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On July 5, 1946, French designer Louis Réard unveils a
daring two-piece swimsuit at the Piscine Molitor, a popular
swimming pool in Paris. Parisian showgirl Micheline Bernardini
modeled the new fashion, which Réard dubbed “bikini,” inspired
by a news-making U.S. atomic test that took place off the
Bikini Atoll
in the Pacific Ocean earlier that week.
European women first began wearing two-piece bathing suits that
consisted of a halter top and shorts in the 1930s, but only a
sliver of the midriff was revealed and the navel was vigilantly
covered. In the United States, the modest two-piece made its
appearance during World War II, when wartime rationing of fabric
saw the removal of the skirt panel and other superfluous
material. Meanwhile, in Europe, fortified coastlines and Allied
invasions curtailed beach life during the war, and
Swimsuit
development, like everything else non-military, came to a
standstill.
In 1946, Western Europeans joyously greeted the first war-
free summer in years, and French designers came up with fashions
to match the liberated mood of the people. Two French designers,
Jacques Heim and Louis Réard, developed competing prototypes of
the bikini. Heim called his the “atom” and advertised it as “
the world’s smallest
Bathing Suit
.” Réard's swimsuit, which was basically a bra top
and two inverted triangles of cloth connected by string, was in
fact significantly smaller. Made out of a scant 30 inches of
fabric, Réard promoted his creation as “smaller than the world
’s smallest bathing suit.” Réard called his creation the
bikini, named after the Bikini Atoll.
In planning the debut of his new swimsuit, Réard had trouble
finding a professional model who would deign to wear the
scandalously skimpy two-piece. So he turned to Micheline
Bernardini, an exotic dancer at the Casino de Paris, who had no
qualms about appearing nearly nude in public. As an allusion to
the headlines that he knew his swimsuit would generate, he
printed newspaper type across the suit that Bernardini modeled
on July 5 at the Piscine Molitor. The
Solid
Bikin was a hit, especially among men, and Bernardini
received some 50,000 fan letters.
Before long, bold young women in bikinis were causing a
sensation along the Mediterranean coast. Spain and Italy passed
measures prohibiting bikinis on public beaches but later
capitulated to the changing times when the swimsuit grew into a
mainstay of European beaches in the 1950s. Réard's business
soared, and in advertisements, he kept the bikini mystique alive
by declaring that a two-piece suit wasn’t a genuine bikini
“unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring.”
In prudish America, the bikini was successfully resisted
until the early 1960s, when a new emphasis on youthful
liberation brought the
Beach Swimsuit en masse to U.S. beaches. It was
immortalized by the pop singer Brian Hyland, who sang “Itsy
Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini” in 1960, by the
teenage “beach blanket” movies of Annette Funicello and
Frankie Avalon, and by the California surfing culture celebrated
by rock groups like the Beach Boys. Since then, the popularity
of the bikini has only continued to grow.
The garments we wear when swimming in pools, the ocean, or other
bodies of water are commonly known as “bathing suits”, but
why? Where did this name originate? The simple answer to that
question is that Beach Bathing Suits are named
for the English spa city Bath.
What is the difference between a “bathing suit” and
“swimwear”, or “swimsuit”?
These terms are used interchangeably in Styling by the Sea but
may be differentiated when encountered in other in places.
Swimsuit – an item of clothing designed to be worn by people
engaging in a water-based activity such as swimming, diving, and
surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sunbathing. Some
users associate the term exclusively with a woman’s bathing
suit and usually only refers to a woman’s bathing suit.
Bathing suit – most general term, gender-neutral, applies to
anything someone might wear while swimming.
Swimwear –
also gender-neutral, but often used in department stores or in
the context of distinguishing among other types of clothing
lines (sportswear, formal wear, et
Swimming trunks – refers to men’s bathing suits only, it’s
understood, but sounds a bit outdated.