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BreakingNews.ie
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BreakingNews.ie
The evolution of the bikini
Created almost 80 years ago, the bikini has been making waves as a summer essential since the 1940s. The late fashion editor Diana Vreeland called the bikini 'the most important thing since the discovery of the atomic bomb.' Vreeland isn't wrong, the two-piece swimsuit has lost none of its charm or scandalous appeal over the years. Advertisement Never before in the history of fashion has a little piece of fabric caused such a stir. So, as we dust of our swimwear once again, here's a look back at the evolution of the bikini. Models competing for the Miss World 1960 title in London (PA Archive) The origin of the bikini Ever since the mid-19th century, swimsuits have been gracing the waters of Normandy and Biarritz by the sea-bathing elite. But in the summer of 1946, a seismic shift in swimwear took place. Taking inspiration from the first American nuclear test at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, French engineer-turned-textile-manufacturer Louis Réard dropped a fashion bomb on post-war France: the bikini. The original design of Louis Réard's bikini in 1946 (Alamy/PA) While visiting the beaches of Saint-Tropez, Réard observed women folding down their swimsuits to get a better tan – this sparked his idea to create a swimsuit that left the midriff completely bare. Advertisement The daringly minimalist design made its debut at Paris's Molitor pool, modelled by Micheline Bernardini, a nude dancer from the Casino de Paris and the only woman willing to wear such a revealing piece. Comprising of just a few scraps of fabric printed with excerpts from Bernardini's fan mail, the so-called 'world's smallest swimsuit' showed off her curves and – most shockingly – her navel. At the time, this part of the body was considered far too intimate for public display. The navel, tied symbolically to motherhood, was still seen as something that belonged to the private sphere. Brigitte Bardot wearing a bikini on the set of The Night Heaven Fell (Alamy/PA) Packaged in a tiny metal cube, just 6cm wide, and marketed as 'the first anatomical bomb,' the bikini was set to challenge post-war modesty. Among its early champions was Brigitte Bardot, who made headlines in 1953 when she wore a a simple floral bikini on the beaches of Cannes. Advertisement The 18-year-old actor's youthful defiance helped turn the bikini into a symbol of a generation embracing freedom, pleasure and a rapidly changing consumer culture. 1960s Come the 1960s, bikinis were still enjoying a surge in popularity, despite still being forbidden on some European beaches. This was largely down to Hollywood. In the James Bond film Dr. No (1962), Ursula Andress stepped out of the sea wearing an iconic white belted bikini, and the moment certainly made waves. Channel 4 declared it to be the top bikini moment in film history, and in 2001, the bikini sold at auction for $61,500, being described by film writer Martin Rubin as a 'defining moment in the Sixties liberalisation of screen eroticism'. Advertisement Ursula Andress wore an iconic white belted bikini in the film Dr. No in 1962 (Alamy/PA) That same year, actor Sue Lyon lounged on the grass in a floral two-piece in Lolita, while Raquel Welch went primal in a fur bikini in One Million Years B.C. (1966). These unforgettable cinematic moments played a major role in popularising the bikini across the globe. In France however, the bikini didn't fully catch up until 1968, when social rebellion and the rise of feminism helped rewrite the rules of how women dressed and what it signified. The bikini became ubiquitous in the late 1960s (PA Archive) No longer just a skimpy beach outfit, the bikini became a subtle act of defiance: a way for women to reclaim ownership of their bodies, ditch the outdated constraints of modesty, and move freely – whether swimming, sunbathing, or simply being. What was once scandalous had evolved into a symbol of liberation. Advertisement 1980s By the 1980s, the bikini made up 20% of swimsuit sales, more than any other swimwear model in the US. However, as skin cancer awareness grew, sales of the skimpy bikini decreased dramatically. Suddenly, it was all about the high-rise one pieces. As athletic styles boomed – one-pieces came into vogue (PA Archive) Alongside one pieces, variations of the bikini became popular such as the 'tankini' and 'camikini' which featured long tops covering the midriff and finishing at the hip bones. Pamela Anderson and Yasmine Bleeth popularised the high-rise one piece in Baywatch (Alamy/PA) The likes of Baywatch's Pamela Anderson and Sports Illustrated model Cindy Crawford became swimwear icons, wearing plunging one-pieces and high-rise bottoms. 1990s As simpler aesthetics began to define fashion and one-pieces became synonymous with Eighties athleisure – the bikini came back with a boom. In the 1990s, ultra-stylised bikinis became popular, moving away from 1980s athleisure (Stefan Rousseau/PA) This time, luxury labels began transforming the two-piece swimsuit into high-glamour statements. In 1996, Chanel shrank it down and stamped it with its signature logo, and paraded it down the runway on supermodel Stella Tennant. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Garment Modern+Vintage (@garment_modern) The following year, Tom Ford at Gucci took things even further with a barely-there ombré thong bikini adorned with a bold metal G – designed for all genders, and made to be seen. 2000s – present day Today, the bikini remains a controversial piece of clothing, still finding itself under censorship. In 2013, an advert featuring Pamela Anderson dancing in a bikini was banned by the British Advertising Standards Authority for degrading women. In that same year, Cambridge University banned the Wyverns Club of Magdalene College from arranging its annual bikini jelly wrestling contest. Modern day bikini designs have become more experimental (Myung Jung Kim/PA) But as designers become more inclusive and experimental with their designs – it seems the bikini has stepped into its golden age. A symbol of liberation and freedom – the bikini remains one of the most popular sectors of the fashion industry, being valued at around $811 million. Whatever its next form, one thing is certain: the bikini is here to stay.
