History Main / UnderwearSwimsuit

->'''Lincoln''': "Anyone got any extra swimsuits we can borrow?"
->'''Artie''': "Nah, but we’re all dudes here. Just go in your skivvies"
-->''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', ''Pasture Bedtime''

* ''Film/TuckEverlasting'': Despite their blossoming romance, sheltered rich girl Winnie Foster is still shocked when country boy Jesse Tuck strips down to his Long Johns and jumps into the water. Despite not knowing how to swim, it doesn't take much persuasion for her to do likewise and join him.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Alias}}'': {{Justified|Trope}} in "A Missing Link" where Sydney has to quickly improvise a way to escape out of a hotel room, so she strips to her underwear and does a HighDiveEscape out of the balcony and into the pool below, with none of the guests or hotel staff noticing anything amiss as she then casually struts away from the pool in just her underwear.
* ''Series/FalconBeach'': one episode, a stressed-out woman stranded on an island with a man decides to go, as she puts it, "branty swimming"; in Bra and Panties.
* ''Series/ICarly'': in "iParty with [=VICTORiOUS=]", Gibby and Spencer come upon Kenan Thompson's jacuzzi in his house. After the former suggests the latter to get in, Spencer strips to his underwear before doing so since he doesn't have a swimsuit.
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': In "[[Recap/SmallvilleS01E15Nicodemus Nicodemus]]", while under the effect of the [[LoveIsInTheAir Nicodemus flower]], Lana attempts to seduce Clark by deliberately stripping down to her underwear and diving into the school's pool to lure him into a TwoPersonPoolParty. When he's AboveTheInfluence she [[SexySurfacingShot seductively climbs out of the pool in her underwear]] but he manages to [[IgnoreTheFanservice ignore that too]].
[[/folder]]

* Cathy and Chris do this in ''Literature/FlowersInTheAttic''
* In a ''Literature/ButtonsMcGinty'' book, Buttons goes swimming in the ocean after arriving in another dimension. However, he has no trunks, so he swims in his underwear, hoping everyone will think they're trunks.
* Defied in ''Literature/DirtyBertie''. The story "Bottom!" involves Bertie forgetting his swim trunks at school. His friend suggests swimming in his underwear, but he says no because they have holes in them and it would be embarrassing even if they didn't.
* In ''[[Creator/RobertWestall The Wind Eye]]'' Beth needs to take to the water; not having brought a swimsuit, she has to swim in her underwear. Unfortunately it's not up to the job and slips off, leaving her naked. This means she gets mistaken for a succubus in the seventh century, and then arrested for indecent exposure when she returns to the present day.

* In ''Film/TheLittleRascals (1994)'', Alfalfa escapes from Butch and Woim at Darla's ballet recital, and is left in just his underwear and socks after removing his ballerina disguise. The two bullies chase Alfalfa to Waldo Aloysius Johnston III's pool, where Darla is hanging out with Waldo. As Alfalfa swims in the pool to escape from Butch and Woim in his underwear, [[SlipperySwimsuit his underwear comes off]], leaving him naked, right in front of Waldo and Darla.

* In ''Film/{{Ondine}}'' when the title character teaches Annie to swim, they both go into the water in their underwear.

A character wants to go for a swim, but for some reason doesn't have a swimsuit with him (maybe he forgot, the idea to go swimming was made up on the fly, or they don't even have one at all). He also doesn't feel like SkinnyDipping. The solution; just have him use his underwear as an alternative.

Of course, the downside of this is that the character has to wait for his underwear to dry up afterwards before they can dress up again, but it's better than nothing. There are also some other problems that can arise from this; first, unlike swimsuits, underwear was not exactly designed for the purpose of swimming. Also, although they cover up the exact same parts of the body, so there's no difference in what other people can and can't see, wearing just underwear is still considered [[FullyClothedNudity somewhat of a taboo]] (especially for female characters) while swimsuits are perfectly acceptable. As such, it can lead to [[ComedicUnderwearExposure an embarrassing situation]] if the character is caught swimming by someone they'd rather not be seen by while wearing just their underwear, even if they wouldn't feel embarrassed if that same person saw them swim wearing a swimsuit. In particular if the underwear in question is of the {{Goofy Print|Underwear}} kind.

* Up until at least the 1960s, it used to be [[https://medium.com/@Robbie.Mukai/swim-class-for-american-high-schoolers-was-required-naked-bebbc4a5ded7 mandatory in many American schools that boys swam naked]]: this Victorian-era practice took a long time to die out across the pond.

* ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'': Kida and Milo decide to investigate underwater, Milo is momentarily DistractedByTheSexy and then strips to his boxers to swim.

* In one issue of ''ComicBook/{{Archie}}'', one girl was showing off a sexy new two piece bikini that she found in Veronica's bedroom. Veronia informed her that it wasn't a bikini, it was her underwear, to which the girl immediately freaked out because she was wearing a bra and panties at the pool (the joke being, of course, there's no difference between a two piece bikini and underwear.)

