Even if our recent times have been marked by setbacks and bad news, we still could never have imagined that, just as summer holidays were approaching, such a sensational announcement would arrive to cloud the horizon. According to recent footage and articles, the speedo is set to make a major comeback on beaches this summer. To put it bluntly: Speedo season has been declared.
In recent years, the rules seemed well established. On the sand, swim trunks had become the standard for a diverse crowd of men who valued discretion and the freedom to walk back to their rental without changing after a swim. Boxer briefs, meanwhile, were reserved for a select group of athletic men eager to channel Alain Delon in La Piscine (The Swimming Pool) or Daniel Craig as James Bond in Casino Royale.
The speedo − once marginalized − survived only in the rarest of circumstances. It might occasionally be spotted on middle-aged men indifferent to aesthetics, and reduced to a tiny, brightly colored triangle barely visible beneath a pronounced belly and between two ample thighs. On the other end of the spectrum, it could also be found on a few strikingly handsome men united by their sculpted bodies, tanned skin, casual modesty and Italian citizenship.
Today, the predicted "mainstreaming" of the speedo is happening because attitudes toward the body have shifted as social media is turning self-exhibition into a way of life and an endless race for attention. After sharing their tastes, emotions, friendships and Strava routes, what else is left to display to please the algorithm if not a flash of toned thighs or sculpted abs? In hindsight, the recent emergence of men's microshorts and crop tops was clearly a prelude to the return of the speedo.
With just weeks before this trend takes over, we are left both concerned and skeptical. Between the proliferation of oblivious men wearing speedos − with all the elegance of a platter of vacuum-packed deli meats − and the rise of perfectly chiseled Apollos who only highlight the mediocrity of our own bodies, which option will be the hardest to endure? At this point, only one thing is certain: Winter cannot come soon enough.
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Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.