m from EVERYBODY sunbathed topless in the 70s. Not quite as much anymore. Anyway, funny to see your post on this :)
En Bretagne-Finistère Nord-on ne se risque pas au Topless:on mourrait de froid dans la seconde.Pull marin,marinière,pantacourt,c’est le minimum.La capeline-chapeau de soleil XXL,t’oublie:un coup de vent et elle vogue sur la mer,entre deux goélands ulcérés.
J’arrive même pas à enlever mes chaussettes,donc même pas topless des pieds.La loose.
Donc Total None Power Plus!
Héhé, j’ai vécu quelques mois au Brésil et là bas idem le top less est très mal vu (surtout dans les petits villages), voir punissable par la loi, moi évidemment je ne savais pas… la réaction des gens me l’a vite fait comprendre, surtout quand un bus scolaire à débarquer sur la petite plage où je me trouvais seule… les seins nus… Montrer ses fesses pas de problème par contre hein! C’est marrant je trouve, les différences culturelles par rapport à la nudité et au corps, autre exemple dans le nord du Brésil ce sont les hommes qui s’épilent (absolument tout) et pas les femmes.
(longtime reader, never comment)
FYI in the US the laws concerning this stuff are specific to state, city and county. For example in NYC it’s technically legal for women to go topless in public for any non-commercial reason, and on certain beaches like Brighton Beach, frequented by many Eastern-European people you can see women taking advantage of this policy. I don’t know about the specific laws in every state/city/county but you can rest assured that they are probably complicated, illogical, and probably often contradictory to each other. However, there is not any one federal law making it illegal for women/girls all over the country to be topless.
Today, I live in Brasil, but I’ve lived in Barcelona for a season. I think people, here in Brasil, where we have a lot of sunny days, see the beach as social and meeting place, they care so much of their appearance, while in Spain (or Europe in general), people go to the beach to enjoy the sun, to be healthy and not so worry about how they look.
aaaah encore de la fausse pudeur à l’americaine!!! Donc pas de topless sur les plages, c’est trop shoking mais pas de problème pour la micro jupe et talons de 12 en ville… Je les comprends pas encore ces américains! Mais ca va venir!
Topless. Yes. On South Beach? No.
@Jenny : oui, ici à Barcelone c’est tout à fait normal de faire tu topless, d’ailleurs presque partout en Espagne. Après autant d’années de dictature les espagnoles comptent bien profiter de leur droit à se dorer librement au soleil. Donc la prochaine fois que tu passes par ici fait du topless ne serait-ce qu’une fois, en guise de clin d’oeil à notre mémoire historique… :)
Je pense que le côté suggéré est justement très “made in France” :)
I agree the suggestion of breasts is much sexier than seeing the whole thing. Besides, sunburned breasts are not much fun.
In the San Francisco bay area we have designated topless beaches (mostly gay and left-over hippie) and it is NOT EVER very warm here so mostly about exposition.
Here in Brazil you see pretty much everything, depends on where you are. In my city, people don´t dress up much to go to the beach, just Havaianas and a REALLY TINY bikini. iF you have a average size two parts, you are considered TOO OLD LADY LIKE or out of fashion. i don’t really like that and was very happy when i spent seven months living in Toronto, taking sunbathes on Lake Ontario in my normal size bikini without getting eyes on me because of it.
i have respect for those that do, but i will say that i do not think i would be comfortable enough to do that. its a little too much expose for me.
xx, http://wordbyjessie.com/
Cannes 1992,
toutes les femmes en topless, les amies de ma mère aussi. Et moi, j’avais 16 ans, je ne portais que des maillots une pièces et noirs. Les amies françaises de ma mères ne comprenaient pas, mais j’ai toujours pensé qu’il faut pas “se montrer” à tout le monde, meme si ton corps est beau. Maintenant je porte des bikinis, mais pas trop sexy.
Dear Garance
Living in Australia where we have wonderful beaches and great weather most of the time, children practically grow up on the beach. But most of us down under are too worried about skin cancer to let small children run around naked or topless for hours on the beach. Parents mostly now dress their children in special anti-skin cancer beach clothes to protect their young skin from damaging radiation and only let them expose skin for short periods of time. Likewise adults are also more and more sun conscious. Most of us down here have known at least two or three people who’ve died from skin cancer so it’s very hard for us to believe that so many Europeans and Americans run around most of the time practically naked on the beach. It’s not really a modesty issue for me as a mother, it’s a health issue! A tan is not healthy, it’s a sign of skin damage.
I prefer to keep my bikini top on, but in Norway where I live, people are pretty liberal, and there’s always some topless women at the beach. Most of them are very tanned and over 50, and should really wear a top if you ask me, but I guess it’s good for them that they’re so comfotable in their own skin.
I haven’t seen any heels though, but the beaches in Norway are very far from glamorous. It’s mostly rocks and bushes, not at all like Miami Beach ;)
Well…. my dear Garance…I’m living in Miami and sometimes I feel like you, like nun or sometimes from another planet, too cover up for this city…but in any case I love to live in Miami… with my vintage clothing , with my mix of style…and talking about topless..I’m from Chile where nobody is doing topless…no no no…but my mother was spanish and until I was 12 years all I was in topless in the South of Chile, in a beautiful lake…I was the only one, of course…but I felt so freeeeee!!! It was cool at that time…Now my body is just for me and for my special someone! but it’s ok for me is some one do it….I’m really an open mind person!!!!
Kisses beautiful and I adore your work!
http://www.angelesalmuna.com
Here in the Philippines, you’ll see lots of women wearing shorts and t-shirt (with regular underwear) not to just go to the beach or pool, but to actually swim in! You got nun-power sisters here! Lol!:))
I enjoy tanning topless! I love not getting tan lines, and it feels nice to just lay in the sun without anything but bottoms on. :) That being said… I’m American and I’ve only ever done this in Nice (because I didn’t know nor would I see any one of the people around me ever again). I think I would have had a problem like you growing up. Haha, loved reading this post today!
Hi Garance!
I’m English, so it is almost NEVER warm enough for me to go topless on a beach even if I wanted to! I remember being little and wearing wellies and a raincoat to the beach in the summer….
That said, lots of people get straight in their bikinis as soon as the sun comes out, because sometimes catching the sun is like trying to catch a snowflake in your hand! But I have never seen anyone topless. (I bet you are shocked! No?)
For me it’s a bikini abroad if I am swimming in the sea, but I slip a dress on as soon as I am off the sand, covering up just seems more elegant to me. And being smothered in factor 5o as I am an English rose and burn so easily! (Which results in that sticky suncream-sand effect, very elegant)
Love your blog, always makes me smile!
Kisses!
From Marseille to SAN FRANCISCO ! Quel fosse culturel !Pour moi la nudite n’est pas choquante, elle devient derangeante par le regard et l’interpretation que l’on peut en faire. En Californie, ne pas se mettre topless, mais avoir un “gun” dans son couffin quelle ironie !
Your posts always make me laugh out loud–this one, especially! I must be nun-like also. Those death leaps into the pool will just about get you every time.
Eh bien moi, qui n’ai et n’aurai jamais rien d’une topless girl (bien que j’aie pratiqué l’allaitement dans des lieux publics sans rien exhiber mais sans me terrer dans des recoins sombres), dans mon petit pays voisin de la France, je commence à me dire qu’il est difficile de trouver, pour une mouflette de cinq ans, un maillot qui soit juste un slip joli ou mignon ou rigolo ou banal mais pas un bikini (en attendant – mais je ne renonce pas ! – je lui ai dégotté un une pièce à imprimé papillons et petit volant sur les hanches, complètement kitsch et très fun.
C’est vrai, comme dit Paloma, qu’à Barcelone le topless est très normal, mais je dois dire qu’il y a à peu près 20 ans, tout le monde faisait du topless, mais tout le monde, vraiment, beaucoup plus que maintenant, la mode…
Moi je compare un peu aux habits maintenant et avant. Années 70 par exemple, que des pattes d’eph, ou que des mini-juppes. Maintenant slims, boyfriend, pattes d’eph., baggy, tout vaut. Comme maintenant avec le topless / non-topless ici.
I will always and continue to be fascinated by beach trends. They have a way of galvanising every other aspect of summer.
http://lordashbury.com
Well, in Greece it’s almost the same with France! During childhood all the girls run around topless, and never even bother about that. In fact it felt strange to me when I started wearing the top of my bikini! It’s at the age of 7 and up that we start considering it is a bit awkward to run around semi-naked! During teenage life everyone is covered up-even in tiny bikinis, but still fully covered. Things start changing again after the end of school, meaning 18 years old. Everyone chooses his path, so a girl could either be cheeky and ‘bimbo’ like, or could embrace the grace of hipsters and go topless in a ‘hippie’ way (usually accompanied by small breasts like Keira Knightley). I haven’t gone topless yet, but I would like to try it with my best friends, I think it would be quite revolutionary!
xxx
Natalia
I’m from Portugal and our behaviour at the beach seems very much similar to the one you describe in Corsica. When I was growing up, in the 1980-90s,topless was very common (although I always opted for a bikini myself), and of-course most of the little girls wear only bottoms… Never even questioned that for a minute ;)
super-tiny bikinis and particularly thongs, on the other hand, have always been a no-no.
As a reader above also noted, Miami’s beach dressing code looks very similar to Rio’s, ie. no topless /explicit nudity allowed (I think it’s forbidden, but I’m not completely sure), but apart from that almost everything else goes…
Beijinhos xxx
le bronzage idéal!!!! Avec un paréo !!!! Sous un parasol avec chapeau et lunettes oversize
Surtout sur une plage Corse ,dans les Agriates ,à Rondinara, Arone ou sur toutes les autres
(mais pour nager nueee sur la plage abandonnée) tu fermes les yeux et je sais que l’odeur
Du maquis chatouille ton nez
En PACA, j’en ai encore eu la démonstration hier, le topless est le ROI des princesses REINES en matière de ”dorage” de cuisses et de poitrines hauts perchées !!!!