The Independent
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
The history of the bikini as it turns 80
The bikini, celebrating its 80th anniversary, has been a controversial yet enduring summer staple since its creation in 1946. French engineer Louis Réard, inspired by women adjusting their swimsuits for tanning, designed the bikini, naming it after the Bikini Atoll nuclear test site. The garment's debut sparked controversy due to its revealing nature, challenging post-war modesty norms. Brigitte Bardot and Hollywood 's adoption of the bikini in the 1950s and 60s propelled its popularity, transforming it into a symbol of liberation and freedom. Despite facing censorship and evolving styles, the bikini remains a significant part of the fashion industry, valued at around $811 million.
The Guardian
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Pammy's Baywatch showstopper, exploding bikinis and Nasa's banned bodysuit – Splash! review
Four days after a nuclear bomb was first detonated over the Pacific islands of Bikini Atoll in July 1946, the French designer Louis Réard launched a provocative two-piece swimsuit at a poolside party in Paris. The two events might not seem to be connected. But Réard, who had been looking for a name for his design that would embody the tiniest garment imaginable, combined with the most explosive impact possible, hit on the almighty atomic blast as the ideal symbol. And so the modern bikini was born. The world's first bikini now hangs on a mannequin in the Design Museum in London, looking decidedly less earth-shattering than it did back then. Formed from baggy triangles of pink fabric, printed with a newspaper pattern and tied together with string, it looks a bit like someone has fashioned a quick cossie out of a few pages of the FT. 'It was really controversial at the time,' says fashion historian Amber Butchart, curator of Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style. 'Swimsuits were getting smaller and smaller in a kind of arms race, tied up with the excitement of the atomic age.' Two months earlier, another French fashion designer, Jacques Heim, had unveiled his own two-piece swimsuit at his beach shop in Cannes. He christened it the Atome, after the particle of matter, and hired skywriting aircraft to advertise 'the world's smallest bathing suit' over the Mediterranean. Not to be outdone, Réard hired his own skywriters to fly over the French Riviera, announcing his bikini to be 'smaller than the smallest bathing suit in the world'. It was the first time a swimming costume had plunged below the navel, to the horror of the Catholic church, and the glee of the male gaze. Réard was quick to capitalise on its minimalist credentials. Long before the arrival of the microkini, he published adverts declaring that a two-piece suit wasn't a genuine bikini 'unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring'. The competitive shrinkage of swimwear is one of many stories threaded throughout this illuminating exhibition, which charts our enduring relationship with water over the last 100 years, across fashion, architecture, sport and more. It touches on the British love of lidos, the lure of the seaside and the rise of wild swimming, as well as delving into more niche topics, from the controversies around hi-tech performance swimwear, to the curious Mermaidcore trend of the 2020s. The inexplicable popularity of the Dryrobe as an item of everyday clothing gets a look-in too. As unlikely as the towel-lined changing gown becoming an acceptable thing to wear to the shops, the atomic-bikini period is one of the stranger moments in the history of the swimwear-industrial complex. Displayed next to the first bikini, a 1950s photo shows people lounging beside a hotel pool in Las Vegas, as a mushroom cloud erupts on the horizon. Another shot depicts a poolside showgirl wearing a jaunty mushroom cloud headpiece. It turns out that the nearby Nevada Test Site made the area a hotspot for 'atomic tourism', with Vegas casinos offering atomic-themed cocktails and Miss Atomic Bomb pageants – where evermore skimpy bikinis were naturally all the rage. Keen not to be left out of the scanty swimwear craze, men soon got in on the action. One vitrine is dedicated to the furtive rise of gay men's swimming attire, at a time when homosexuality was still illegal. Raunchy 'physique' magazines of the 1950s and 60s, ostensibly marketed as male health and fitness publications, doubled up as softcore porn, featuring adverts for mail-order posing pouches and revealing trunks. 