Spandex Photos

Have you ever wondered what people did before Spandex? (You know what, I think it would be worth while to take a look at the history of spandex and I will do that before going on with this story.)

In The Graduate, a iconic movie from 1967, one of the characters tells Hoffman’s character, Ben, that the word of the future is ‘plastics’ and this will be the up and coming product for the next few decades. At that time, spandex was 8 years old.

First produced in 1959 by DuPont, spandex is best known by its trade name Lycra. The word spandex is generic and is an anagram of expands. Although there are several brand names besides Lycra such as Elaspan, Dorlastan and Linel, in North America the stretchy fiber is best known as spandex. Other countries call is elastane. 

Spandex appeared in 1959 and within a few years, spandex fetishes were already appearing. It seems that spandex’s ability to let the person look almost naked under their spandex skin has a great fetishistic appeal.

If you have ever seen the photos of Peter Berlin, you will immediately understand how spandex leaped forward as a photo favorite in the 1970s. Berlin may best be remembered as a gay porn star but he was also a photographer, and modeled for his own photos in his own fashion designs. He took many self-portraits and indeed was designated as a narcissistic artist because he was his own and only model.

The latest craze is spandex photos. If you are new to spandex photos, there is everything imaginable to appeal to your own particular interest and tastes.  The range of spandex photos varies from male spandex models to female spandex models, spandex fetish fashion, pro models, and amateur models. (I do recommend looking for some of Berlin’s photos.)

Spandex is an amazing and intriguing material. It is the stretchiest fabric available for clothing. The structure of spandex is either monofilament or fused multifilament yarn. It comes in different weights ranging from 20 to 4300 fiber count. The lower the number, the lighter the spandex. For instance, 20 dernier spandex would be so light it would be used in lightweight support stockings. 2240 dernier is very heavy maybe something like a wetsuit.

Spandex is referred to as elastomeric which is a synthetic polymer which is can be stretched to twice its size and still return to its normal size. Specifically spandex can be repeatedly stretched up to five times its size without breaking without losing its original shape. It is also abrasion resistant and comfortable.

Spandex has a lovely and appealing shininess to it. It fits like a second skin. To digress for a moment about it fitting like a second skin, in ancient Greece, sports were performed in the nude. Maybe like long hair, clothing was considered an impediment because it could too easily could be grabbed and used against the combatant.

Anyway, back to the shininess and the skin-tight fit – these spandex qualities make it perfect for photos. Some of us like spandex photos regardless of the tautness or appearance of the person in the photo. There is a fascination with the accentuated body under the shiny, elastic fabric.

Sometimes the photos are not as well appreciated. There was that report about the star, Patrick Dempsey, who made the front cover of Bicycling magazine in May 2008. He loves his spandex for the comfort while biking. His wife apparently does not think it is so attractive. Dempsey says she laughs at him when he gets into his spandex bicycling outfit. The paparazzi though, love him in spandex. (And so do a lot of spandex fans.)

A friend of mine, who is a little large, used to mock herself and threaten her aerobic-class-inclined friends with wearing lime green spandex. For her, this would be the ultimate in garishness. In reality, spandex, lime green or not, would look great on her. It would tuck in some of her avoirdupois and best of all, it would give her a great new lease on life. Once she felt the comfort and containment of spandex, she would be posting her photo on Facebook.

The effects of spandex in the area of containing too much flesh are well known – at least in advertising circles. Early in 2008, a new line in men’s underwear appeared on the market. Okay, to some it might be a girdle but to the designer, it was the Flashback Butt Lifting Technology Boxer. Yep. Sure sounds a lot better than girdle. The idea of a man-girdle has been around for about a decade or so.

Undergear first listed its bodyshaping underwear in the mid-1990s. There was a tank top and boxer brief which the marketers called problem solvers. Basically these two items tucked in certain rolls and bumps. They sure made a guy look good in his suits. However, the idea did not really take off until a couple of years ago. Somehow men seemed more willing to take their shapes into consideration a little more as the 21st century crawls forward. In the 1990s, they just did not line up to buy controlling undies. Go Softwear’s Waist Eliminator was discontinued quickly because people just were not buying it.

New marketing techniques include advertising the girdles as healthy alternatives because the fabric helps your muscles work harder while exercising or walking.

The new Technology Boxer is really high-tech and has an elastic sling built into it that lifts your butt up by about an inch. Look for these kinds of garments under the designations of shapewear, bodywear, or support boxers. They can tidy up your butt and suck in your incipient beer-belly quite nicely. Talk about looking good in spandex.

