Bikini Swimming Suits

In 2006, bikini swimming suits marked their 60th birthday. Bikini swimwear, today commonplace, began in controversy. Bikini swimsuits are the product of Louis Reard, a Frenchman, who created the bikini in 1945/46. He called it the bikini after, either the American atomic explosions taking place called the Bikini Atolls, or the Bikini Islands. The name stuck and we have had bikinis ever since.

Bikini swimwear quickly gained notoriety on the world stage. In 1951, the winner of the Miss World contest wore a bikini swimsuit. After protests from the competition, the contest management banned all bikini bathing suits from the event. In the 1960s, the Pope and the Vatican decreed the bikini bathing suit to be immoral.

This did nothing to stop bikini swim wear from taking its rightful place. The media fueled the fad. In 1957, Brigitte Bardot, the “French Sex Kitten” wore a bikini in the movie “And God Created Woman.” Everyone sang along to the lyrics of Brian Hyland’s song, “Ittsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.” Ursula Andress clinched the bikini’s success in her role in Dr. No.

The swimsuit bikini did not stop there, it evolved. In the 1970s, designers made the bikini swimsuit thong, otherwise called a Tanga suit, string bikini or dental floss. Today, there are many variations on swimwear bikini style. You can purchase bikinis in nylon, cotton, spandex, silk, and stretch jersey. Designers crochet, hand-sew and create countless types of bikinis. They range in price from a few dollars at a discount store to a Chanel creation at $575. Bikini and swimsuit models walk the runways in bikinis from Chanel, Red Carter, Ashley Paige, Pithaya, Gloria Del Rio, Milly, Etro and Maria Buccellati.

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Designers, today, also make what are euphemistically referred to as “men’s bikini swimwear”. Men’s bikini swimwear is comparable to Speedos or women’s monokinis – bottoms worn without tops. Some women even wear maternity bikini swimwear. There is also the g string bikini swimwear and, at the other end of the spectrum, the sports bikini.

From its humble and controversial beginnings, the bikini continues to rise in popularity. Swimwear for girls is a bikini as easily as it is for women. You can chose from a wide selection of colors, styles and sizes. There are the black-and-white bikinis or Red Carter, the black bikinis of Chanel as well as the pink and white stripes confection of Prada and the mad Hawaiian prints of Milly and Etro. You can now buy a bikini at your neighborhood discount store, at an exclusive boutique or in a swimming specialty store.