A Short History of the Bikini
While the bikini might not have showed up on the beaches of France until the 1940s there are pictures of girls in bikinis that date back centuries. Just a few short years prior to the bikini showed up beachwear was one piece for men that looked like a tank top attached to bicycle shorts and women wore a long tunic over a pair of knee-length pants. These swimsuits were often made of wool.
As the 20th Century got underway and society became more liberal swimsuits became smaller. In the late 20s and 30s swimsuits that looked like the modern one piece were common. In 1946 the modern bikini showed up. It was the brainchild of Louis Reard, a French engineer. He named it after Bikini Island where atomic testing was happening. It was promptly banned in many countries. Part of what made designed bikinis so shocking and got them banned was that they showed off the navel. It wasn't until the 1960s that bikinis started being accepted in the US. Part of this is because of Ursula Andress and her classic white bikini in the James Bond movie Dr. No. Women all over the world wanted to be just like her. Reard wasn't the only person to invent the bikini. He was working at his mother's lingerie shop when he was inspired to make this popular item of beachwear.
Jacques Heim, a clothing designer, also came up with one. His designer bikinis were marketed as the smallest swimsuit in the world and covered the navel. When Reard heard about it he made the bottoms smaller and advertised it as smaller than the smaller swimsuit.
No traditional model would try on Reard's suit. He had to resort to hiring a nude dancer from the Folies Begere to model it for him. The original model had a g-string and was made of less than 30 square inches of material. The later quote about designer bikinis was that if they couldn't fit through a woman's wedding ring they weren't really a biniki.
But no one wanted to wear the bikini as beachwear. It took some time for it to grow on women, but men liked it right away. That started to change especially when big stars like Brigitte Bardot were photgraphed in them. The women in Europe started to accept them and wear them regularly.
That opened up a market for designer swimsuits in the US. While starlets were wearing bikinis all over the world from the French Riveria to Hollywood there were places in the US where a woman could get ticketed for indecent exposure while wearing a bikini. Women were wearing them more and more while other designers, especially American designers, said that they would never last. As society progressed and became much more liberal bikinis shrank.
In the 2000s swimsuits are the most popular beachwear. They have spawned suits like the tankini, which is a tank top over a bikini bottom. The bikinis themselves range from fairly full coverage to very minimal suits that are barely there.
As the 20th Century got underway and society became more liberal swimsuits became smaller. In the late 20s and 30s swimsuits that looked like the modern one piece were common. In 1946 the modern bikini showed up. It was the brainchild of Louis Reard, a French engineer. He named it after Bikini Island where atomic testing was happening. It was promptly banned in many countries. Part of what made designed bikinis so shocking and got them banned was that they showed off the navel. It wasn't until the 1960s that bikinis started being accepted in the US. Part of this is because of Ursula Andress and her classic white bikini in the James Bond movie Dr. No. Women all over the world wanted to be just like her. Reard wasn't the only person to invent the bikini. He was working at his mother's lingerie shop when he was inspired to make this popular item of beachwear.
Jacques Heim, a clothing designer, also came up with one. His designer bikinis were marketed as the smallest swimsuit in the world and covered the navel. When Reard heard about it he made the bottoms smaller and advertised it as smaller than the smaller swimsuit.
No traditional model would try on Reard's suit. He had to resort to hiring a nude dancer from the Folies Begere to model it for him. The original model had a g-string and was made of less than 30 square inches of material. The later quote about designer bikinis was that if they couldn't fit through a woman's wedding ring they weren't really a biniki.
But no one wanted to wear the bikini as beachwear. It took some time for it to grow on women, but men liked it right away. That started to change especially when big stars like Brigitte Bardot were photgraphed in them. The women in Europe started to accept them and wear them regularly.
That opened up a market for designer swimsuits in the US. While starlets were wearing bikinis all over the world from the French Riveria to Hollywood there were places in the US where a woman could get ticketed for indecent exposure while wearing a bikini. Women were wearing them more and more while other designers, especially American designers, said that they would never last. As society progressed and became much more liberal bikinis shrank.
In the 2000s swimsuits are the most popular beachwear. They have spawned suits like the tankini, which is a tank top over a bikini bottom. The bikinis themselves range from fairly full coverage to very minimal suits that are barely there.
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