Atoll in the Marshall Is, W Pacific, 3200 km/2000 mi SW of Hawaii; site of 23 US nuclear tests, 194658; first H-bomb tested here (1952); inhabitants evacuated in 1946; many returned in 1972, but were evacuated again when it was discovered that they had ingested the largest dose of plutonium ever monitored in any population.
For other uses, see Bikini (disambiguation).A bikini or two-piece is a type of women's swimsuit, characterized by two separate parts—one covering the breasts, the other the groin (and optionally the buttocks), leaving an uncovered area between the two garments. The shapes of both parts of a bikini closely resemble women's underwear, and the lower part of a bikini can therefore range from the more revealing thong or g-string to briefs and the more modest square-cut shorts.
Sometimes the term bikini is used to describe the type of man's swimsuit also known as speedos.
Modern origin
According to the official version, the modern bikini was invented by French engineer Louis Réard and fashion designer Jacques Heim in Paris in 1946 and introduced on July 5 at a fashion show at Piscine Molitor in Paris. It was named after Bikini Atoll, the site of nuclear weapon tests a few days earlier in the Marshall Islands, on the reasoning that the burst of excitement it would cause would be like the thermonuclear device. However, women in Paris were wearing bikinis one year before the bikini was "invented".
Of course the magazine article did not attach the name "bikini" to the swimsuit. At that time the atomic bomb test was a year in the future and virtually no one had ever heard of Bikini Atoll.
Bikinis in modern culture
It took fifteen years for the bikini to be accepted in the United States. In 1957, however, Brigitte Bardot's bikini in And God Created Woman created a market for the swimwear in the US, and in 1960, Brian Hyland's pop song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" inspired a bikini-buying spree. Finally the bikini caught on, and by 1963, the movie Beach Party, starring Annette Funicello (emphatically not in a bikini, by mentor Walt Disney's personal request) and Frankie Avalon, led a wave of films that made the bikini a pop-culture symbol. In the 1960s the police fended off Bishop Michael Gonzi's request to ban bikini clad tourists following fear of compromising Malta as a tourist destination.
People who are familiar with the history of Bikini Atoll—particularly opponents of nuclear proliferation—may find the etymology and use of the word "bikini" for a garment as inappropriate, as its tongue-in-cheek "explosive" reputation effectively reduces the significance of a serious historic humanitarian crisis—one that still influences the politics of the Marshall Islands—to a mere popular culture sex symbol in the minds of most people.
Many magazines market themselves by placing a woman in a bikini on the cover. Because of the influence of the media, women try to lose weight before the summer so they can have the ideal "bikini body." The image of the bikini in the media sometimes brings about eating disorders in people striving to have the "perfect" body.
Evolution of the bikini
In recent years, the term monokini has come into use for topless bathing by women: where the bikini has two parts, the monokini is the lower part.
The tankini is a swimsuit combining a tank top and a bikini bottom.
The string bikini is a renovation of the traditional bikini that generally consists of the barest minimal fabric coverage for the top and bottoms, both are reduced to triangles of cloth connected by strings. For some women, the string bikini may actually be the most flattering bikini style. The string bikini style looks best on women with small busts or boyish shapes.
The lower part of the bikini was further reduced in size in the 1970s to the Brazilian thong, where the back of the suit is so thin that it disappears into the buttocks.
In addition, a variant of the bikini popular in fantasy literature is a bikini that is made up of metal to serve as (admittedly rather impractical) armor, sometimes referred to as a "chainmail bikini" or "brass bikini";
In science fiction, Star Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi features the notable "Princess Leia's metal bikini" costume, that is worn by the character Princess Leia when she is held captive at the film's beginning. This particular "bikini" has since been elevated to pop culture icon status, spawning various spoofs and parodies (most notably the episode of Friends) and even a dedicated fansite, Leia's Metal Bikini.
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