The Versatile Sarong

Who doesn't recognize this leading lady? Dorothy Lamour began wearing the sarong early on in her acting career. Dorothy's first two films in 1936, "The Stars Can't Be Wrong" and "The Jungle Princess," were where she first wore her trademark sarong. Dorothy Lamour popularized the sarong during WWII and the image of her in a sarong would follow her in her career for quite a while. You can read more about Dorothy Lamour's career with sarongs here.



The definitive beach-wrap is known as the pareo from Tahiti to Hawaii, the lunghee in India, a Surong in the Philippines, in India a similar garment is named Sri and in Africa they call it a Kanga. In ancient times of Rome and Greece it was named a "Toga". Pareo is the Tahitian name for wrap-over skirt (pareu), today it is worn as a beach cover up and can be worn in a multitude of different ways.

By folding, wrapping, twisting and tying the sarong in various forms, a sarong can be worn in many ways. From a wrap-around dress or skirt, to a jacket, scarf or turban. There are around 15 different methods of wearing one. The pareo or sarong also morphs into a beach towel, for lying on the beach or a light sheet to protect you from the sun when resting.

Always comfortable and discreet, its secret lies in the fact that it works for any figure, and is easy to throw on. It can also be worn around the house or used as a long skirt for the evenings. Very few other fashion pieces are so versatile. A sarong permits good air circulation around the legs and is thus far more comfortable to wear than long pants.

We've recently added quite a few Sarongs, beach cover-ups, wrap skirts and even wrap pants to our Glamoursurf site. You can find them here in our new section titled Beach Cover-ups. We've also recently received a slew of vintage swimsuits which we'll be adding to our site over the next few weeks. Be sure to check back often.

Don't forget to to visit our sister site Glamoursavvy.com, we'll be adding fresh new summer vintage in the next couple of weeks. We're offering our blog readers a 25% off discount on all items at Glamoursavvy.com through the end of March. Use coupon code March at checkout and your discount will be automatically applied. Thanks for shopping with us!