A character can also be forced to resort to this if they suddenly find themselves in need to go into water, like when they have to rescue someone or to get out of danger, and swimming fully clothed would be impractical or even dangerous. There are also cultures where their bathing suit or swimsuit would basically be the same thing (i.e. {{Fundoshi}}).

* ''Anime/PorcoRosso'': Fio takes a swim in his undies to relieve stress after the encounter with the pirates in Porco's cove.

* ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'': Kida and Milo decide to investigate underwater, Milo is momentarily [[DistractedByTheSexy]] and then strips to his boxers to swim.

Of course, the downside of this is that the character has to wait for his underwear to dry up afterwards before they can dress up again, but it's better than nothing. There are also some other problems that can arise from this; first, unlike swimsuits, underwear was not exactly designed for the purpose of swimming. Also, although they cover up the exact same parts of the body, so there's no difference in what other people can and can't see, wearing just underwear is still considered [[FullyClothedNudity somewhat of a taboo]] (especially for female characters) while swimsuits are perfectly acceptable. As such, It can lead to [[ComedicUnderwearExposure an embarrassing situation]] if the character is caught swimming by someone they'd rather not be seen by while wearing just their underwear, even if they wouldn't feel embarrassed if that same person saw them swim wearing a swimsuit. In particular if the underwear in question is of the {{Goofy Print|Underwear}} kind.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Whenever Team Avatar goes swimming, they always strip down to their underwear [[JustifiedTrope because they don't have any access to swimwear]] as a group of traveling kids attempting to stop a global war.

* ''Anime/PorcoRosso'': Fio takes a swim in his undies to relieve stress after the encounter with the pirates in Porco's cove.
* ''Anime/SummerDaysWithCoo'': While in the countryside, Koichi and Coo come across a river. Coo goes for a swim, and Koichi strips down to his undies to join him.

[[folder:ComicBooks]]

[[folder:ComicStrips]]

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Series/FalconBeach'': one episode, a stressed out woman stranded on an island with a man decides to go, as she puts it, "branty swimming"; in Bra and Panties.
* ''Series/ICarly'': in "iParty With [=VICTORiOUS=]", Gibby and Spencer come upon Kenan Thompson's jacuzzi in his house. After the former suggests the latter to get in, Spencer strips to his underwear before doing so since he doesn't have a swimsuit.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'': Kida and Milo decide to investigate underwater, Milo is momentarily [[DistractedByTheSexy]] and then strips to his boxers to swim.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan fiction]]

* ''ComicBook/JuniorBravesOfTheApocalypse'': One of the activities for a camping trip is swimming, since some of the campers lack swimsuits, one of the older counselors suggests [[SkinnyDipping swimming naked]] due to his age and lack of understanding of how creepy it sounds to suggest that to children. The Braves without swimsuits decide to swim in their shorts or underwear

* ''ComicBook/JuniorBravesOfTheApocalypse'': One of the activities for a camping trip is swimming, since some of the campers lack swimsuits, one of the older counselors suggests [[SkinnyDipping]] due to his age and lack of understanding of how creepy that is. The Braves without swimsuits decide to swim in their shorts or underwear

Of course, the downside of this is that the character has to wait for his underwear to dry up afterwards before they can dress up again, but it's better than nothing. There are also some other problems that can arise from this; first, unlike swimsuits, underwear was not exactly designed for the purpose of swimming. Also, although they cover up the exact same parts of the body, so there's no difference in what other people can and can't see, wearing just underwear is still considered [[FullyClothedNudity somewhat of a taboo]] (especially for female characters) while swimsuits are perfectly acceptable. As such, It can lead to [[ComedicUnderwearExposure an embarrassing situation]] if the character is caught swimming by someone they'd rather not be seen by while wearing just their underwear, even if they wouldn't feel embarrassed if that same person saw them swim wearing a swimsuit. In particular if the underwear in question is of the [[GoofyPrintUnderwear Goofy Print kind]].

* Up until at least the 1960's, it used to be [[https://medium.com/@Robbie.Mukai/swim-class-for-american-high-schoolers-was-required-naked-bebbc4a5ded7 mandatory in many American schools that boys swam naked]]: this Victorian-era practice took a long time to die out in the USA.
** Many British adults who went to single-sex schools will remember you could not get out of swinmming lessons by claiming you forgot your costume. Any sadist PE teacher worth their diploma might offer a choice: swim in your underwear or swim naked.

* ''Series/ICarly'': in "iParty With VICTORiOUS", Gibby and Spencer come upon Kenan Thompson's jacuzzi in his house. After the former suggests the latter to get in, Spencer strips to his underwear before doing so since he doesn't have a swimsuit.