As a side note, the idea of man-girdles is not new. In the 19^th century, high fashion guys could find corsets to lace themselves into.

If you ever wondered about the manliness of spandex, think of all the superheroes who wear it. It is perfect for a superhero with its muscle molding and shape fitting features.

Mind you, comic/superhero experts will tell you pretty quickly that superheroes like Superman don’t really wear spandex but have super-durable skin. Others reinforce their spandex-like outfits with force fields or high-tech microfibers. After all, no matter how gorgeous spandex can be, it cannot stop bullets.

So what is the fascination with spandex? It is considered the ultimate in erotic fabric. There is something so man-made about the fabric with its ability to stretch to improbable limits and yet maintain its shape – and yours.

In looking at photos of people in spandex, we all have our favorite shapes and styles. For me the idea of a body encased in a metallic looking spandex outfit is the ultimate. It might even have achieved the fetish level in its power to attract and maintain my interest.

Have you ever wondered what creates a fetish? I took a look and there is an amazingly broad range of fetishes even though the causes are fairly narrow in their range.

Originally fetish referred to a charm or talisman. It apparently comes from the Portuguese word feitico. Feitco translates as false power as in the power of a religious object. The word originated in the Latin word facticius meaning artificial. In terms of a worship of a certain item or object as a sexual focus, fetish refers to the substitution of the item for the traditional sexual turn-ons because there is supposedly nothing erotic intrinsic in the object of desire.

The transfer of the eroticism from the original object to the substitute involves transferring the power from the original erotic target to the substitute target. Of course this implies that the original object of desire is somehow the normal object of desire. But there are limits to language and for the purpose of not forcing eroticism into a narrow realm, we will overlook the concept of normal and view eroticism itself as normal, regardless of its target.

Spandex is high on the list of erotic fetishes. There are several types of fetish. There are inanimate fetishes and animate fetishes. Inanimate fetishes are media or form in type. Spandex falls into the type of fetish known as a media fetish where the material itself is the object of worship. Other members of this type of fetish include rubber, leather, and silk. The form fetish involves the object’s shape – think stiletto heels.

Animate fetishes refer to fetishes about parts of the body.

The top fetish is voyeurism/exhibitionism. This is an animate fetish and an understandable one. There is something in human nature that just likes to see people have sex. A reason for the appeal of spandex photos is that it involves a two-part fetish – the animate voyeuristic fetish and the inanimate media fetish of spandex.

Calling an interest in photos of people wearing spandex a fetish may be layering it with too much symbolism. The idea of looking at spandex photos may very well be intriguing without being erotic. I just thought it was a good idea to take a look at the wild side of spandex.

Once you look at the definitely manmade look of spandex which defies all that was previously known about synthetic fibers and consider the comforting factor of being ensconced in spandex, it is not a long leap to understanding the appeal of looking at photos involving spandex. There are four parts to this appeal. One is the technology factor of spandex, two is the way the fabric shines and accentuates the body, three is the way spandex reveals the body, and four is the combination of the very tactile fabric and the very tactile body.

If a person happens to have an animate fetish, spandex only serves to ramp up that body part to its ultimate beauty. For instances, there is a certain photo of a person in silver spandex that I find attractive. The silver takes on the appearance of metal and contrasts beautifully with the dusky tanned skin that appears in the neck and thighs and buttocks of the model. The shiny silver fabric gives a half-human, half-machine appearance and even in looking at the photo, a person can feel the sensation of the metal pressing against the upper thigh.

From a photographer’s perspective the photo also intrigues. The glare of the flash is visible in the middle of the photo. It is muted enough so it does not interfere with the overall photography but it also reminds the viewer that this is a real person in real spandex being photographed.

This leads to the discussion of how to take photos of spandex-wearers. There is a special challenge in capturing the essence of spandex while trying to compensate for the reflective factor in the object. First let’s look at the techniques photographers use to avoid the flash glare in the subject of the photo.

There is a great photo of a tea kettle that was allegedly listed on eBay that shows the reflection of the naked photographer. It serves as a reminder of the impediments to capturing a good photo when the photo is of something shiny and reflective. When you photograph shiny metal, you, like the photographer of the tea kettle, are actually taking a photo of the reflection in the object because of the mirror effect of the shiny metal.

If the object really is metal, you can use techniques to dull it down so the photo is of the object, not the reflection. But in the case of spandex this is not possible. It would ruin the effect entirely. Your best bet is to place your flash so it does not hit the person. You can do this by placing the flash about 45 degrees off center and have a reflector on the other side at the same angle. This will allow the proper lighting without directly hitting the object.

