The risen of the "jumpsuits "

Plenty of trends emerged during resort season, from paper-bag waists to polka dots, but none so dominant as the jumpsuit. Nearly every designer — regardless of aesthetic, or how much his or her clothes typically cost — presented a version.

That's because the jumpsuit phenomenon has as much to do with customer demand as it does with what a designer was "feeling" this season. Global Google searches for “jumpsuits” have risen steadily over the past three years, with a peak at the beginning of each summer.

How a “tricky” garment became a wardrobe staple -- and a sales booster for brands.

A look from Fleur du Mal's fall 2014 collection.Plenty of trends emerged during resort season, from paper-bag waists to polka dots, but none so dominant as the jumpsuit. Nearly every designer — regardless of aesthetic, or how much his or her clothes typically cost — presented a version.

That's because the jumpsuit phenomenon has as much to do with customer demand as it does with what a designer was "feeling" this season. Global Google searches for “jumpsuits” have risen steadily over the past three years, with a peak at the beginning of each summer.

Since January 2014, online shopping community Wanelo says that users have searched for jumpsuits about 7,400 times each month, and 400 times each day, on its mobile app. (Wanelo’s traffic is 85 percent mobile.) More than 7,000 products appear in search results for jumpsuits. The romper — a short-leg version of a jumpsuit — is even more popular, averaging 70,840 searches per month and 2,200 per day through the mobile app.

And perhaps the most convincing piece of evidence: Net-a-Porter now has an entire “jumpsuits” category on its drop-down menu.

So how did the jumpsuits get so big? Before 2011, wearing a one-piece was left to outré dressers and cell mates. The last time this look was popular with the masses was in the 1970s, when flamboyant dressing was de rigueur. The renewed interest in the silhouette has opened up a whole new category from which designers can experiment, but also profit.

Los Angeles-based contemporary designer Trina Turk -- known for her spin on mid-century fashions -- says that three years after introducing her first jumpsuit, one-pieces make up 11 percent of her ready-to-wear sales. “Since the beginning, we’ve always done well with jumpsuits, even during the holiday season,” Turk says. “And they perform in warmer months when we offer them in shorter silhouettes and lighter weight fabrics.” (This summer’s runaway hit is the sporty “Yasmine”, $288, available in navy and white.)

But Turk’s brand ethos is rooted in the era when jumpsuits were first embraced. The silhouette — a top and a pant that are connected at the waist — was, for a long time, thought difficult to pull off. Unlike a blouse and trousers, very little adjusting is possible. A dress, of course, is the easiest to wear because different silhouettes hide different “trouble” areas. With jumpsuits, there's literally less room to hide.

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