'You'll be number one,' promises an ad for a tiny pair of shorts with strategic windows cut out of the sides, published in a 1962 issue of The Young Physique, 'when the gang gets a glimpse of you thru porthole cutouts.' Who could resist the 'skintight muscle-conforming knit' of the latest 'Orlon-Wool-Rubber' blend? Available in alligator skin vinyl, too. Such technical material innovation is probed further in the evolution of high performance Olympic swimwear, most contentiously in the form of the 2008 LZR Racer swimsuit. Developed by Speedo, in collaboration with Nasa scientists, the futuristic garment looks like something from Batman's wardrobe. It was made from ultrasonically welded low-friction fabric to repel water, with compression panels for streamlining, as well as trapping air for increased buoyancy. The full body-length design instantly saw countless world records shattered: 94% of the gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics were won by swimmers wearing the sleek suit. The international swimming federation, Fina, was furious, declaring that the level of innovation amounted to 'technical doping'. It was one step of ingenious design too far, and was swiftly banned. Perhaps in future contests, athletes should all be forced to compete in the standard issue grey woollen onesie that used to be rented out to day-tripping bathers by the municipal Margate Corporation in the 1920s. In the days before most people had their own swimming costume, its unisex one-size-fits-all design ensured it could fit swimmers of all body shapes. A century later, the exhibition shows how similar design principles are being embraced today, in the re-emergence of gender-neutral swimwear, created by companies such as the Portland, Oregon-based Beefcake. Its one-piece swimsuits, 'for any body, anywhere', take inspiration from the classic costumes of the 1920s, with sizes ranging from XS to 5XL, made in small batches by people in Portland making a living wage. Beefcake's Dreamboat design is shown alongside other efforts to make swimming more inclusive. There is Rebirth Garments' trans-friendly kit – which includes a compression lining in the bottom half to suit a trans woman, transfemme or non-binary person – and elegant unilateral mastectomy swimwear by Eno for single-breasted people. The Blob swimsuit, meanwhile, was designed by Hannah Whelan as a piece of 'artivism' to open up conversations around menstruation, period stigma and swimming, with a bright red patch emblazoned on its crotch. There are plenty more design stories to discover. Along with the actual red costume worn by Pamela Anderson in BayWatch, there's a celebration of the reinvention of Penzance's 1930s Jubilee seawater pool, recently upgraded with geothermal baths by Scott Whitby Studio, who were also responsible for the exhibition's punchy design, drenched with bold, kiss-me-quick colours. Marvel, too, at the evolution of goggles – including a 1940s guide to making your own wooden Hawaiian diving variety – and ponder the unlikely high-fashion adoption of pool slides worn with socks, thanks to a 1990s Tommy Hilfiger campaign. Diver Tom Daley also features with his Made With Love knitting kits, as does the recent revival of budgie-smuggler briefs, for which he is partly responsible. We've come a long way since 2009, when Alton Towers banned Speedos, in an apparent attempt 'to maintain the family-friendly atmosphere at the resort'. What would the theme park make of someone turning up in the 2-metre long silicone mermaid tail? One such scaly pink fin – made by special effects designer Silvo Dordevic, AKA Siki Red – hangs momentously from the ceiling, as an example of the subcultural phenomenon of Mermaiding. The TikTok trend, which sees people dressing up and swimming as merfolk – and greeting each other with a cheery 'shello!' – has been fuelled by the live action remake of The Little Mermaid, and the Netflix series MerPeople, both released in 2023. Mermaid academies can now be found from Bournemouth to Boracay island in the Philippines. It might look like child's play, but it's not for the fainthearted. 'It's one of the most physically uncomfortable situations you can ever be in,' according to Morgana Alba, founder of mermaid group, Circus Siren Pod. 'You can't breathe. You can't see. You can't really hear. You're probably cold. And the tail is dragging you down.' On a basic human level, 'our bodies don't want to be under those conditions'. So, perfect for the next extreme fitness trend! Like beach pyjamas and Dryrobes, watch out for these scaly prosthetics appearing soon on a high street near you. Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style is at the Design Museum, London, from 28 March to 17 August
