There's a new Cole on the swimwear fashion scene--no relation to the giant California concern. This Cole isa true Brit and one of Playboy's favorite ladies. Marilyn Cole has, indeed, come a long way since her teenage days in Portsmouth, when, she admits, she disliked wearing swimsuits: "I was afraid my legs were too thin." That was before shemoved to London and landed jobs--first as a Bunny, then as public-relations director for the Playboy Club in Park Lane. Within months, Marilyn was Miss January 1972, and in June of 1973, she showed up in Playboy again--as Playmate of the Year. Marilyn now lives in London with her husband, former Playboy executive Victor Lownes III, who recently sold his popular Stocks clubs in London and the Hertfordshire countryside. Her Playboy exposure long ago convinced her that there's nothing wrong with the way she looks in a swimsuit. But how did she make the leap from wearing them to marketing them? Let's hear the tale from Marilyn herself.
"Well, in the summer of 1986, I was in the Mediterranean on a friend's yacht--Sir David Brown's; he owned Aston Martin, you know, the cars. Anyway, he and his glamorous young wife, Paula, were cruising on their yacht and we stopped at St.-Tropez. When I'm in the south of France, I always buy swimwear, because it's usually more exciting, I find. So I went into one of those boutiques on the beach, the famous Tahiti Plage, and asked for a string, as I like a maximum tan. And thegirl in the shop said, 'I don't have the string, but I do have this,' and she produced this wonderful contraption, the Minikini, which is held in place by a plastic spring. No straps! I saw the value in it immediately, in the sense of getting the most fabulous tan without any marks. So I grabbed the thing, which was in a wonderful bright orange; I wanted one in every color. When I tried it on, I was immediately convinced that I should take the Minikini to England and give the girls at home a shot at buying this revolutionary new swimsuit. So, with the help of my friend Paula, Lady Brown, who lives in Monte Carlo, I tracked down the inventor, Jean-Jacques Van Hartesveldt, and persuaded him that, what with my Playboy image and all, I was the perfect person to develop the product. He agreed and I bought the company!"
Actually, Playboy readers got their first look at the Minikini in a Year in Sex photo of February 1987, noting its introduction as a simple thong suit by Van Hartesveldt at the Cannes Film Festival the previous summer. When Marilyn took over, she added new styles and fabrics and set up fashion shows to introduce them to Great Britain. "They've been selling well in all the best shops--Harrods and so forth," she reports. "I know American women will love them, too.Cher, who saw the item about the suit in Playboy's Potpourri last May, has already bought one! You see, the Minikini is very comfortable; it's like wearing a good bra; you don't feel it. And, no, it doesn't fall off! It's also a great thing to wear if you're lonely, because everybody stops and asks you about it." For information on the Minikini by Marilyn Cole, write to her at One West Halkin Street, London SW IX 8JJ, England.
