Since July 5, 1946, women have been hitting the beaches and poolsides in bikinis. National Bikini Day marks the anniversary of the invention of the revealing two-piece bathing suit.
Named after the Bikini Atoll where the United States conducted atomic tests, the two piece bathing suit made its debut in Paris. French designer Louis Reard wanted to name revealing bits of fabric “atom”.
Sunbathers were wearing modest two-piece suits by World Wart II in the United States, but they hardly revealed the amount of skin the bikini revealed on July 5, 1946. While Europe enthusiastically donned the bikini after a long and arduous world war, American’s sense of decency kept them from accepting the bikini until the 1960s.
- The oldest documented bikinis—haute, bandeau-style little numbers—show up in a 1,700 year old Roman mosaic entitled Chamber of the Ten Maidens. A bevy of ancient, bikini-clad babes are depicted playing sports.
- In 2009, Americans spent $4.3 billion—roughly 400 million more than the GDP of Barbados—on swimwear alone.
- The 19th-century version of a bikini was made out of either heavy flannel or wool—fabrics that would not be transparent when wet—and covered the entire body from neck to toe. The suits were so heavy that women had to hold onto ropes strung from the beach to offshore buoys to keep from sinking.
- In 1993, the Olympic Committee decreed the bikini the official uniform for women’s beach volleyball, partly because of the functionality of the suit. Athletes complain that when wearing more conventional uniform—the one-piece, for instance—“sand goes down the top and collects in the bottom,” Holly McPeak, a three-time Olympic vollyballer told ABC News. With the bikini’s built-in sand-release system, Reard, it seems, was ahead of his time.
- Thongs are illegal in Melbourne, Florida as of January 2005. The punishment is a $500 fine or 60 days in jail.
- The largest-selling swimwear company in the world is Speedo, which caters to both men and women, and which is nearly 100 years old.
- In 1964, the bikini made it to the cover of Sports Illustrated for the first time
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