Everything to know about the history of the bikini

Above: Model on a beach wearing a printed bloomer bathing suit in Vogue, 1952.

1946 was a big year. War was over. UNESCO and UNICEF came into existence. The first Cannes Film Festival took place. Cher and Dolly Parton were born. Evelyn Waugh published Brideshead Revisited, spawning generations of young idealists dreaming of white linen trousers. And the modern bikini made its official entry into the world.

Of course, it wasn’t the first example of swimwear—nor even of a two-piece. In Ancient Greek and Roman times, women wore bandeau tops and pants to participate in sports, as illustrated in the mosaics found in Villa Romana Del Casale. Skip forwards and the Victorians, with their increased interest in seaside resorts, favoured restraint for their forays into outdoor bathing: early photos of beachwear showing women in long dresses and bloomers in order to dare the waves.

Above: Ava Gardner poses on a deckchair, circa 1945.

However, the first half of the 20th century saw a rapid reduction in the amount of fabric required to head to the beach. A journey beset with controversy, it involved Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman being arrested in Boston in 1907 when she wore a more form-hugging swimsuit, even though it was still covering her from neck to toe. Several years later in 1913, designer Carl Jantzen introduced a two-piece comprised of shorts and a fitted top, which was also viewed with suspicion.

However, by the 1920s shows of skin were considered much less risqué—while the 1930s saw the back and side gaining not just ground, but serious exposure. From Claire McCardell’s gorgeous cutaway swimsuits to the appearance of stars including Jayne Mansfield, Rita Hayworth and Ava Gardner—not to mention countless pinups and showgirls—in more revealing one-pieces and, increasingly, two-pieces, the nature of what was acceptable attire continually shifted. However, there was one problem. The Hays Code, a set of rules enforced in Hollywood from 1934 onwards, forbade the exposure of navels on film, meaning all two-piece bottoms had to reach up the waist.

Above: Woman in a bikini.

It was only post the Second World War that the belly button would have its moment. In the summer of 1946 two different designers attempted to create boundary-breaking swimwear. With very similar intent, Jacques Heim’s atome and Louis Réard’s le bikini—both names reflective of the explosive impact they felt these designs would have—made their appearance. It was the latter, showcased several days after the US first detonated a nuclear device over Bikini Atoll, that particularly stuck. Allegedly so provocative in appearance that most models refused to wear it, Réard’s minimal design complete with G-string was eventually showcased by 19-year-old nude dancer Micheline Bernardini.

Click Here: toulon rugby shop melbourne

It would take a little while longer for this garment to become commonplace—initially banned on many beaches, and sported to great effect on other figures like Brigitte Bardot in the aptly titled 1952 film The Girl in the Bikini. However, it was in the 1960s that it really came to the fore. This was the decade of Ursula Andress emerging from the waves in that infamous white bikini (complete with knife) in Dr No, Raquel Welch wearing the bare minimum cobbled together from animal skins in One Million Years BC and Nancy Sinatra appearing on the LP cover of Sugar in bright bubblegum pink.

Above: A newsprint bikini, celebrated as the first bikini, worn by 19-year-old Micheline Bernardini, a nude dancer from the Casino de Paris, at a beauty contest in Paris.

Its popularity would continue to soar into the 1970s, with fabrics like crochet—as per Pam Grier in Coffy—emerging, and everyone from Pat Cleveland to Cheryl Tiegs to the original Charlie’s Angels trio engaging with its allure. In the 1980s Phoebe Cates in Fast Times at Ridgemont High would prove highly memorable as she exited a pool in siren-bright red, as would Carrie Fisher in gold in Star Wars. Come the 1990s there would be a plethora of styles to draw on, from the simplistically sporty to designs pushing at the very scanty limits of what could reasonably be called a bikini (see Chanel’s show in 1996).

Above: Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder in a scene from the James Bond film Dr. No, 1962.

What’s immediately clear is that the history of the bikini is also a history of the body: a history of flesh, censorship, provocation and, increasingly, some pretty frustrating expectations. As is still the case today, many of the figures who popularised the bikini in the public eye were ones whose physique was considered aspirational—conforming to a culturally limited set of beauty standards, as well as inhabiting a particularly palatable mode of sexiness.

Maybe the bikini is something that exists in the eye of the beholder. What has been a daring assertion of freedoms, sartorial and otherwise, to some has become a symbol of the omnipresent male gaze and pressures placed on women to others. Its many tensions are ones we’re still grappling with now, too, whether discussing the need for more inclusivity in the models we see showcasing swimwear, the hideousness of phrases like “bikini body ready” or legal battles over Muslim women’s right to wear burkinis. One specific design has also recently been at the centre of a litigious controversy.

Above: Carrie Fisher in Star Wars: Episode VI—Return of the Jedi, 1983.

Difficulties aside, however, it remains a rich time for the bikini, with plenty of new swimwear brands emerging in the last few years—from Hunza G tapping into 1990s nostalgia to Solid & Striped offering more sustainable options—and the spring/summer ’19 catwalk awash with further options (see Jacquemus’s Riviera-influenced collection for starters). The attire of Bond Girls, pop stars, surfers, identikit influencers and anyone who’s ever just wanted to go swimming or get a suntan in something other than a one-piece, it’s now a multifold garment—one that, given the right circumstances, can still make quite the splash.