Alys
http://toulonmontrealmalmoe.wordpress.com
Completely agree with you. The painting is so surreal.
xo
http://hautecouture3.blogspot.com
Ah, on m’appelle! Position masculine oblige là! Allez, je veux bien me faire pourfendeur du monokini.
Oui, car je trouve pas ça top, top. Tout simplement car:
1. N’est pas giggly-biatch de Sean Paul qui veut.
2. La position couchée sur la plage n’est pas la plus avantageuse de la monokineuse. Et qui veut bronzer, doit y passer.
3. Pour le prix que coute le maillot, c’est quand même dommage d’en sacrifier la moitié
4. La planche dans l’eau risque de faire passer la monokineuse pour des balises maritimes.
5. De la suggestion, que diable, de la suggestion!
Et Scott, il en dit quoi?
Très belle soirée!
Lionel,
http://thetrendytrooper.blogspot.fr/
J’etais en vacances l’année dernière à Miami avec mon mari et mes filles ( 3 et 5 ans). Un jour on a voulu accéder à la piscine de l’hôtel et une hôtesse nous a stoppé parce qu’une cliente ( européenne) faisait du topless et c était gênant pour mes enfants. L hôtesse est aller demander à la fille de remettre le haut à cause de mes filles. J avais rien demander moi parce que même si je ne fais et je ne ferais jamais du topless, je suis habituée par mes vacances sur la côté d azur à en voir beaucoup des seins qui se baladent. Voilà pour l anecdote !
Dans mon pays (Maroc) c’est un grand mix, Bikini, Combinaison de plongée + voile et topless pour les françaises du club Med qui se font “déseingé” à mort ! Moi perso le monokini ça ne me dérange pas mais pas pour moi ! trop pudique et je trouve que la peau est beaucoup plus sensible au niveau de la poitrine !!
Jusqu’il y a quelques années, j’ai connu juste la méditerranée et le topless ou le… « chacun fait ce qu’il veut ». Entre temps, déménagée au Canada, je suis surprise de voir combien les gens sont pudiques. J’en ai mis des années pour comprendre qu’ici, quand les filles racontent des histoires où une personne se met NUE en contexte piscine, ce n’est pas nu comme un ver, mais c’est nu en bikini! Si j’ose remarquer que nu c’est nu, j’ai part de commentaires genre « comment ça nu – nu »? eeeh… ok…
Autre sujet : les hommes. En Amérique du Nord, à la plage, avec des pantalons jusqu’au genou…
Puis… encore plus bizarre, le sauna. Je vais au sauna au gym et malgré que le sauna est collé au vestiaire des femmes ET réservé aux femmes, il y en a des femmes dans des une-pièce… Des fibres synthétiques collées à la peau à la température du sauna, ça doit être génial… Come on!
Je confirme, en France, les petites filles ont toujours leur petits bas de maillot Vichy sans leur haut, tellement mignonne ;)
Bisous
I’m from Miami, and totally agree with your description of beach-wear. Now I live in Venice Beach, and my husband thinks my bikinis are indecent! Miami philosophy is that the more fabric you put on your butt, the bigger it looks. ……Living in LA has made it so clear to me that there is no place in the world like Miami….especially in the US. It’s so outrageous yet sophisticated at the same time….Sean Paul video and all! And who can resist the urge to booty shake when Temperature is playing? It’s awesome.
Tout a fait d’accord, Miami Beach doit être un endroit inabituelle!
Et les petites filles sont toujours en topless ;)
The beach I go to near L.A. was once topless/nudie. But that changed. One day I saw a nude man being escorted back to his towel by a helicopter! I kid you not. The Sherrif’s Department was using a bullhorn to direct him. Sand was flying around. It must have been quite embarrasing for him.
I am from Denmark and when my sister and nieces visited some years ago we went to the beach in North Carolina. My youngest niece was 5 years old at the time. A cute little thing with braids, who never on any beach in her young life had worn anything but the bottom part of a bikini. Well in North Carolina that did not go over well! A woman actually came up to us and told us we should be ashamed and to put a top on the child. Personally I think SHE should be ashamed.
Et bien nous on habille les Corses pour aller à la plage… et ouais!
Si ça t’intéresse de voir ce qui se passe sur notre littoral depuis 1an …. http://www.chjocca.com.
xxx
O.
Oh lala, le topless? Y a pas moyen, jamais! En tout cas pas dans cette vie là.
Mes parents sont issu d’une culture et d’une éducation (africaine) où il n’est pas envisageable une seule seconde, d’enlever le haut à la plage. La notion de pudeur est hyper importante… le bikini, le monokini était toléré sans problème mais le topless?JAMAIS! De toute façon je n’y pensais même pas (pas suicidaire la fille!).
Aujourd’hui, je t’avoue que ça m’embarasse un peu de voir des femmes seins nus à la plage, comme les américains je pense que “ça ne se fait pas”, je vois ça comme un manque de classe et de pudeur. A priori, je suis le fruit d’un formatage familial très tenace! :)
Totally in tune with you. In Russia, by the way, little girls go topless but other than that everyone is pretty much covered.
I’m from Finland, where it’s normal for kids to be topless, or even naked on the beach. But as far as women are concerned, no one, I mean no one, goes topless! So when I traveled to Spain a while ago, I was shocked to see all these women wearing only the bottom pieces on the beach.
I think it’s fine if people choose to go topless at beaches that allow it… In response to the person that thinks men can walk the streets topless should mean women can walk around topless: there are biological differences between a man and woman. I’m a woman and I’m all about equality but until the day that you can titillate a mans nipples and make him aroused, there is a difference between an exposed mans chest and an exposed woman’s chest. Breasts are a sexual organ which men do not have on their chests. Women shouldn’t have to wear bras but I don’t understand how equality of women has been including sexual organ exposure.
Well, just because the men you have known don’t react favourably to it doesn’t mean nobody does!
A lot of men do enjoy it. GO figure.
En genérale, je suis pour les boobs et contre le puritanisme, mais personnellement, j’étais élevé d’être très pudique avec mon corps, et je ne peux pas me m’en libérer! Heureusement, j’habite au beau milieu des Etats-Unis, donc pas de plage pour me faire confronter ce conflit intérieur!
Drôles de contradictions ! :)
Stunning illustration.
Well, I’m a boy, so there’s never been any issue about showing my “top.” That said, a lot of gay men like to wear speedos, skimpy swimsuits, etc. I definitely like to leave more to the imagination! Although the tan lines are a down side…
x Peter @ http://low–couture.blogspot.com
I love nudity at the beach, but if there is no people around who you can offend. Anyway, I think Europeans have a much more liberal behaviour regarding topless and here is plenty of nudist beaches…. For me, is not a question of sex appeal, is a question of total liberty and contact with nature…. I really long for Menorca small and tiny beaches…
I remember, when I was a teenager (wow, how the time is running) topless was very modern and I did it too.(It wasn’t only modern, it was revolucionary.)
Nevertheless I did not feel very secure doing it, I admit. (Hey, teenager!)
And when my children saw the fotos recently I had to explain a lot because some friends of my group not only where topless………(I am German) Now I am living in Bolivia and there is now way to do that. But the bikinis are so00oo tiny, tiny, especially the brasilian ones…. It doesn’t matter nearly. I am in the age now of wearing one peace and I am very happy with it. It is way more elegant and that’s very important at (again) my age.
Very good post, Garance, you always light my day.
Hugs, Patricia from Bolivia
http://www.patriciayclea.com
Your friend may be misguided as it would be quite inappropriate to make a federal law designating “topless-ness” at the beach illegal. I expect this is a decision made state by state. And while I cannot speak for the whole country, it is 100% legal in Maine to be topless at the beach. Socially discouraged, but legal.
The law in Maine is written to prevent double standards between genders (if you tell women they have to be wearing a top, do you also have to tell men??) and only legally requires that everyone wear bottoms to cover their bits n’ pieces! I worked as a park ranger in college at a national park (it was a beach) and this wording provided endless entertainment throughout the summer as we were allowed to suggest to women who had removed their tops to that they wear tops at the [family-friendly] beach, but not require them to do so.
I’m an American who LOVES to go topless! My first husband was French and I lived in France for many years and there was alott to be thankful for ….
There are many beaches (public and private) in the United States where clothing optional, or topless is the norm. How do you find these places? Make more friends! There is plenty of diversity in the landscape, as well as in the people, of the U.S.A.
I’ve noticed that the people you really would prefer to keep their clothes on are always the first to want to take them off! I was walking the beach with my boyfriend in October on Fire Island years ago – we were wearing sweaters and jeans – and we crossed over onto the “clothing optional” beach and believe me, the paunchy middle-aged man determined to walk in front of us was the last thing I wanted to see!
In Bermuda, thong bikinis are against the law. And I know it’s okay to be topless in NYC due to a protest by breast-feeding mothers years ago. Though now it seems enforced by a few brave lesbians in the Gay Pride parade!
I am Swedish, we are quite relaxed about nudity. I spent a year in the Midwest USA and I found their obsession with covering up the female body at all ages both intrusive and sexualizing. And of course, they found me scandalous. Until I realized I was breaking all the rules, of course, and conformed, I was a guest in their country, after all.
Unfortunately I think the “rules” for what is acceptable and not for the female body in the Western world has become so much more intrusive and restricting in the last 20 years, I´m glad I´m not 20 now.
