Common Threads: The Origins of the Scandalous Bikini

On July 1, 1946, a powerful nuclear explosion shook the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. It was part of a series of tests done by the U.S. military in that area, just as the Cold War arms race started to gain steam.

However, this was not the only explosive event that happened that month. Five days later and thousands of miles away from the Pacific Ocean, the world was no less rattled by a different kind of “bombshell” — the introduction of a scant two-piece bathing suit in a Paris fashion show.

Although two-piece swimsuits were around during the 1940s, popularized by Hollywood stars such as Rita Hayworth and Lana Turner, the version presented on July 5, 1946, was far more scandalous. Like the atomic bomb testing site, the new design was named “le bikini,” alluding to the nuclear impact it had.

Women’s beach attire has long been a source of controversy. In the early 20th century, when Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman popularized her one-piece swimsuit that bared her thighs, cities across the U.S. banned the outfit, claiming it was too revealing to be worn by respectable women. By the 1920s, municipalities’ obsession with what they saw as the abandonment of morals caused police officers armed with a measuring tape to arrest and fine offenders for whom the distance between their knees and their swimsuit hemline did not comply with regulations.

If the exposed hips of the Kellerman suit challenged the norms of propriety, the bikini smashed all trace of them.

More than its minimalist dimensions, the bikini revealed the navel, which at the time was considered a private part of the body, not to be shown in public. The bikini was so outrageous that even the French models — who were not known for their sense of modesty — refused to wear it, and the designer, Louis Réard, had to turn to the nude dancer Micheline Bernardini, the only one who agreed to showcase it.

From its debut, the bikini attracted international attention. Pictures of Bernardini circulated around the world, amplifying the notorious reputation of the design and its association with the atomic bomb. When in 1953, the then-18-year-old French actress Brigitte Bardot was photographed wearing the bikini during the Cannes Film Festival, the bikini’s sex appeal was finally solidified. Starring as Manina in Willy Rozier’s 1952 film The Girl in the Bikini, Bardot and the bikini became a symbol for a new type of femininity, one that was much more sexual than in previous decades.

By the 1960s, with the coming of the sexual revolution, the bikini, alongside the miniskirt, became an icon of this new sexual freedom. Yet, if the bikini became more mainstream, it didn’t lose its scandalous edge. The hit song “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-dot Bikini,” caused an uptick in bikini sales, but also spoke to the risqué nature of the swimsuit, telling the story of a girl who was too shy to be seen in public with her new bikini.

Brian Hyland singing “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” (Uploaded to YouTube by Cruisin’ FM with Good Time Oldies (GTO))

Hollywood also contributed to the sexual allure and popularity of the bikini. From Ursula Andress emerging with a white bikini from the water as a Bond Girl in the 1962 movie Dr. No (an iconic scene that was replicated years later with Halle Barry in Die Another Day), to Raquel Welch in her animal-skin fur bikini in One Million Years B.C. (1966), the swimsuit cemented its status as a sexy beach attire.

Ursula Andress in Dr. No (Uploaded to YouTube by James Bond 007)

The bikini became so ubiquitous that any version of a swimsuit, even if it did not include two pieces, received the ending of the “kini” to its name. Maybe the most outrageous version was the monokini, a topless swimsuit consisting of a close-fitting bottom and two thin straps that extend over the shoulders and reveal the breast. Designed by Rudi Gernreich in 1964, the monokini was not meant to be a fashion item but a statement, promoting sexual liberation and women’s empowerment. Through this design, Gernreich called out the hypocrisy of treating women’s bodies different from men’s. Stating that “we are people, not men and women,” Gernreich sought to offer a unisex solution that would free all genders.

Like the Kellerman one-piece and the bikini, the monokini was also banned from beaches, causing the 19-year-old model Toni Lee Shelley to be arrested in 1964 for indecent exposure by the Chicago Park District police.

If the monokini never entered the mainstream, the bikini enjoyed a more lasting career. In addition to popular ready-to-wear brands, the bikini has captured the minds of couture designers like Chanel and Gucci, who have created their own interpretation of the minimalist swimsuit, leading to new trends of the micro-bikini and the tankini as luxury items.

Even if in recent years — with the increasing awareness of the health risks from sun exposure — the bikini has lost some of its popularity, the outfit continues to attract both admiration and controversy. Ranging from a classic triangle covering, the Brazilian thong bikini, to the Roxy Girl version of a bra with a surfer shorts, the bikini today comes in many versions adjustable for every type of body.

At the time of its debut, then Vogue editor Diana Vreeland announced the bikini was “the most important thing since the discovery of the atomic bomb.” Almost 80 years later, it looks like this little piece of clothing continues making waves, staying true to its name.