Now, why catsuits/jumpsuits are so popular in science fiction. Part of it is, I believe, a way for moviemakers to have their cake and eat it to, to simultaneously say, "Look, the women are liberated" (they're wearing pants), while still putting everything on display. Also, unlike loincloths, bikinis, and togas, jumpsuits are not reminiscent of any prior era, making them more able to be "futuristic." Unless, of course, you count the 70's, during which time they probably thought they were on the cusp of something really big. ("It's just that they're terribly comfortable. I think everyone will be wearing them in the future.")
Even Heinlein went for jumpsuits on women, though I suspect in his younger days when he had female visitors to his home, he asked them to disrobe quickly, regardless of what they wore, for swinging, threesomes or whatever else he and his wife at the time did with company to flaunt their uninhibited sexuality and freedom from superstition. For example, the protagonist Friday wears a denim jumpsuit in Heinlein's novel of that name, as this cover accurately portrays:
Actually I look forward to teasing Titanium Girl about not wearing a unitard or jumpsuit, appropriate for life in our mysterious, far-future 2011, when I drop my dues payment off at the lab in a week or so.
Of course, you also find other trends in science fiction where characters in "the future" wear vaguely classical costumes, like in the film Things to Come; or else wear clothing which make them look like they just came back from a Renaissance Faire. The latter sort of science fiction often portrays feudal social structures, so the pseudo-archaic clothing styles provide a point of reference for understanding the fictional society's hierarchy. The jumpsuit-wearing science fictional societies, by contrast, apparently convey the idea of fewer social distinctions, though they often stop short of pure egalitarianism; the jumpsuits may still differ from one another in ways to signal status or rank.
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