Je ne suis pas pour le topless… et j’ai pleins de “bonnes”raisons pour ça ;)
Se baigner nue dans une crique sauvage en corse… le rêve !;)
Bonne soirée**
I really love how you write properly on your blog. You write about interesting funny things, that are actually funny! As opposed to ‘Hi this is what I wore yesterday, it cost a million £, don’t I look great? K thanks bye.’ Have you thought of starting a column in a newspaper or something? You’ve really inspired me!
I’m also really surprised that you like Miami. I’m about to be stereotypical, but it just doesn’t seem like your kind of place, what with coming from Paris – so chic, sophisticated and stylish. I’m being completely judgmental, as I’ve never been to Miami. But I have this image of: tacky + sex + bad clothes + too much skin + orange skin + cheap alcopops and no good wine. But reading this has reminded me again how you can’t every judge somewhere before you’ve even been there!
http://barneybelle.blogspot.com/
Your descriptions captured the imagery perfectly! So so so true. When I saw women in Europe going topless, it seemed very natural and relaxed. I like the fact that all types of women felt good about going topless in France, for example…not just those with boob jobs or those seeking attention. The women who would wear preppy argyle t-shirts would also go topless at the beach. It all goes back to the fundamentals of cultures, I guess. :)
J’ai essayé le topless une fois en vacances.
Il était 19h, le soleil se couchait et la plage se vidait. Mon amoureux était avec moi sur cette plage du Portugal, j’avais des envies de dolce vita…
Allez topless!
Je n’ai pas tenu 15 min. J’avais l’impression que tous les regards étaient braqués sur mon décolleté.
Sur une poitrine menue ou une poitrine de maman OK. Pourquoi pas ?
Sur un fringuant 90C, je dis non. Ca crie trop regardez-moi.
Mais l’époque topless de nos Mamans c’étaient les années 70, DVF et sa robe portefeuille qui s’ouvre toute seule tout en restant sérieuse, des femmes qui fument et qui vont SEULES (oh mon Dieu!) dans des bars danser…bref c’était la libération des femmes et “69 une année érotique”, une autre époque qui nous a d’ailleurs fait beaucoup de bien aux femmes entre nous soit dit…
Cela dit, à choisir entre le style seventies et clip de rap…je préfère la version seventies et le paysage qui va avec ;) ça correspond mieux à la côte girondine…
Il y a 20 ans (quand tu étais ado donc), j’ai fait un trip aux USa avec 4 copains. Après une journée de route nous arrivons sur une immense plage DESERTE de Caroline (du Nord ou du Sud, je ne me souviens plus), les filles se mettent topless et on va se baigner. Un voiture de police est arrivée 1/4 d’heure plus tard ; on a écopé d’une amende (une par fille) et on a été RECONDUITS à la sortie de la ville ! Oui, tu lis bien…
Have you ever been to the Mermaid Day Parade at Coney Island? Highly recommended and lots of out and about boobies.
Here’s a site that summarizes various state laws regarding women going topless. I remember when NY Law finally allowed it (1994?) and a guy in Washington Sq. Park with a sign that read “Free Hair Braiding to Topless Women”.
http://www.gotopless.org/news.php?item.3.1
In California there are many topless and nude beaches, so I think this is not a big deal here. Growing up my mother would always take us to nude beaches where she would go topless. I like these beaches, though I rarely go naked myself at them, but the strange thing is on the one hand seeing funny penises is funny, but if I had a penis I would be so nervous about it getting sunburned, so I never understand why so many old hippies have shoes and hats on to protect their feet and faces from rocks and sun, but their junk is getting fully irradiated . . . so illogical.
Many Americans have an unhealthy view of the female body. I think treating nudity as a natural part of life is a better approach and lends itself to appreciating the body more. The only nudity that is accepted here (midwest USA) is in movies, magazines, internet etc.. and in many cases these are women who are models or have what is deemed the “perfect body” by many men. I’m not sure if it is women who put the pressure on themselves or if men do… it’s probably a combination of both. In any case, there is no way nude beaches would work in this part of the country. Men and women have been trained to sexualize others to the point of embarrassment.
being italian, going topless was never something to be surprised about, it was rather simply a choice whether you wanted tan lines or not. i spend alot of time in the states and seeing the extremely unflattering size of their bottoms (aka your whole bum is practically covered in fabric) , i prefer buying my swimsuits in europe and ultimately also prefer going to the beach in the mediterranean as things there are a little more easygoing.
In Portugal is just like in France Garance :) don’t you worry! I only got my top when I started having my little boobies. Eheh..but maybe it just us europeans. I like it anyway:) freedom as long as you can (as I do not do topless as an adult, the thing about talking to people naked..aw..no)
bisous maria ana
http://www.thebeautylover.blogspot.com
In Croatia topless is not illegale and it’s quite often. Besides, topless is better than a tiny bikini which doesn’t cover anything but the niples.
Your friend is wrong – it’s completely legal for women to go topless in NY:
http://gothamist.com/2008/08/25/you_missed_it_topless_day_in_centra.php
http://www.law.cornell.edu/nyctap/I92_0160.htm
But as you have noticed, it doesn’t happen too often. The only place I’ve seen it is Fire Island.
The difference between topless women in Europe and topless women in the U.S. is that European women of ALL ages and sizes go topless whereas American women only go topless if they are young, skinny, and pretty. I find the European much more refreshing and progressive.
Je ne sais pas si tu viens toujours l’été sur notre petite île, mais le topless est toujours de rigueur. C’est sur c’est pas toujours top mais les marques de bronzage c’est tellement moche !!
Et comme ta mère on le remet pour la baignade … sauf à 20h :))
Here is Canada ,topless is legal in order to comply with the men-women uniformly right ,but you rarely see one and if there is any it is odd , and I am agree with except the times you want to have no bikini lines what is the point of showing that off even the most perkiest and firm one !!!!what can be more beautiful than a nice sleek trendy bikini ?
La nudité beachienne existe à Miami! ça se passe à Hauleover beach. Mais attention, on tombe parfois en arrêt sur des spécimens, mi-homme mi-femme entièrement nus, je te laisse imaginer le résultat.. A côté, les Miami bitches sont des nonnes!
I’m with Hilde! Suntanning is for fools!
Sorry, but when you live in Australia and you have fair skin, blue eyes and a fear of dying … YOU STAY OUT OF THE SUN!!
I live 2 mins from the CBD, here in Sydney and when I go over to Bondi Beach or anywhere in the Eastern suburbs, I’m amazed at how the culture of tanning still exists here. I’m proud of my lily white skin and so is my dermatologist who check it every year for skin cancer!
xox
Just wanted to say that your posts always brighten up my day, particularly this one! I just love that you are so honest and normal, yet you get to sit on the front row of shows.
Sur les (mes) côtes bretonnes comment dire on a pas vraiment le loisir de décider si on veut faire du topless ou non enfait sur ces plages c’est surtout ambiance polaire et toile de tente (ces demi tentes qu’on installe sur la plage pour se protéger du vent). Personnellement c’est pas que je kiffe la polaire mais je ne serai pas non plus à l’aise sans haut de maillot (ou bas soyons fou) à part une fois couchée sur ma serviette (sur le ventre^^) pour éviter les marques dans le dos je ne suis pas si coincée quand même. Donc je prône le maillot le vrai une ou deux pièces peu importe j’aime les deux mais au moins qu’il cache convenablement ce qui ne regarde que nous ^^
sympa comme sujet en tout cas ça me donner envie de lézarder tiens !
Xox
I’m an east-germany socialist woman… topless is nothing… we name it FKK (free body (Körper) culture) and it’s sometimes nice but most of the time horrible~
but yeah, used to naked and half-naked people
me myself – to be topless I love, but only in not too crowded beach situations or in private
I love swiming naked – but only alone or with bf ^_^
Going topless is not illegal all across the U.S. It just depends on the beach! In fact, I was born and raised in Florida and there are certain beaches where not only going topless is acceptable, but going entirely nude (there are several beaches where laws against nudity are not really enforced and one beach in the state where it is legal)! In Florida, unlike the Hamptons and Montauk as you mentioned, the weather is balmy all year round. As a kid, like you, I never wore a top to the beach and never owned a proper coat until I was in middle school.
The smaller and lighter your clothes, the breezier you feel. We don’t think about it too much. I’m not even surprised at your description of the girls in Miami. If you’ve got a nice body, show it! I’m not sure if that’s the Floridian in me saying that, or my Caribbean heritage, but it’s still true anywhere in the Sunshine State! In Florida. In any other state, like when I’m visiting family out west, I feel overexposed and super-skinny. What’s appropriate is just relative to the region. In Florida the weather’s hot, and the clothes (or lack thereof) are supposed to make you look hotter!
Waow, on dirait que le topless suscite beaucoup de réactions. Perso, je suis assez pudique et le topless c’est pas mon truc. Et j’ai une petite fille: c’est vrai que sur la plage, elle est toujours topless ;-), mais elle a 4 ans…
http://happyme.skynetblogs.be/
Garance tu es ma pote :-)
Hello Garance!
Un bail s’est écoulé depuis mon dernier post. Que d’aventures… Imagine, j’ai enfin franchi le rubicon et coupé mes cheveux de 20 bons centimètres. Et bien tu sais quoi ? Je kiffe!
Bref revenons au sujet. Moi je suis pour le bikini intégré. Et oui parce que quand tu gardes le haut, et bien tu peux profiter d’un super bikini intégré monochrome (blanc) pendant des mois qui suivent.
Bon après à Miami, j’en ai vu du nichon sur le rooftop du Gansvoort. Et parfois je me dis qu’il vaut mieux cacher ce sein (siliconé) qu’autrui ne saurait (voudrait) voir. Après, il y a ce paradoxe: on cache le boobs pour montrer le butt avec des strings…Je ne sais pas ce qui est pire.
