History and evolution of the bikini - By: Michele De Capitani

The success achieved by the bikini as an essential article of clothing for each woman might surprise, above all if we consider that sixty years ago a bathing suit of this kind was not even imaginable, because of a sense of decency that was even too strong, and that until the first years of the 20th century not even the swimsuit was used. The invention of the bikini, indeed, comes back to the 1940s, although the first examples of two-piece can be found in the ancient Rome: Roman women, at that time, used to wear the “sublinieulum”, i.e. a garment made of a sort of bra and pants, which was probably used during athletic activities, and some representations of women wearing two-pieces have been found in urns, frescoes and mosaics of Greek and Roman times.

However, as far as two-pieces used as bathing suits is concerned, i.e. as garments specially meant to be used on the beach and to swim in the sea, we can say that the first bikini was created much later, and more precisely in 1946. Born of an idea by Louis Réard, the first two-piece takes its name from an atoll of the Marshall Islands, in Micronesia, where some nuclear experiments were carried out in that same year. Hear the United States dropped two hydrogen bombs, and the innovatory bathing suit was given the name of the atoll because it was expected to have an explosive effect, as really happened. The bikini began to be used by movie stars (Lucia Bosè, in Italy, showed it off in 1947), who wore it often in the 50s: in 1950 Sofia Loren took part in the beauty contest “Miss Italia” wearing a two-piece, and won the Elegance award, while Esther Williams, who at first has refused to wear it in her movies, was then obliged through her contract to do that; other examples of actresses that made the bikini famous in those years are Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot. Despite this success in the world of cinema, the bikini at that time had to fight against the common sense of decency, which prevented many girls from wearing clothes that were seen as too scanty to go to the beach. Consider that Louis Réard did not even succeed in finding a model who accepted to wear his creation, and had to choose an uninhibited stripper, and that in the USA in 1951 bikinis were not accepted for the Miss World contest.

Since then, the bikini has spread more and more, has become a very fashionable article and has shrunk a lot: while the bikini that Lucia Bosè wore in 1947 was characterised by pants that covered the belly button, the models that have been created later have shrunk, as far as both bra and pants is concerned, and are now differentiated by colours, shape and material: nowadays bikinis are considered just as much as any other article of clothing.

About the Author

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