Do you know why they call it "The Naked City"? It doesn't look like much now, but that enclave of brightly colored apartments just behind the Stratosphere, with quaint garden entrances, mod ironwork terraces and kidney-shaped pools, was once home to the Strip's showgirls who had a habit of laying out in the nude. No doubt in an attempt to avoid showstopping tan lines and attract a bit of attention.
With that in mind and the otherwise nonchalant attitudes toward female frontal nudity here in Las Vegas (see: the ever- popular topless review, a staggering number of strip clubs and booze-brave club bunnies after 2 a.m.), you would think that topless tanning had long ago gotten the Strip-side stamp of approval. But alas, family-friendly resorts kept the ladies covered until the advent of the VIP cabana. Poolside privacy meant top-free tanning and today a number of properties offer "European sunbathing" in their paid-entrance pools.
Ladies pay an average of $10 for admittance while gentlemen generally gain entrance at four to five times that sum and many private pools, such as Mandalay's Morea Beach Club, restrict access to resort guests 21 and older, all in an effort to avoid an overabundance of oglers. Reports vary on whether the pools are truly a haven for the topless tanner or a bunch of boys paying for the possibility of a peep show, but if your only worry is unsightly tan lines and bland bikini bottoms, the solution is simple, sexy swimwear separates.
For rhinestone lattice thongs, red and black tiger-print or teeny-tiny tie-bottoms studded with Swarovski crystal, Sauvage has the only bikini bottoms that might distract from your rack. Designer Elizabeth Southwood knows that the pool is no place for modestly, cutting even her one-pieces into body-baring silhouettes in slick metallics, powder-pink or blue-matte lycra and soft-gauze paisleys.
Rebecca Romijn sported Sauvage's ultra-low-waisted white, edged in bright red coral on the pages of Sports Illustrated's 2006 swimsuit issue and you must have seen Southwood's liquid-copper bikini—available direct from Sauvage and Victoria's Secret online—all over the pool circuit this summer.
Sauvage inside Mandalay Place: 632-9370;
sauvagewear.com.
Jennifer Henry's got the goods on what to get & where. E-mail her at
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