Bikini

There are a number of modern stylistic variations of the design used for marketing purposes and as industry classifications, including monokini, microkini, tankini, trikini, pubikini, skirtini, thong, and g-string.

[11] Four days earlier, on 1 July 1946, the United States had initiated its first peacetime nuclear weapons test at Bikini Atoll as part of Operation Crossroads.

[2] Various motivations have been attributed to his choosing of the name, including the idea that he hoped it would create "explosive commercial and cultural reaction" similar to the explosion at Bikini Atoll,[12][13] that it was meant to be associated with the "exotic allure of the tropical Pacific", from the "comparison of the effects of a scantily clad woman to the atomic bomb,"[2] and the idea that Reard's design had out-done Heim's design and "split the atome".

According to archaeologist James Mellaart, a mural from the Chalcolithic era (around 5600 BC) in Çatalhöyük, Anatolia depicts a mother goddess astride two leopards wearing a costume somewhat like a bikini.

[26] In Coronation of the Winner, a mosaic in the floor of a Roman villa in Sicily that dates from the Diocletian period (286–305 AD), young women participate in weightlifting, discus throwing, and running ball games dressed in bikini-like garments (technically bandeaukinis in modern lexicon).

In Pompeii, depictions of Venus wearing a bikini were discovered in the Casa della Venere,[30][31][32] in the tablinum of the House of Julia Felix,[33] and in an atrium garden of Via Dell'Abbondanza.

[35] In 1907, Australian swimmer and performer Annette Kellermann was arrested on a Boston beach for wearing form-fitting sleeveless one-piece knitted swimming tights that covered her from neck to toe, a costume she adopted from England,[35] although it became accepted swimsuit attire for women in parts of Europe by 1910.

With the development of new clothing materials, particularly latex and nylon, swimsuits gradually began hugging the body through the 1930s, with shoulder straps that could be lowered for tanning.

Actress Dolores del Río was the first major star to wear a two-piece women's bathing suit onscreen in Flying Down to Rio (1933).

[43] Hollywood endorsed the new glamor in films like 1949's Neptune's Daughter in which Esther Williams wore provocatively named costumes such as "Double Entendre" and "Honey Child".

[44] Wartime production during World War II required vast amounts of cotton, silk, nylon, wool, leather, and rubber.

In 1942, the United States War Production Board issued Regulation L-85, cutting the use of natural fibers in clothing[45] and mandating a 10% reduction in the amount of fabric in women's beachwear.

[56] On 5 July, Réard introduced his design at a swimsuit review held at a popular Paris public pool, Piscine Molitor, four days after the first test of a US nuclear weapon at the Bikini Atoll.

When he was unable to find a fashion model willing to showcase his revealing design,[59] Réard hired Micheline Bernardini, an 18-year old nude dancer from the Casino de Paris.

[79][80] Although some regarded the bikini and beauty contests as bringing freedom to women, they were opposed by some feminists[3][81] as well as religious and cultural groups who objected to the degree of exposure of the female body.

[94] Increasingly common glamour shots of popular actresses and models on either side of the Atlantic played a large part in bringing the bikini into the mainstream.

[120] Actresses in action films like Blue Crush (2002) and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) made the two-piece "the millennial equivalent of the power suit", according to Gina Bellafonte of The New York Times.

[37]According to Beth Dincuff Charleston, research associate at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, "The bikini represents a social leap involving body consciousness, moral concerns, and sexual attitudes.

[129][130] The costume shocked a conservative Indian audience,[131] but it also set in motion a trend carried forward by Zeenat Aman in Heera Panna (1973) and Qurbani (1980),[132] Dimple Kapadia in Bobby (1973),[132] and Parveen Babi in Yeh Nazdeekiyan (1982).

But, despite the conservative ideas prevalent in India, bikinis also become more popular in summer when women, from Bollywood stars to the middle class, take up swimming, often in a public space.

[201] At the 2006 Asian Games at Doha, Qatar, only one Muslim country – Iraq – fielded a team in the beach volleyball competition because of concerns that the uniform was inappropriate.

"[209] Sports journalism expert Kimberly Bissell conducted a study on the camera angles used during the 2004 Summer Olympics beach volleyball games.

[217] Female bodybuilders in America are prohibited from wearing thongs or T-back swimsuits in contests filmed for television, though they are allowed to do so by certain fitness organizations in closed events.

[218] Runner Florence Griffith-Joyner mixed bikini bottoms with one-legged tights at the 1988 Summer Olympics, earning her more attention than her record-breaking performance in the women's 200 meters event.

[242] Movies like Blue Crush and TV reality shows like Surf Girls merged the concepts of bikini models and athletes together, further accentuating the toned body ideal.

[243] In 1993, Suzy Menkes, then Fashion Editor of the International Herald Tribune, suggested that women had begun to "revolt" against the "body ideal" and bikini "exposure."

[254] Beginning in the late thirties, skants, a type of skanty men's briefs, were introduced, featuring very high-cut leg openings and a lower rise to the waistband.

[257] Male bodies and men's undergarments were commodified and packaged for mass consumption, and swimwear and sportswear were influenced by sports photography and fitness.

[257] Over time, swimwear evolved from weighty wool to high-tech skin-tight garments, eventually cross-breeding with sportswear, underwear and exercise wear, resulting in the interchangeable fashions of the 1990s.

[281] A 1969 innovation of tan-through swimwear uses fabric which is perforated with thousands of micro holes that are nearly invisible to the naked eye, but which let enough sunlight through to produce a line-free tan.