Bref, pas fan du style Miami qui ne va qu’à mon amoureux de quand j’étais petite, j’ai nommé Don Johnson.
Besos,
Alda Mori
http://aldamori.blogspot.com/
Les talons aiguille à la piscine … y en a qui ont de l’humour :)
http://jolicassoulet.wordpress.com
In LA there are topless girls by the pool in some of the hippest and most exclusive hotels. It always reminds me of the saying: “it takes a lot of money to look this cheap.” But hey, to each their own! I myself am more on the Tobias Funke tip… :)
The U.S. is full of puritanical hypocrites. It’s ridiculous. Parents that won’t allow their children to see nudity, will allow them to watch people blow up. I applaud the women who wear as little as possible at the beach. It’s flippin’ the bird to stupid, narrow minded morons. Although when younger, I loved being nearly nude, as often as possible, I do not applaud the near nudity that is seen in the hallways of our schools, and public places other than the beaches or pools.
Well, here in Brazil most girls only start wearing tops at the beach when they are about 6 years old. But you will never ever see someone going topless ! But I guess that’s because most girls already show a lot of skin beacuse of their tiny bikini bottoms… Also, going to the beach in heels sounds like a very weird/tacky idea around here. Everyone wears rubber flipflops…
Hi Garance, another Austealian here but my opinion is contrary to the others. I think Australians have become paraniod about skin cancer, it’s about being sensible and that doesn’t mean dressing in a polar suit on the beach! We grew up with the habit of always applying lots of sunscreen and staying out of the sun during the height of the day (it amazes me how most Europeans are still toasting themselves at midday with no sunscreen, and how the English can allwaaayyyss be identified by their sunburns!). But salt water and fresh air on skin is the stuff of Aussie childhoods! We’re pretty modest about nudity, and you don’t find many topless women on busy public beaches, I guess we feel that someones elses nudity is a bit intrusive. But in relativey secluded beaches and in private spaces, no tops! And kids get to be kids until they are not – simples.
Si je pars en vacances… c’est rarement le maillot de bain… sinon dans le sud ou en grêce… c’est topless pour ne pas avoir de bronzage dans le dos…. uniquement, sinon, c’est sur une plage quasi déserte ou dans une crique à l’abri des regards… et avec un amoureux.
Here in Portugal happens the same that in France. We all use only one piece whem we are kids. And topless is not a big deal. :)
Living in the deep south of the United States it’s rare to see a woman topless on the coast, unless you are 1) a teenager avoiding tan lines and 2)in a very private setting like a neighbor’s pool deck; my girlfriends and I used to do that all the time when we were younger.
Little girls, however, rarely run around topless after the age of 3, unless they are the last sibling of a family of all boys. Then it’s only natural to try to be one of the boys!
In Singapore where it’s definitely illegal to be topless, I’ve worn my fair share of tiny, barely-there thong bikinis, just for the heck of it. Most women here wear the regular bikinis though. I agree that it’s more liberating to be able to go topless and creates a healthier attitude towards the body by accepting the toplessness as normal. Although total nudity feels somewhat awkward, I would love to try skinny dipping on some quiet beach (in Europe, not Singapore)!
i wear brazilian suits I always go topless….it’s very normal for me……
i was in east hampton with my very french boyfriend and a puritan family asked him to put on his pants….he was wearing a tiny bottom….i never identify with puritans…..love brazilians..and yes they keep there tops on..but what great bottoms
I have two thoughts on this, growing up in the US but having vacationed in St. Tropez a few years ago with a friend:
One afternoon we sat by the pool at our hotel. An attractive woman was sunbathing nearby in a bikini, top and bottoms. When she was ready to go, she slipped on a beautiful blouse over the bikini then, totally un-self-consciously, pulled the bikini top off and out from under the blouse (Flashdance style, you know the scene) — then stood up, pulled on a pencil skirt (a beautiful pencil skirt, not a skanky beach mini), zipped it up, reached under the skirt and pulled off the bikini bottoms. Sans panties, she smoothed her skirt, slipped on a pair of stilettos and walked away. Wow! — is that just the French thing? Seriously, in the US you would not see a woman dressing and undressing by the side of the pool in this manner, even on Miami Beach.
Of course on the same trip I faced the topless question at the beach. My decision and my advice: if you ever find yourself in St. Tropez, pack a bikini and a ton of sunscreen and definitely sunbath topless. First of all, everyone else is doing it, so it’s not a big deal. Second, no matter what shape you are in, the next time you are in St. Tropez you will be older, things will have shifted, and you’ll be thinking you should have done it back “when”, when you looked so great. Third, it will be a good story and memory and nice when you are about 80 and everything on your body has shifted south (dramatically) to be able to recall the time when you were so young and carefree and silly that you sunbathed topless in the South of France.
Garance, est ce que tu as donné ta voix pour la nouvelle vidéo de l’UNICEF? C’est exactement ta voix et ton accent anglais?! Sinon je ne vois pas ce qu’il y a de choquant pour une petite fille topless sur la plage, je commence même à m’habituer aux petits qui courent tous nus partout, mais je peux comprendre que c’est quelque chose de très culturel et quand on est pas habitué, ça choque! Bisous d’Irlande où non, on ne se balade pas sur la plage, mais les filles se baladent quand même en mini jupe et maxi talons aiguilles ;)
Hey I loved this post! I normally go topless on the beach BUT there are exceptions when I don’t:
when I go to take a swim
when I’m with friends I don’t know too well
when I’m with my boyfriend’s male friends :)
I’m Canadian living in New Jersey for the past 12 years. Never seen topless girls or women either in Canada or USA. I did go topless in Jamaica before having kids and it felt nice and liberating too! No regrets!
I always let my 3 year old girl go topless or naked for a while at beach or our pool and no one seems to care! Americans seems to actually think that it’s great and cute!
Isabelle, your comment ( @11:11) was so so funny! Where she is from is so cold she doesn’t even take her socks off at the beach!
Growing up in Sydney, it was bikini bottoms only as a kid. I was mortified when, at age 11, my father told me I needed to start wearing the top part. I couldn’t wait to be a grown-up and go topless, because that’s what all the attractive women I saw at Bondi and all the eastern suburb beaches did. Skin cancer awareness has changed all that. I would not let my little girl (or boy, if I had one) run around without a u.v. protective shirt on. And after having a kid, my boobs just look better in a supportive underwire bikini top! So I’ve never gone topless on the beach…but I would love to find a nice, private place to skinny-dip!
Once I was visiting Berlin and very close to the statue of victory (the angel in Wender’s Wings of desire) when suddenly I saw something very bright on the grass. There were like bright spots over the extremely green landscape. We keeps walking, getting close to those shining bodies. Well, we approached only to see that the celestial bodies where a family sunbathing in the park. The couple was lying and three kids were running around completely naked. I really enjoyed the scene as one of the most poetical picture I had even seen. I love nudity when it expresses a sense of freedom, not because you do what you want even to shock others but because you forget all around you exist.
Maybe, I didn’t make it clear that the whole family was completely naked in the park a Sunday afternoon in the centre of Berlin. Beautiful!
Moi aussi mon pays c’est la Corse, et comme toi Garance, quand j’étais petite j’avais droit à ma mère, mes tantes et leurs copines topless… je confirme : TMI. Et même dans des coins inconnus de tous où je sais que personne ne peut me voir, je ne peux pas quitter le haut ou (encore pire) me mettre nue…je sais pas…la nudité c’est sex, pas sexy…Makes sense?
Bisous!
Am further amazed by all the replies advocating topless bathing for adults and approving children running around beaches without sun protection and/or UV clothing. I guess many people in Australia are like me and my family with fair hair, fair skin and blue or green eyes. Such people are at high risk of skin cancer from sun exposure. Probably people with Mediterranean colouring are less at risk but this doesn’t make it impossible to develop skin cancer. Too much sun also is very aging, Brigitte Bardot aged well before her time.
You might notice that three of the most beautiful well known and stylish Australian actresses: Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts and Cate Blanchett all have fair untanned skin and while absolutely stylish, are great ladies and are not seen in public immodestly dressed (dress or undress in movies of course can be different as required by the role).
One word: cancer. As an Australian reader has noted protecting your own and your family’s skin is the key for health. As someone who has had repeated surgeries to remove ‘abnormal cells’ the idea of exposing large parts of my body to the sun between 10am and 4pm is beyond absurd. To encourage children and teens to place any value in tanning seems akin to handing them cigarettes because it’s fashionable.
Oh my gosh, in Australia when you see a topless lady, I don’t think she’s asked to cover up, but everyone sort of averts their eyes and blushes (funnily enough, its never a young topless lady, she’s always about forty five and up). For kids in Australia, it was like that for me too – I always used to be topless. Screw having to wear stuff until you’re older – older for me being about five when I realised none of the other kids in my grade never wore tops, oops!
Love you Garance!
I am Australian but with Greek heritage.
We are so sun phobic now in Australia that we have a vitamin D deficiency epidemic. We need sun topless or not in healthy amounts. The poor kids of today (my daughter included) are scared of the sun so probably don’t even get to enjoy the beach under all the body suited lycra let alone chests being exposed.
Take me to Greece any day where people don’t worry so much, soak up the sun and love their bodies.
http://www.jkstylehunter.blogspot.com.au
Adorável!! Bjs do Brasil
http://karolisthenewblack.blogspot.com.br/
Hi Garance,
In Australia lots of girls go topless, including myself in the past (before I decided to embrace my fair skin). However I think it should be left to more private/quiet beaches so you’re not surrounded by gawking children and head shaking parents. You will still find plenty of ladies baking topless at Bondi on the busiest days of the year, families galore. I have no problem with nudity, or semi-nudity but I believe it is respectful to show a little discretion where families are concerned.
