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MEMORIES:
1984ButBlair remembers...Bikinis were my staple, especially when I lived in Florida. Now that I've had two kids, I'm a bit more ... More »
Posted on 09/02/08
PHOTOS:
Tell the people what she wore…
It was an itsy, bitsy, teenie weenie yellow polka-dot bikini
That she wore for the first time today…
Oh, the bikini! Few fashion trends make it past six years, let alone six decades, yet the bikini has done it, and it did it while remaining at the top of summertime fashion trends. And let’s face it, how many 60 year olds get to claim that, year after year?
“Smaller than the world’s smallest bathing suit” according to its designer, Jean Reard, it made its two-pieced predecessor, the “atom,” look pretty modest. Only 30 square-inches to cover a girl’s… ahem… It was at the forefront of fashion; it was shocking. Okay, so maybe it doesn’t seem shocking today, but when it was introduced in the summer of 1946, French fashion models brought on to wear it wouldn’t wear it. So naturally, they hired a stripper. By the time it was accepted beyond the Riviera and onto American soil, fashionistas everywhere were climbing over one another to get one of their own.
It was really a sign of the times. The women of the Riviera were sunbathing in smaller and smaller outfits, so the progression to the bikini is natural. (Just go to the Riviera now, and you just might see… less.) Prior to American acceptance of the tiny two-piece, Brigitte Bardot (ah, ces Français!) wore it in Girl in the Bikini, which was censored, and would go unwatched in the U.S. The bikini remained scandalous until it was accepted by Hollywood stars, like Ava Gardner and Rita Hayworth. Plunging necklines with skirted bottoms were becoming the norm for screen sirens with the public, naturally, following.
Girls in the 50s had to keep their belly buttons covered, or they’d be bikini busted right off the beach! By the time the 60s were in full-swing, Americans got a little freer with their morals and the bikini was a fully-accepted part of summer beach attire. Teen idols like Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello were made with films like Bikini Beach, Beach Blanket Bingo, and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.
Since then, bikinis have become an every-summer-day outfit for beachgoers, as well as a part of movie fashion, most notably with Jane Fonda’s futuristic bikini babe flick, Barbarella. The 70s had a trippy time as bikini tops became a regular occurrence on disco dance floors. Paired up with some slinky shorts, this look was almost too hot to handle… Tsss!
Bikinis are a part of beauty contests of all sorts, bringing scandal and mainstream acceptance of the titillating two-piece. As cuts become more daring (Brazillian thongs, anyone?), the shock value lessens, so it’s almost a wonder that the tankini (bikini bottom with a tank top-like top) made the splash it did in the late 1990s and early 2000s. As fashion flips and flops around bikini sizing, we’ll just have to wait to find out what’s next; suits that cover or suits that could double as floss.
