What would you call...

Tiny Nell

one of those cotton, flimsy all-in-one outfits for women which has the loose trouser part and sleeveless top part attached?

I have dismissed 'trouser suit'. It's not that. ;;)

heather

jump suit

ana s

Style crimes.
The short, culotte type are called play suits.

C2

cat suit

Carol

If you put playsuits into Google images you can see if it's what you're thinking it is.

Jen

Maybe it's one of those things that has a lot of different names e.g. gilet, body warmer
It could be either a jump suit or play suit (or they could be one and the same)

Phots Moll

Jump suits have zips down the front and aren't really flimsy.

Lizy

They were cat suits in the 70s.

I wouldn't wear one now - you can't get them off quickly when you need a pee!

snailmale

expensive

Stan2

And needing a pee is rather urgent.......................quick.................oh.............

Tiny Nell

I've looked up jumpsuit and that seems to be it - and they don't necessarily have zips. It's for a story and it needs to be difficult to get off!

Thanks, all!

heather

I wore a culottes suit to a beach barbecue many years ago. Drank lots of cider. Could have gone for a wee in the not-very-big sand dunes but had nothing much on underneath and I would have had to virtually take the whole thing off in public view. So I didn't. Not a happy memory.

Lizy

Worse if you have to go in a public lavatory where the floor is wet and or/ dirty.

Liz

I had a very flimsy, thin, pale yellow cotton one, but it had buttons. It was rather see-through. I have no idea how I had the gall to wear it, looking back. But they were all the rage. It wasn't tight though - nothing was in those days. Not that you could get from High Street stores, anyway. Can't for the life of me remember what i called it though.

Tiny Nell

They have them in the shops now - long ones that look like a dress until you poke about and realise the bottom half is trousers. I've never been tall enough.

heather, that made me laugh!

Claudia

The flimsy little all-in-one peach number I wore to a friend's wedding in the early 80's was definitely called a jumpsuit.

lindsayl

I begged my mum for a purple catsuit from the Littlewoods catalogue when I was 12, back in the early 70s. It didn't look quite as great on as I had imagined it would.

C2

The closest thing I got to a cat suit when I was twelve was a pair of denim dungarees. I was one of those children who could never stay clean.

Tiny Nell

I've still got my dungarees, Maro. Going to the loo is fraught with difficulty when you have dangly bits.

Liz

I don't have my dungarees. I have a picture of me in them though. I sewed up the shoulders so that they didn't dangle when I went to the loo, Helen.

Liz

Sorry, Nell.

Tiny Nell

Any time, Lizzylou.

Betsie

I used to love my 70s jumpsuit - still wear dungarees and love 'em I have two pairs. .

I guess your thingy would be a jumpsuit, playsuit, catsuit Nell - maybe there's a new name these days

Tiny Nell

Yes, I went with jumpsuit, Betsie. I looked up pictures and I saw what I was looking for labelled as that.

I needed something that was difficult to take off in a hurry. When I say 'I', what I actually mean is that my character needed to be in that situation.

*thinks she's got away with it*

Anyway, the story's been whisked off into the ether now and the jumpsuit played its part perfectly.

Claudia

Good luck with it, TN.

Lizy

Yes, best of luck, TN.
I think jumpsuit is right, not I think about it.
I believe they were named after the all-in-one outfits parachutists wore when they jumped out of planes.

Island Girl

Good luck with your story, TN. The flimsy material of my jumpsuit was red with a yellow-ish flowery batik pattern up one side and had an elasticised waist. I thought I looked super cool in it at the time so I wore it a lot until it died a rather ragged death. I'm sure a lot of people must have been happy to see it go - always been more about comfort than style, me.