Sud de la France , petites plages non fréquentées , voilà mon bonheur chaque été ,
l’intégral , le bronzage intégral , suivi de bains délicieux dans la même tenue . Je n’achète pas de maillot , ça de moins !
ive gone swimming naked in santa monica beach… buts thats when no ones around. if it was accepted id be that kind of girl. i feel like bikinis and high heels are more offensive to me than complete nudity, cause thats natural not sexual.
In Maine, the wintery state that it may be, it is legal for women to go completely nude! Hurrah for Maine!
gaudyalternative.blogspot. com
Well my family is from italy and it is the same like in corsica, no tops for the little girls and some of the older girls too…. In us they think ths is terrible but i think walking in street with stiletto and bikini is vulgar, but of course this is my opinion
That whole nudity/semi-nudity issue in the USA speaks to their outrage over the Thylane Lena-Rose Blondeau ‘provocative’ advertisement controversy… fashion doesn’t translate itself perfectly across countries!
First- I love Miami for being Miami!! We have only one Miami!!! Its a different world!! Love it for all its differences and craziness..or maybe normality …love it as it is!!
I live in Sydney and we have a very special relationship with our sea and beach savoir vivre..yes, we do…
no local will go nude- NEVER- whoever does must be from EU (I know Americans never go nude on the beach)…and it looks uglyyyy..unless you look like Gisele Bundchen or Miranda Kerr
kids are always covered for protection- our sun is extremely strong, and to cover against any abnormal people coming to the beach for not only suntan and swim..unfortunately
we don’t yell and respect others space and privacy on the beach…..yes PRIVACY- I love Australians for respect they give other people- whoever they are and wherever they are coming from!
we do not drink alcohol on the beach- it is prohibited on most beaches in all states- tourists do drink….unfortunately….we have barbeque and beer where everybody does enjoy laugh, food and alcohol!!!
love
laugh
respect
enjoy
x
s
Come North to Canada; we can legally go topless, but few of us ladies do. We wear lots of cut-offs and ironic t-shirts instead. :-)
It’s legal in New York, done every year at the Pride Parade!
It depends where in Australia you are, some people go topless and we have nude beaches for those that like to let it all hang out. Everyone does there own thing really.
But everyone is pretty big on Sun Safety here you would never hear of locals sun baking to get a tan. It shocks me every time I’m in Europe watching people tanning, they even follow the sun (Aussie always face the beach or friends no matter where the sun is). I seriously want to run up to them and cover them in 30+ sunscreen and remind them that they will get cancer and look old from sun damage.
I am working in Miami for 2 months. Coming from London and growing up spending my summers in European topless spots, I am totally comfortable with being topless and seeing ladies breasts however old they may be!!!! On Sunday I saw one topless woman on South beach and I have to say that except for a few looks no one took much notice of her breasts.. or maybe they were being extremely discreet… but absolutely YES the tiny bottoms and nipple covers, Breast implants and butt implants + heels …OYE…!! It is another country here. A Caribbean island attached to America, part Cuban, Haitian, definitely channeling Brazil and ohhhhh soooooo very friendly and behind the South Beach razzamatazz a lot of art and fun, beautiful people.
J’adoreeeeeee cette illustration!!
I second rebecca’s comment: women in NY are permitted to be topless wherever men are. However, the only place I’ve witnessed this is at the Christopher St. Day Parade!
Ha! Russian girls are one of the biggest attention-wh*res when it comes to fashion (heels even when it’s slippery like hell, mini skirts when it’s 20 celcius below zero, etc.) but still beach nudity is not appropriate. Of course we have special beaches for people who want spotless tan but other than that it’s unacceptable. Pity, I’d love to be able to show some boobage one day =)
super article ! tellement vrai!
http://missjayci.blogspot.fr/
People always observe certain rules, eventhough they might be totally ridiculous. Why for instance, wear thongs only when u lay down, but no chance for walking around wearing them? I think those kind of restrictions exist only in our minds, and that’s it.
Yes! Going to Miami for grad school, I have never felt so naked in my life, and I was still more conservative than half the girls on campus or on the beach!
Avec une paire de seins qu’il faut observer à la jumelle je me permets parfois de tomber le haut !
PS : Mon blog c’est arrêté comme gelé en 2011 mais sa renaissance approche ;)
Joli tour d’horizon des plages du monde !
Du côté de la côte basque, y’a pas de règle ! Tu fais ce que tu veux. Mais comme ici c’est un Gros village où tout le monde se connaît, je garde mes tétons pour ma vie privée ;)
En lisant ton post, je me suis juste imaginé l’effet de filles perché sur talons en maillot avec chapeau dans la rue à Biarritz… nan juste improbable !
Il faut quand même noter une habitude ici, les mecs-les surfers- eux n’ont pas de complexe nudité. Je parle pas de topless. Juste du changement de combi au cul du break ou du van. Parfois on croise de jolis fessiers :)
PS: il y a 20 ans de ça, je me souviens d’une dame qui m’avait ramenée à mes parents, total free, en top less sur une plage de Vendée. Du haut de mes 8 ans, j’avais grave bloqué.
C’est vraiment l’opposé, je ne savais pas, bien ton article !
Dans le Sud c’est n’importe quoi, les femmes se promènent en soutien-gorge, sur le marché !
Garance, ton article est si drôle et encore une fois, si bien écrit…Un jour, tu feras un livre qui compilera tes articles “tranches de vie” avec des photos…Si, Si!
Maintenant le topless est devenu quelque chose de plutôt courant en Europe (après tout dépend évidement des endroits! ) mais c’est vrai que c’est de moins en moins choquant. Et tant mieux pour le bronzage.
Super article,
Bises
Léti
Ha! Yay for nun power in public settings. Growing up Nigerian, children were(still are) allowed to run around topless – till adolescence I supposed.
http://panachebyb.com/
Garance, you’re too cool!
I totally agree with every word you wrote. Given my dissenting nature it is a huge surprise. I mean this a a compliment :-)
A big kiss from Greece, keep on writing!
Great post. :) Well, when I was a kid i went topless, but now I don’t dare, I’m too shy I guess :)
J’ai connu la mode du topless puisque j’ai 45 ans mais je ne l’ai jamais suivie :
pudeur + seins tout petits !!!!
Je suis pour garder une certaine tenue en ville, même si j’évolue en même temps que la mode : il y a 20 ans, le short en ville, c’était négligé, maintenant c’est courant (les shorts ont bien évolué aussi, ils sont moins connotés sport/plage)
Really a great discussion. I’m from a city by the sea in Bulgaria/Eastern Europe/. Here girls who grew up near the sea most often go topless/ unless they are with a large group of male and female friends/, but women who come vacationing here and otherwise live in cities away from the coastline are covered. I prefer being topless only when laying down, swimming in the sea / when it’s not a crowded beach with hundreds of people in the water/ and always with my husband or my closest friends, otherwise I’m too shy to do it. When I think about it, here everyone does whatever they want but still somehow it ends up that a lot of the girls that are taking long walks on the beach topless have great breasts and slim toned bodies.
Une chose me préoccupe depuis quelques temps, c’est le puritanisme ambiant.
Doucement mais sûrement on nous enlève la liberté de vivre comme bon nous semble. L’éducation disparaît pour laisser la place à la pénalisation, je suis inquiète de la tournure que prennent les choses. J’aime la période Birkin et Brigitte Bardot sensualité naïve et cette façon de vivre. Maintenant nous perdons des acquis la cigarette,(je ne fume pas), ralentisseurs partout, (je conduis calmement),topless mal-vu? pourquoi quand il n’y a pas d’indécence. Le problème de cette intolérance vient du fait qu’il y a eu abus de liberté sans respect des autres. Le retour est sévère.
J’ai fais du topless jusqu’à l’été dernier prudemment en jetant toujours un oeil autour de moi pour ne pas déranger, je me suis toujours dit le jour où je ne trouverai plus mes seins assez jolis pour être exposés, je ne le ferai plus, c’est ce que j’appelle la décence. Et que si autour de moi plus aucune femme de vingt ans ne le fait il sera temps d’arrêter. Je sais m’adapter, mais je trouve triste de perdre nos liberté petit à petit.
C’est fou tout ça ! Tu devrais devenir prof de sociologie du maillot de bain :p
thaïs
Je voulais rajouter quelque chose qui me paraît pertinent. Regardons la mode actuelle très année 70 on copie tout, mais il y a quelque chose qui sonne faux. Je m’amuse souvent des réflexions que j’entends dans les boutiques, je vis à Paris .
J’adore la mode, mais je trouve que les coupes de cheveux des garçons mèches balayées actuelles n’auront jamais la sexitude du temps des Doors, il y avait un petit je-ne-sais-quoi de libre qui ne fonctionne pas maintenant, ce petit côté propret qui enlève ce côté électrique.
A me relire on pourrait penser que je suis nostalgique, pas du tout . J’aime ce qui est authentique , j’ai du mal avec le réchauffé et je trouve qu’il y a un manque criant d’inspiration innovante en ce moment, une frilosité ambiante.
J’aimerai qu’on parle de ça un jour.
Moi, j’habite a Byron Bay en Australie, et je vois le gens topless presque tous les jours. Ca me gene pas du tout, meme quand une femme de 70 ans se baigne toute nu… a chacun son gout :) Mais bon, j’aime trop mon bikini pour ne pas le mettre.
I completely understand you Garance. I like to keep my top and bottom for myself and for my boyfriend! haha
In Spain little girls don’t weat tops in the beach or in the pool until they are about 6 or 8 years old. In fact, I doubt many shops sell more than bottom parts for girls under the age of 4!
In Northern Spain you can go topless or nude in certain beaches (nudist beaches).
I live in Porto-Vecchio (yes, Corsica!) and we all go topless to Palombaggia beach! ;)
Hello, Garance!
