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Style of Eye - September 2007

bikinis

September 6th 2007 02:37

The history of the bikini begins far before the official introduction of the bikini swimsuit in the summer of 1946. Some historians believe that the bikini may have been one of the first public swimming costumes in existence. Drawing evidence from 300 A.D. Roman mosaics, historians point to the bikini as the swimsuit of choice for ancient Roman women. However Minoan wall paintings from approximately 1600 B.C. also depict women wearing the seemingly quite popular two-piece bathing costume!

The official history of the bikini, under that name, begins in the summer of 1946, just one year after the end of World War II. During that summer two French designers almost simultaneously created and marketed the bikini swimsuit. Barely leading the charge, Jacques Heim, a fashion designer and beach shop owner in the French resort town of Cannes, introduced his swimsuit creation, the “Atome,” early in the summer of 1946. The swimsuit was named the Atome because of its miniscule size (as compared to the then smallest known particle of matter, the atom). Heim sent skywriters high above the Cannes sky, with the simple, yet striking message “the world’s smallest bathing suit.”

As fate and synchronicity would have it, another French fashion designer was also hard at work creating a remarkably similar swimsuit. Just three weeks after Heim began marketing his swimsuit, Louis Reard, a mechanical engineer who had decided to dabble in swimsuit design (he was also running his mother’s lingerie business), unveiled his fashion sexclamation mark. Four days before Reard was to show the world his new bikini in Paris, the U.S. Military inadvertently provided him with the name. They exploded a nuclear device near several small islands in the Pacific known as the Bikini Atoll.

On July 5th, 1945, Reard also sent skywriters over the French Riviera with a more contentious message: “Bikini—smaller than the smallest bathing suit in the world.” The name struck a lasting chord.

Reard's bikini was so small that no Parisian models at the time would wear it on the runway. He hired Micheline Bernardini, who had no qualms about strolling around in a bikini, seeing as her day job was a nude dancer at the Casino de Paris.

Bikini’s are more or less de rigour on any gorgeous beach during summer. Everything from the seaweed bikini, macramé bikini, vinyl bikini, string bikini, mink bikini, rubber bikini, monokini, Brian Hyland's Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, Chanel's infamous "eye-patch" bikini and the irrepressible tanga, "thong" or "dental-floss" bikini; made famous on the beaches of Brazil.

Allessandra Ambrosio bird o' paradise bikini

Call me a fuddy-duddy, but I'm not a huge fan of the micro string thang. Still, on certain physiques it can look, well, distracting ... I love the traditional colours, the whites (Adriana Lima and Kelly Brook) and blacks (that slick rubber off the hip pic is dynamite!). The knotted bikini can be quite sexy too, I must say; the lime, the pink, the madeira black. However Halle Berry does Ursula Andress in orange very well indeed.

... I know it's not a bikini, but Kelly Brook below in the "conceptual" one-piece is something to behold.

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Posted By: Raoul Duke - Category: fashion

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Comments

3 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by James Rickard

September 6th 2007 02:48

unlucky_ fishermen.com
Angling Fish

I was wondering how much time you spent on research.

Comment by DuskDevi

September 6th 2007 08:16

Rucks and Rolls
Rugby World Cup 2007

Is that Giselle in the black rubber bikini?
Kelly Brook in the white bikini looks amazing.

I can see that this may have a been a very difficult post to put together...

Be well Raoul

Dusk

Comment by Raoul Duke

September 8th 2007 01:32

Style of Eye

James,
time well spent.

Dusk, I think you may be right about Giselle in the rubber.
and Yeah, the white bikini on Kelly does look good.

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