Tampa Westshore Publix. 3/14/21 Blogfinger photo.
“Took my girl to Florida and now I’m gonna Tampa with her.”
We drove 2 1/2 hours to Tampa, an up -and-coming city on the west coast of Florida. We went for our 2nd dose of Moderna vaccine.
The store was beautiful, but I confirmed something which I noticed the first time: there was a preponderance of 20 some-things, shopping, mostly female, and their dress, or undress, in a public place, was something to behold.
We figured out that the demographic there was because it is near the campus of the University of Tampa.
At this Publix we saw two girls, not together, in an attire which we never saw before: They were wearing a tiny top–June is busting out all over.
But the outfit was most interesting in that the thong bikinis were covered by lacy pants (see above) that permitted full view front,back and side. Eileen said, “She’s practically wearing nothing!”
Like the pandemic, new fashions have a way of spreading, so we will likely be reporting on this again in Ocean Grove this summer.
Historical Society of Ocean Grove.
Ocean Grove July 2020 Blogfinger photo©
Last summer, the Asbury Park Press spent the day on the OG beach shooting about 50 photos, all of which they published for sale, including many girls in bikinis—many more than we ever posted.
What will the Camp Meeting have to say? Well, if “what is past is prologue,” (Shakespeare The Tempest) they will say nothing, even though Stokes had a habit of accosting women regarding their bathing suits, inspecting them from head to toe and berating them. (There is a magazine illustration showing just that.)
As far as we are concerned, it’s a free country. And we know of no area beach town that has dress standards, only undress–nudity standards. There is a nude beach at Sandy Hook. Will Ocean Grove dare to become the first to attempt a dress standard? I guess they could do it for their employees.
As the song says, “Lovely to look at, delightful to know…”
Fred Astaire sang that song (“Lovely to Look At”) in the 1935 movie Roberta, and he sang,
“What appeals to me
Is just your charm and dignity,
Not what you wear,
But just an air, of great repose
You are quite perfect from your head down to your toes.”
STAN GETZ AND JOAO GILBERTO