I am from Romania, we have sea side at the Black Sea and most women are topless at the beach (and is very very crowded). There is no interdiction, never was and will not be very soon. I am not the type to go naked and i don’t feel very confortable being around naked people, even half-naked. But this is the situation so… Anyway, i go on holidays mostly in Greece, where the most female tourists keep their bathsuits on. :))
Je n’ai jamais aimé le top less, tout simplement par pudeur (et maintenant aussi parce que je suis plus consciente des dangers du soleil, donc moins j’expose de peau, bien je me sens).
J’ai tenté une seule fois, et la seule chose ultra positive a été le fait de nager ainsi : quel bonheur de ne pas devoir s’inquiéter de perdre une bretelle, ou que le haut tourne. Une sensation vraiment très chouette !
I think topless should be allowed everywhere. Fat men are, as well, showing their breasts around. The thing is the extreme suncare you must have so that your breasts don’t turn into human McNuggets.
Greetings from Santiago, Chile.
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Je “SUR-aime” cette illustration. Garance, you’re simply the finest one !!!
xoxo from a “chasseuse de styles” in Brussels
Céline Mademoiselle
http://celinemademoiselle.blogspot.com/
@ Julia : en Bretagne, des toiles de tentes et des gros pull sur la plage ? Tu es sûre que tu ne vis pas en Norvège plutôt ?
Pour ma part, j’habite sur la côte Sud de la Bretagne et, de mai à octobre, je suis en bikini sur la plage.
Pour en revenir au sujet, je trouve paradoxalement que le port obligatoire d’un haut de bikini pour les petites filles est choquant. C’est même malsain, puisque cela consiste à voir des seins là où il n’y en a pas encore. C’est percevoir une enfant non pubère comme déjà pubère, voire comme ayant un corps de femme.
Donc, bien que n’étant pas adepte du topless, je trouve infiniment plus sain d’autoriser les femmes à dévoiler leur poitrine et à laisser leurs petites filles non pubères gambader en monokini, plutôt que d’imposer de façon obsessionnelle le port du haut comme c’ets le cas aux USA.
Après, se pose la question (concernant les femmes adultes, bien sûr) : qu’est-ce qui est plus sexy ? Topless avec une grande culotte, comme c’est le cas en France (grande culotte : tout est relatif, mais en comparaison avec les bikinis brésiliens, les bas de maillots Eres paraissent gigantesques), ou bien en bikini ultra mini comme à Rio ou Miami ?
Comme je ne pratique pas le topless, je choisis les petits bikinis. Je les achète sur un site internet brésilien.
Excellentes observations… et sentiments partagés! (Enfin, personnellement, je suis toujours pudique.)
J’aimerais bien venir voir Miami, tout de même!
It’s actually legal in New York! Some of my girlfriends go topless when we go out to Rockaway… and you can see boobs everywhere during gay pride in the village!
Hi Grance, I grew up in Germany where nudity is done very frequently, even full nudity but I’m not a big fan of it. Topless is fine and if I were at a secret and less frequented place I might even join in. But full nude is too much. Seeing the bits of people I’d rather not see was a rather shocking experience.
C’est parce que Miami, c’est tres latino. Gros nenes, talons, string et mauvais gout (n’ayons pas peur des mots) c’est tres latino. On peut en mettre plein la vue, mais surtout, ne pas montrer le tetón et l’honneur est sauf. Par contre, pour une raison qui m’echappe, montrer les fesses, ca se fait. Peut etre parce que les latinos en general, et les cubaines en particulier, ont des derrieres a la hauteur de leur reputation et vouent un culte a celui-ci; et ce, bien avant que J Lo se fasse un nom grace au sien.
En France, le concept “sexy” est certe un peu different. Disons qu’on est plus subtil. Finalement, tout ca, c’est culturel.
ah, les souvenirs de la plage en Corse à l’époque du une pièce roulé, ça me rappelle des choses que j’ai vécues ^^
quant à moi c’est également ton “total nonne power” à la mer !
I’m not an hypocritical puritan (and a gay neither), but I’m not exactly a fan of the beach / topless combination…
sydney beaches you are free to do whatever you want ,topless is very normal,some beaches are split into sections like bondi ,hipsters, tourists and families. but i must say every one is aware of sundamage and skin cancer .so hats and cover ups are important ….one thing i have to say after being a montauk regular ,sydney people take far less shit to the beach no chairs, no coolers, no volley ball nets ,ect ect.just a towel and a bag
In Spain is like in Corsica. My Mom went topless all my childhood and I did too until I got chubby and self-conscious, around 9 or 10.
I think I would do it, but not in the beaches that I usually go to, because I know people there and I wouldn’t feel confortable talking to them with nothing in my boobs, no way.
J’ai vingt ans, et faire du topless sur les plages de la côte Atlantique ne me pose aucun problème. Pour moi il ne s’agit pas d’une question de mode, ou de provocation, faire du topless c’est avant tout pouvoir avoir un buste bronzé uniformément, car rien de pire que des marques de maillot disgracieuses !
So me it’s very simple.. I am black, so I don’t really care for tanning so thanks god I don’t need to go topless on the beach and I will never be taken for a Sainte Nitouche for not showing my tits ;-)
This being said, I have a lot of friend white that do take their top of, or better, that did when they were 18 but will not do it now that they are 28 as they don’t find it appropriate, especially with a boyfriend or husband.
I find it funny when you are at the beach and you see women talking to the ice cream seller or any other seller for example with their boobs outside but that then in the city are dressed in a very conservative way…
So personally I prefer the boob inside, but in a more wider prospective I think that if men have the right to go topless, why shouldn’t women too?
By the way, did you ever ask Scott if he would have been Ok if you were a topless kind of girl?
Diary Of a Fashion Stylist..!
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Ah Corsica is such a beautiful place! I stayed in Galéria a few years ago and had a wonderful time! In England it barely gets warm enough to put on a bikini, let alone go topless, but I prefer to leave something to the imagination anyway. X
Pas topless non plus en Bretagne … il fait peut-être trop froid (?). Mais effectivement dans mon enfance presque toutes les femmes faisaient du topless. Je trouve que le corps plus facilement sublimé par un bikini que juste par une petite culotte.
“*** Sauf le coup où j’ai perdu mon BAS DE MAILLOT devant tout le monde lors d’un saut périlleux à la piscine.” mdr, mais il n’y a qu’à toi que ca arrive !!! :D
The first time this Boston girl ever went to Miami Beach, I felt like an anthropologist studying a foreign culture/species!
I’m from Denmark where it’s rather uncommon to see girls go topless, in spite of a reputation as rather free-spirited on the whole “being-naked-thing”. I think girls tend to do the opposite of what their mothers dig (or still do), so if you saw a bit too much “boob” as a child you often get a bit puritan. My mom always sunbathed topless and i actually don’t have a problem with it, I just don’t want to be the only topless girl in the beach (tends to attract a bit more attention).
I think that americans tends too have some weird double standards (just too unload all of my prejudice ;)). On one hand a lot of girls dress a lot more daring (or at least leave a little less to the imagination) than european girls, and they have things such as “Girls gone wild” and “Hooters” (a family restaurant?). On the other hand thy can be so puritan especially when it comes to the “free-spirirted europeans”. Of course the above is very generalizing.
In my opinion girls should just let loose and do whatever they want. Besides seeing naked “boobies” in all shapes and sizes, just help girls realize that they don’t have to live up to the standards and images, that you see everywhere, unfortunately especially the fashion industry.
On adore tes articles de mood comme ça Garance! Celui-ci en plus est particulièrement drôle (quoiqu’ils sont tous drôles quand même en fait). Bref, tu nous fait voyager, c’est cool!
@ Nom*Sophie Gomez : c’est sûr qu’en France, Jane Birkin avec sa petite poitrine topless passera toujours pour plus sexy qu’une bimbo latina en bikini rikiki (et talons aiguilles au bord de la piscine).
@ Li : I totally agree with you. My mother and her friends bathed topless when I was a child and that’s why I probably always wore a top on the beach. It’s probably a reaction. When I became a teen (and my boobs begun to grow) I really felt uncomfortable with seeing so much boobs on the beach. And I think I still don’t like that.
@ Valentine : yes, it’s weird to see women talking very seriously with their boobs outside to sellers and other people on the beach.
I’m Scottish, and sunbathing topless in Scotland is only something you would do if you wanted pneumonia or something, it just doesn’t really get warm enough for it at all! But, when we go on holiday, to mostly european destinations, a lot of my friends will sunbathe topless (I’m too shy!) and it’s really not an issue. Those who do sunbathe topless though will only do it in more secluded parts of the beach, where they know they won’t bump into that guy from the bar last night or whatever, haha. I can’t believe it’s illegal in the US to go topless, even for children! Although I did once see a little girl of about 10 wearing nothing but a thong bikini bottom that I thought was a bit inappropriate – eek!
Really interesting post, I love reading about your discoveries about little cultural differences. :)
Ouii, je me souviens de mes vacances en Corse étant petite, la plupart des femmes sans haut de maillot, je crois que ça me choquait un peu! quelle nunuche j’étais! haha
Mais justement en France, c’est mal vu que des petites filles portent un haut de maillot, soit c’est un maillot une pièce, soit juste un bas.
Pour les mêmes raisons qu’une petite fille ne devrait pas porter de soutien gorge, ça me semble déplacé de leur faire porter un haut de maillot, puisqu’il n’y a rien à cacher ni à soutenir. Porter un haut par pudeur crée justement l’effet inverse.
Moi non plus je ne portais pas de haut de maillot quand j’étais gamine… Et j’était tellement garçon manqué que je portais un short de bain même!