In cruising around the internet looking at the range of spandex photos available, a number of interesting items and thoughts emerged. The first thing that popped up in my search was a discussion of spandex in supersizes. The common thread here is about when a person should stop wearing spandex or even thinking about wearing spandex. As noted early, I had thought that spandex might not be a good idea but as that turns out it is an individual choice and frankly I think that spandex should be available in any size imaginable.

Although there can be issues with that. A girlfriend or should I say female friend – girlfriend has implications that don’t suit here – got a pair of spandex kneehighs thinking that they would be a good support for her tired ankles. She is a little chunky and kind of out of shape. But these are socks! How big a deal could they be?

Turns out it was a huge challenge for her to get them on. She had to bend and tug and roll them up over her heels. The support effect was quite intense and she actually fell off her chair in her attempt to get the sturdy fabric up over her heels. So there might be hidden dangers in getting into a pair of triple-X shorts if you are also triple-X.

There is a song by Sudden Death called ‘Fat Chicks in Spandex’ and there is a bit that goes like this: “Following fashion is no surprise, But when the fashion follows the form of your thighs, …Then it's time to take 'em off and take the damn things back” and that is one school of thought.

However there are numerous photos of very plump people in spandex and tastefully done, they are quite attractive. Is someone is fat enough to have rolls of stomach hanging low, then shoving themselves into spandex can be a good thing. It does have the tensile strength to hold things together.

In an odd reversal, it seems that a fat person will look better in spandex than a really skinny person will. While spandex can be revealing, it can also smooth out a lot of lumps and bumps and thereby make a bulbous person look somewhat sleek in places. However, if you are really skinny, the lumps and bumps you face are bony and therefore cannot be smoothed out in any way or shape. There is sleek and there is knobby. I prefer sleek over knobby any day of the week.

Other complaints about spandex involved men past their lean period wearing Speedos.  The phrases “muffin top” and “coin slot” come up frequently as well in criticisms of spandex. Muffin top refers to the soft flesh that pops up over tight belts or tight spandex.  Coin slot refers to butt cleavage. A muffin top with a coin slot may not be a good look. But then that is up to you and your personal tastes. One person’s fat ass might be another person’s curvaceousness.

Spandex as a sports fabric is well endorsed. What can be more attractive than a biker in spandex. The lean mean lines are sculpted and lovely to look at. On some biking sites, there are heated discussions about whether men should wear spandex biking pants because of the way that spandex highlights and emphasizes their package.

If you are interested in spandex photos, it is worth while to explore the range of spandex photos you can find online. There will always be arguments about what looks good in spandex versus what looks bad in spandex. There are professional spandex photos and basically these can make anything look good. There are amateur spandex photos and at least for me, the love and attention that goes into such photos more than compensate for the poorer quality of the photos.

Geek spandex is an interesting area because it tends to involve the aforementioned superheroes as the wearers of spandex. So when you expect the geeky spandex look you get the alter ego of the geek which seems to be the muscular indestructibility of Superman.

Sexy spandex is the most traditional of the photos and usually featured very pretty women in fashionable body tights or beachwear or evening wear. There is even sexy spandex evening wear available in XXXXL size. Like spandex, the appeal and attraction of size is also very flexible.

Spandex is a very useful sports garment. It is also wonderful for casual wear. But among the most erotic concepts with spandex is not in the skimpy outfits but in the opposite effect. The more that spandex can cover, the higher the likelihood of eroticism.

While some people like me enjoy the contrast of spandex and skin, the full-body coverage reaches a larger audience because there is the illusion of a naked body without the actual body parts being visible. Imagine looking at a photo of a man in a full-length bodysuit, with a built in package pouch. An erection tucked into the pouch offers the voyeur in us the anticipation that comes with almost seeing but not quite seeing that which most titillates us.

Full body suits without a pouch are also lovely to look at. In a pouchless suit, the shaft is easily seen whether it is tucked standing up under spandex or pointing downwards on the spandex leg or lying, a la Peter Berlin across the groin.

If you are a true aficionado of spandex photos, you can start your own collection. You can either collect photos, take your own photos of your favorite people, take photos of yourself, or engage someone to help you build your collection.

A lovely side effect of looking at spandex photos is that you will never think of spandex again as something that is merely utilitarian. It can be a work of art, it can be an object of desire, it can raise your self-esteem and your self-awareness.