Whatever Happened to Spandex?

I've been thinking a lot about spandex lately. I'm not sure why.

And whenever I think about spandex, which, until recently, was pretty much never, this image comes to mind:

For those of you who were not into 1970s - 1980s sci-fi, it's a picture of the actress Erin Gray in the role of Col. Wilma Deering, from the movie and then series "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century."

If you had ever watched the series (which I did, regularly), which ran from 1979 - 1981, or glimpsed the various versions of "Star Trek" or other sci-fi shows airing in the 1980s and 1990s (guilty), you would know that spandex was the fabric of the future. (A future, of course, envisioned by a bunch of horny fortysomething guys.)

Per the description of spandex I just read on Wikipedia, the stuff is stronger and more durable than rubber. (Who knew?) And it is one of the most used materials in lingerie. (Again, who knew? Clearly, I have not been reading those little tags in my bras and panties.)

Btw, I encourage everyone reading this to click on the link above to view the image of "spandex" shown in the Wikipedia article and tell me what you think that is. I'm stumped (though have a couple of ideas.)

All I know, from personal experience (when I was 16 my mother bought me a purple spandex dress from Fiorucci, which had a front zipper lined on either side with golden nailheads), is the stuff makes you look (and feel) like a sausage stuffed into a too tight casing. And I think Tabitha, who I believe saw me in the dress, will back me up on this. Of course at the time, I thought I looked hot. Though that could have been because the damn dress made me sweat a lot.

My less than satisfying spandex experiences aside, the stuff is apparently here to stay, and is more popular than ever, as evidenced by the number of men who insist on wearing Speedo racing-style suits (I could not bring myself to include an image) and more prosaically the number of websites selling the stuff. (There's a Spandex House, a Spandex World, American Spandex, and Spandexwear, just to name a few I found during my Google search, though sadly they mostly sell fabric. However, I did find this cute little black dress while searching for "spandex dresses." If only I had a place or occasion to wear it...)

Now, having satisfied my curiosity about spandex, I will conclude this entry.

Only five more days until Super Bowl XLII!