I had the same experience – i am in Miami now also. The first time I came I didn’t really get it and now is maybe my 5th time and I love it – I keep a special blog just for Miami now
http://thisismiamigirl.blogspot.com/
Like you : I was so confused by the lack of topless sunbathing – I actually asked one of the chair guys if it was illegal and he said no. However despite the hoochy US sexuality that dominates South Beach you really don’t see it. I have taken to sunbathing at the northern most point of the beach where you will see one or two women topless. I don’t care what people think I don’t like tan lines its very 70’s porn star ugly. I am topless everyday and I am going back to London with a fabulous shameless tan. Love your blog x
Hey Garance,
Nous au Canada, plus précisement au Québec, on a pas vraiment de plage… mais du topless, ça, y’en a pas! Je sais par contre que ma soeur en a fait en France et elle a bien aimé son expérience (mmh, bizarre).
Je suis déjà allée en Floride plusieurs années de suite quand j’étais petite et je portais des une pièce alors pas moyen d’enlever le haut, mais pour dormir, là, je ne mettais pas de t-shirt. Inutile. Je me promenais dans le condo et personne n’a jamais rien dit (personnes du Texas et autres états). Ça doit changer de ville en ville, parce que moi c’était à Pompano Beach.
En passant, j’ai adoré ton post. :)
xoxo
I’m Swedish, and over here most kids are both top and bottomless at the beach. And then your cover up more as you get older. You do see a lot of people people sun bathing topless, but that’s when they’re like, on their blanket; never walking around. There’s not a lot of interraction between people on the beach in Sweden, apparently we don’t like to invade other people’s “personal space”. So most people are like: if you want to sunbathe nude, that’s fine and your own business, but don’t go parading your nudity in front of other people!
In Spain top-less it´s normal…
http://www.fotoestudio.es
Hi, Garance!
I am from Brazil, more specific from São Paulo, a city wich got no beaches around. But I used to live in Cabo Frio (north of the state of Rio de Janeiro), and it is very peculiar how we, brazilian deal with our own bodies. As you said before (on your great post about your time in Rio), here is very hot and humid! So, it is impossible to cover too much our skin. When we go to the beach, we use bikinis, but we never go topless. Girl kids only start using tops when they start to have breasts.
Foreign always have the wrong idea about Brazil, and when they go to the beach, the first thing they do is get naked! It is prohibited! There’s one time 2 tourists arrived at the airport and they get naked! They thought we used to walk like indians. Off course they were arrested.
Here is not all about parties, nudity and soccer! We don’t do parties like the ones they do at Ibiza, where girls show their breasts to everyone. We work like 44-50 hours per week and we don’t live for soccer, we just watch it on the TV or go to a stadium as an entertainment like anybody else around the globe.
Oh! And we speak portuguese and not spanish!
People should get informed before they go on trips to any country.
Enfant du sud, j’ai couru et nagé topless et culotteless dans mes collines. Mais j’ai toujours eu du mal à faire la même chose sur les plages ( même naturistes, même à St. Tropez)
Je crois qu’on fait des choses lorsqu’on est seule, et d’autres lorsqu’on est au milieu des autres… Mais cela dit, les marques de bronzage, c’est juste pas possible pour moi… Donc vive le topless en bateau et dans les criques!
Parfait ton post Garance ! je suis moitié Parisienne /Bretonne et j’ai passé toute mon enfance – adolescence (et encore d’ailleurs à 32 ans ^^) sur les plages Bretonnes avec les mêmes modes que les tiennes mais j’ai toujours gardé mon haut aussi !
Quelle contradiction de montrer son corps & son derrière à outrance et de jouer les saintes ni-touches dès qu’on parle de la poitrine !!! tsssss
2 remarques pour ma part:
En vacances à Hawaii en 2010, je m’étais faite draguer sur la plage par un Argentin qui me demandait pourquoi en tant que Française, je n’enlevais pas le haut!! ça nous colle à la peau cette réputation!!!
Et petit souvenir à Saint Martin dans les caraïbes en 2007: une plage magnifique, bondée pdt 2heures de touristes Américains débarqués d’un Ferry pour la journée, et puis là: des allées et venues de couples NUS comme des vers au bord de l’eau et la gêne des touristes qui ne savent plus (ou savent trop bien) où regarder: Il y avait une plage/hôtel de culs-nus sur la 2ème plage, délimitée par des rochers & palmiers: Priceles ;))
Bisettes !
Alors, chez nous en Espagne, c’est comme en France, les enfants sont encore des enfants et jouent à la plage topless.
In Las Vegas, casinos have private pool areas where you can go topless. They also give you incentives to take off your top, i.e. your whole group gets free drinks if you do it, and it’s free for women to get in, but men have to pay to get in to help keep down the ogling. I can’t say I’m tempted to try it, maybe it’s because of the whole hyper-sexualized party atmosphere. I have never intentionally gone topless at the beach(I had my top ripped off by a rogue wave when I was 16, in front of a boy I liked who was teaching me how to surf, mortifying!), and won’t be doing it any time soon because my husband and I are friends with people we work with, and somehow I just don’t think its appropriate for coworkers to see my breasts, even on off days!
Ohhhh I don’t think it’s required to have girls have their tops on at the beach until they hit puberty in the States! I lived in the center of a big city in the US as a kid, and I also ran around topless until I was 12 years old at the beach! Granted, I wasn’t born in the States, so my family had a certain European/East European bodily freedom that just wasn’t accessible to American protestant culture. But I was never, ever told to put my “top on,” and I spent most of my days at the beach! So I don’t think it’s an official rule that girls have their tops on (at least pre-puberty girls); it’s just more engrained in the culture. Although I do think that girls with their tops on when they’re barely 5 years old is VERY weird… looks like someone just glued triangles onto a little girl’s chest! What’s the point? It only reinforces gender differences and sexism. I even remember making fun of my (more prim and proper) girlfriends who were afraid to “bare their chests” as a 7 year old, haha.
girls in stilettos and high-heels in the pool?!? I never saw here! I`m just like you and understand all your discourse!
“actually illegal to go topless in America, even for kids” – I`m speechless!!! Americans are very strange!!!
And I’m so in accordance with Juliana (• 12 April, 2012, 10:44)! Here in Portugal is like that.
Xoxo, form Portugal, Teresa.
http://clutchandchic.blogspot.pt/
J’ai beaucoup aimé ton post Garance; c’est intéressant de se pencher sur les habitudes culturelles d’un pays, et les Américains sont souvent assez difficiles à comprendre parfois et ils peuvent s’avèrer surprenant si on n’a pas été préalablement prévenu!
J’ai moi même également vécu aux Etats Unis et je pense à présent mieux cerner leur mentalité: en fait, ne pas vouloir se pavaner topless s’explique par leur puritanisme, héritage culturel conséquent de ce pays. Je faisais par exemple partie de la comédie musicale Peter Pan; j’incarnai une des danceuses indiennes, et , alors que je n’étais pas vraiment censée être beaucoup vêtue (et puis après tout je devais dancer donc transpirer pas mal),on m’a un jour fait une remarque parce qu’on voyait un bout de mon ventre lorsque mon top remontait… remarque que j’ai mis du temps à comprendre et auquelle je continue à ne pas adhérer aujourd’hui.
Dans le même registre, je pense qu’il convient également de se rappeler les fréquentes remontrances morales des Americains: no sexe before mariage and blabla.
D’ailleurs, j’ai une petite anecdote rigolote à raconter sur ma maman. Elle a, elle aussi, eu l’occasion de passer quelque temps aux Etats Unis, et elle m’a raconté qu’un jour elle avait pris le volan avec un haut un peu léger qui laissait dépasser son maillot et que plusieurs voitures l’avaient klaxoné à cause de ça (quelle indécence!) Ca s’est passé quelque part sur la côte Est, pas en Floride, mais je ne sais plus exactement où.
Un paradoxe persiste cependant, et tu l’as ici souligné. On prétend qu’il ne faut pas se dévétir et jouer avec la nudité qui est intrinséquement liée à la sexualité et pourtant, plein d’Americaines n’hesitent pas à porter des tenues pour le moins suggestives. Je crois quand même que cette attitude s’explique surtout à Miami où l’attitude blingbling est de mise. Qu’en penses tu?
N’empêche que l’American way of life est tout de même difficile à cerner. Mais sans doute pas plus que le French way of life I guess :)
When I was working on Corsica in -09 there were basically 2 beach trends: 1. Tents. I mean, literally. The French (and only the French) would bring these beach tents for cover and bake in there for the hottest hours of the day. 2. Bright colored Speedos. Actually, the only one sporting these were The Pool Guy, but he was creepy enough to make that image stay on my mind forever and ever.
Oh, and once I also saw this woman in an emerald green sequinned bikini (very Sean Paul!) who played beach tennis, soundtracked with little “Oh là là”‘s every other minute. Ouais, j’adore la Corse!!
In Cyprus, all tourists go topless. Other than that, none of the locals seem to do so. I think that’s because it’s a small island and almost everyone somehow knows each other and we don’t want friends and family know about our breasts!
Now, about the sean paul video clips, i know what you mean! haha!
In Austin, Texas, There is a law that says anywhere a man can go topless a woman can too!
1. Sean Paul is a God
2. I wanna see the video!!!!
It happens in Australia, part of my childhood was going to the beach as a child and having my older brother choose a spot closest to the topless girls. I don’t see it happen as much anymore, but up further than Sydney where I am it happens more in places like Byron Bay.
I’m always a bit taken aback, but I don’t think it is necessary a bad thing – they’re just boobs!
I grew up in Southern California and it is true that topless sun bathing is illegal, however, at the very end of the surf beach ‘trails’ (there were almost 20), there was the taboo ‘nude’ beach where as an adolescent I only dared to wander once and was scarred for life. hehe
Now that I live on Long Island, I find the same thing division of beaches. It is severely frowned upon to go topless/nude, but if one journeys far enough down the beach (of the South Shore), you will have that same stretch that is ‘indecent’. Now having matured in years and travelled since my first experience, I no longer cringe at the sight of these bathers and I think it great that they are not restricted due to American culture.
