Basic Trope: A character goes swimming in their underwear.
- Straight: Alice takes off all her clothes except her panties to go swimming.
- Exaggerated:
- The entire cast does this.
- Alice doesn't stop at stripping to her underwear when she decides to go swimming and swims straight-up naked.
- Downplayed: Alice wore her swimsuit as underwear that day, so technically she is swimming in her underwear.
- Justified:
- Alice can't afford a swimsuit.
- Alice is swimming somewhere private so nobody cares what she wears while swimming.
- Alice is too bashful to dare swim naked. Swimming in her undies is as far as she has the nerve to go.
- Alice's full get-up would slow her down too much too get to the drowning victim in time, but switching to a swimsuit would take too long, so stripping down to underwear is the best option.
- Inverted: Alice swims fully clothed but is Going Commando at the time.
- Subverted:
- Alice looks like she didn't wear a swimsuit under her clothes when she takes them off, but she did; her top is as supportive as an underwire bra would be.
- Alice, who normally swims in her underwear, decides to swim fully-clothed for a change.
- Double Subverted:
- Alice then finds the support given by her suit too uncomfortable and goes to change into underwear she brought.
- Alice then decides swimming fully-clothed is too uncomfortable for her, so she takes off her outer clothes.
- Parodied: Alice swims in underwear that was specifically designed to look and act exactly like a swimsuit.
- Zig-Zagged: It looks like Alice is swimming in her underwear, but she's actually wearing a swimsuit that only looks like a bra and panties. Bob looks like he's swimming in normal trunks but is really wearing his boxers.
- Averted:
- Alice swims in a bikini.
- When a swimsuit isn't available, Alice doesn't consider the option of swimming in her underwear and goes straight to swimming in the nude.
- Alice doesn't swim at all.
- Enforced: "Ordinarily, we'd do a Skinny Dipping scene, but we want children to be able to see this film, so how about we go for a more PG-rated approach?"
- Lampshaded: "Jeez, Alice, can't afford a swimsuit but don't wanna skinny dip?"
- Invoked:
- Bob takes Alice on a date swimming in a lake, but deliberately doesn't tell her to wear a swimsuit there, forcing her to swim in her underwear.
- Alice is swimming in an area that requires swimmers to do so in their underwear.
- Exploited: Claire, the Alpha Bitch of Alice's school, and her Girl Posse go swimming in the same lake on the same night as Alice does. Noticing Alice swimming in her underwear, Claire takes pictures of and publically humiliates her with them.
- Defied:
- Alice goes group swimming with her friends and makes sure to both bring a swimsuit in her bag and wears another under her clothes, ensuring she won't have to swim in her underwear.
- It is made illegal to swim in one's underwear for some reason, so anyone who feels like going swimming will have no choice but to swim in the nude if they've neglected to bring a swimsuit with them.
- Discussed: "I can just swim in my underwear, right? Skinny dipping goes beyond how far I'm willing to go."
- Conversed: "I just don't get it when characters choose to swim in their underwear. They should either remember to bring swimwear with them or get used to swimming naked."
Back to Underwear Swimsuit