Here in Spain is quite normal doing in the beach, NEVER in a pool… But in the beach is pretty much whatever tickles your fancy. There’s plenty nudist beaches too!
J’ai beaucoup aimé ton article ainsi que ton auto dérision.
Moi ce n’est pas trop mon truc le topless d’autant plus avec des talons aiguilles!
Je pense qu’il faut avoir un minimum de pudeur, mais bon dans la sphère intime c’est une autre histoire. Puis je pense aussi que certaines femmes peuvent se le permettre et que pour d’autres ce ne serait pas esthétique.
Enfin libre à chacun!
Maybe for your mom and her friends having a one piece improvised as a bikini bottom was easier to keep up more so than two pieces along with a child or two. If need be one could pull up the top as they chased a whimsical toddler running down the beach or not have to worry if it their tops ended up buried in some sand castle or something.
Je vais apporter un témoignage un peu différent de tout ce que j’ai lu.
Ma mère a toujours fait seins nus, meme avant que je naisse (en 1975)
Donc évidemment, j’ai toujours connu ma maman avec ses seins nus à la plage ou à la maison où nous avions une piscine.
Du coup, petite, ma mère ne m’a jamais acheté de haut de maillot de bain, la bas suffisait amplement.
Arrivé à l’adolescence, vers les années 88-89, il était impenssable de porter un haut sur la plage. La majorité de mes copines faisaient comme moi.
Une fois j’avais acheté un maillot une pièce, surtout pour aller à la piscine, mais j’ai trouvé ça horrible. De rester le ventre mouillé, c’est pas top, alors je l’ai roulé.
J’ai demandé mon premier haut vers 13 ans, mais que je ne mettais pas beaucoup non plus. Pour deux raisons, j’avais pas l’habitude, j’aimais bien être à l’aise, et puis ne pas avoir ces fichus marques.
Plus tard, vers 20 ans, j’ai regulièrement mis des hauts. Puis vers 25 ans j’ai recommencé à l’enlever, je suis finalement mieux sans.
Jusqu’à il y a deux ans ou je n’emmene meme plus mon haut sur la plage.
Pourquoi cela ? Pour faire de la résistance, tout simplement. Je trouve qu’il y en a presque plus des femmes comme moi, et je trouve dommage que ça se perde ce que nos mamans on réussi à obtenir.
Donc aujourd’hui, c’est topless only.
Haha topless or not, leave it to inderviual tastes I say,
love the guy in Washington sq park with free hair braiding to topless woman, my local cafe has a sign saying”no shirt no service for men, for topless woman coffee is free, conditions apply.”
I’d love to have 10 woman rock up for free coffee, then put there shirts on.
Why has the world become so concered with people’s freedom of choice, less judgment and more acceptance please.
Lov your work Garance, thank you for your fab blog
Can I reblog your topless sketch I Lov it?
Cheers Adrian
In Austin, TX it is legal to go topless within city limits. You will usually see a few brave souls doing this at local swimming holes or springs…and it’s mainly when they are sunbathing, not swimming. No tan lines!
ouf, suis rassurée après avoir lu le post de caroline…
pour moi, le fait qu’il y ait moins de filles topless sur les plages est directement lié à un retour d’un pseudo ordre moral. il n’y a qu’à voir les regards qu’on se prend ( et notamment par des filles de 20 ans ) quand on tombe le haut.
c’est qd meme ridicule non toutes ces filles qui bronzent sans meme tomber les brettelles…
en ce qui me concerne, la petite trentaine et la chance de vivre dans le SO où les immemses plages oécanes nous permettent de faire ce que nous voulons sur la plage.
du coup, maillot bandeau sur les lacs, les piscines et les plages bondées/ topless sur les plages océanes.
et c’est qd meme le kif absolu , non ..
Et bien moi les filles, je vie dans le var et toute l’année dès qu’il y a du soleil je ne vais pas sur la plage faire du “topless” mais j’y vais pour être complètement nue dans des criques baignées de soleil. C’est si agréable déjà d’être nue, de se baigner nue, mais en plus de ne pas avoir de marques de bronzage afffreuses, mon but n’est pas d’être hyper bronzée mais d’habituer mon corps au soleil et d’avoir un jolie hâle, je suis rousse alors je pars avec beaucoup de retard…
De plus je me sens plus pudique que beaucoup de filles sur les plages “textiles”. Pour moi la pudeur ce n’est pas d’être habillé ou nu, mais c’est une façon de se comporter sur la plage et envers les autres. D’être simple “dans son plus simple appareil” (facile celle là) de faire attention aux positions prises ect.
Sur ces plages je m’y sens bien, personne ne juge personne que l’on soit gros, maigres, avec des seins refaients ou pas, épilés ou non, moches ou beaux… contrairement à ce que l’on pourrait penser ce n’est pas une bande de pervers qui ne pense qu’au sexe et à matter… ce sont des gens bien dans leur peau qui aiment simplement être nue au soleil et on apprends beaucoup sur le physique humain.
Ohhhh, went topless in saint tropes…like 30 years ago and oh so liberating!
In California where I live…SF, no way. Just not the atmosphere. Maybe because
There are so many different nationalities???
We do have a nude beach say half hour drive south to which I have yet to experience.
I do love southern California beaches. And, cutoffs and soft t shirt just the type of
Garb to wear.
Love your blog and take care!
Moi aussi j’ai grandi en Corse. Je me souviens des touristes (Allemands surtout) qu’on surprenait nus et tous rouges dans certaines criques de la Revellata. Et ma mère et ses bikinis bando qui était brulante de soleil et qui sentait la chaleur. Elle faisait la guerre aux marques de bronzage. De temps en temps elle tombait le haut mais seulement quand on était un peu seuls. Aujourd’hui je vis en Polynésie Française et je fais exactement pareil. Mon bandeau chevillé à la poitrine avec une protection 50 quand même parce qu’on est plus prudents que dans les années 80/90. Mais je le garde mon haut. Ici c’est très surprenant de voir les Polynésiennes danser de façon lascive à peine couvertes d’un bout de tissu et d’une couronne de fleurs mais se baigner habillées ou en paréo. C’est le tout suggestif ou le tout pudeur. Entre tradition et évagélisation. Il n’y a qu’une plage, pleine de popaa (les blancs) où on croise des filles top less ou en string. Pour séduire? Parce que les blancs sont moins regardant? Sais pas. Mais sinon même à Bora Bora qui est l’île touristique par excelence, pas un téton en vue!
In Austin TX, it’s legal in some places to be topless. Topless at Barton Springs, topless at festivals (and there are ALWAYS festivals here in the springs and summer. Though not topless in the streets. I like baring my boobies but only when I don’t know very many people around. :-)
I love to walk by the pool in a thong bikini and stilettos, it’s so HN! (Helmut Newton) When I first moved to LA I lived at the Chateau Marmont and Helmut and his model girls were staying there and me and the girls used to hang by the pool in our bathing suits and Fendi mules!
Finally someone is talking about this!
I am a Brazilian living in California for the past 5 years – In Brazil we do tiny bikinis but topless is not allowed, we even had a story some years back where 3 French women were arrested for public nudity in Copacabana (no joke!), when the police came to talk to them they didn’t believe there was such a law and refused to put the tops back on – so they spent a few hours in jail… wow!
Here in California the bathing suits are a lot larger and topless is also not allowed, no one would even consider doing it.
Last year I went to cote d’azur and I saw women in topless for the first time, I was in shock!!! And just couldn’t shake it off, just trying my best not to stare! Lol
And they would do normal beach stuff, like jumping waves, playing racket ball and even greeting people (2 kisses on the cheek) and I am like WTF???!!!
Anyway, I wouldn’t do it, don’t like to expose myself like that and don’t like seeing other people’s boobs – that’s it.
Je devais avoir 8 ou 9 ans quand ma tante avait loué une villa pour nos vacances en famille.
Et puis, quatre jours avant la fin du bail, la nouvelle locataire était arrivée (en avance donc)
Ma tante hyper cool (hahhHAHAHHahHAHah) dit au proprio qu’elle peut rester dans la chambre du premier étage.
Cool hein? Sauf que ma tante n’est pas cool du tout en fait, elle est même du genre hyper méga stricte. Alors quand la nouvelle en question est sortie topless pour bronzer devant nous (moi et mon cousin trop heureux) elle nous a ordonné de rentrer dans nos chambres.
J’ai passé les quatre derniers jours de mes vacances dans une chambre vue sur la route (bah oui) à cause d’une topless. Et maintenant, vu que j’ai été traumatisée à vie, à chaque fois que je vois une topless à la plage j’ai envie de rentrer dans ma chambre.
Ps: mon cousin, lui, est devenu naturiste. Non, je blague il est devenue gay. (Je suis sérieuse)
Le topless n’a pas le vent en poupe en France : “cachez ce sein qu’on a déjà vu !”
D’un autre côté, les centres naturistes et autres nudistes sont de plus en plus nombreux et la France est une destination prisée par les Allemands, Belges, Hollandais… qui apprécie vivre nus. Il y a beaucoup de Français aussi dans ces lieux.
Donc, d’un côte on couvre tout pour ne pas se montrer, d’un autre on dévoile tout et personne ne regarde… C’est la phylosophie du naturisme.
Pour finir : un maillot mini est souvent beaucoup plus excitant qu’un corps totalement nu. D’où une pudeur parfois mal placée des femmes !
Quant à la pudibonderie américaine… Il y aurait beaucoup à dire !
(top)less is more!