BRAZILIAN BIKINIS ARE IN FASHION!
If you've passed a swimsuit hanging on a rack, or touched on a swimwear website, you've probably noticed that Brazil is leaving no stone unturned on the beach scene.
Why the focus on Brazil? You'll find the answer in a bikini-sized history lesson. In short, Brazil is urbane: almost every Brazilian lives in the fast-paced city. Tack on Brazil's legacy from Europe - a love for high fashion that borders on religion. Now top it all off with Brazil's 5000 miles of beach, each and every one of them filled with fashion-forward women who insist on clothes to sizzle at the scene. Now let's return to Australia. We've done and redone the triangle-top and string bottom. We've pretty much exhausted the thong -- de minimis can only go so far before there's nowhere left to go. But there's one thing we haven't exhausted: high glamour. Enter Brazil, drenched in the big, heady spirit of the sixties, and the international goddesses that drove it. Think Brigitte Bardot. Or Ursula Andress, stepping out of the surf in her belted bikini to set the world on fire. The Colours
Just like other areas of the fashion scene, the Brazilian retrospective combines modern colors and fabric tech with unmistakable hues from the Sixties. This means bright, bright plastic white, cocktail black, and clashing fluorescents. And touches of vinyl and metal. And Mod.
The Shapes
The old triangle top, always meant for the small-busted woman, starts to look a little blah compared to the womanly styles from Brazil, like low-slung "hipster" bottoms (especially beguiling when combined with kicky belts). You'll find Brazilian tops emphasizing larger busts, with stabilizing lace-ups or underwire support. The Textures
My favorite thing about Brazilian styles are the textures, which seem exotic in our post-production, plasticized world. Brazil knows that women love the softer side of sexy -- the kind that never shows up in beer commercials. Instead of vying for minimal coverage, Brazil uses high-tech savvy to weave water-friendly crochet and macramé into swim tops and bottoms. We love the macramé-strung bikini bottoms -- sometimes adorned by brassy buttons or shells. And we love the giant embroidered flowers (touched up with crystals), the French knots, and the hand-painted fabrics that show up on tops. But our favorite is the lycra-touched crochet pullover that goes from day to night. Wear it on the beach, then wear it again at the lounge. A feminine, crocheted top over a bikini bottom is the kind of look that hits the Richter scale. Best of all, these styles can be dressed to the nines with a smoky shade of eye shadow and big, clunky jewelry. 1858 Woman's bathing suit In Classical antiquity swimming and bathing was most often done nude. In some settings coverings were used. Murals at Pompeii show women wearing two-piece suits covering the areas around their breasts and hips in a fashion remarkably similar to a bikini of c. 1960. After this, the notion of special water apparel seems to have been lost for centuries. In the 18th century women wore "bathing gowns" in the water; these were long dresses of fabrics that would not become transparent when wet, with weights sewed into the hems so that they would not rise up in the water. The men's swim suit, a rather form-fitting wool garment with long sleeves and legs, similar to long underwear, was developed and would change little for a century. In the 19th century, the woman's two piece suit became common—the two pieces being a gown from shoulder to knees plus a set of trousers with leggings going down to the ankles. In the Victorian era, popular beach resorts were commonly equipped with bathing machines, with the purpose of avoiding exposure of people in swimsuits (even though these were very modest by today's standards), especially to people of the opposite sex. In 1907 the swimmer Annette Kellerman from Australia visited the United States as an "underwater ballerina", a version of synchronized swimming, involving diving into glass tanks. She was arrested for indecent exposure, as her swimsuit showed arms, legs and the neck. Kellerman changed the suit to have long arms and legs, and a collar, still keeping the close fit revealing the shapes underneath. She later starred in several movies, including one about her life. After this, bathing wear began being less conservative, first uncovering the arms and then the legs up to mid-thigh. Collars receded from up around the neck down to about mid-way between the neck and nipples. The development of new fabrics allowed for new varieties of more comfortable and practical swim wear. On some beaches in the United States, men were prohibited from going topless as late as the 1930s. Due to the figure-hugging nature of these garments, glamor photography of the 1940s and 1950s often featured people wearing swimsuits. This subset of glamour photography eventually evolved into swimsuit photography with the help of Sports Illustrated and swimsuit photographers around the world. The first bikinis were introduced just after World War II. Early examples were not very different from the women's two pieces common since the 1920s, except that they had a gap below the breast line allowing for a section of bare midriff. They were named after Bikini Atoll, the site of nuclear weapons tests, for their supposed explosive effect on the viewer. Through the 1950s, it was thought proper for the lower part of the bikini to come up high enough to cover the navel. From the 1960s on, the bikini shrank in all directions until it sometimes covered little more than the nipples and genitalia, although less revealing models giving more support to the breasts remained popular. At the same time, Fashion designer Rudi Gernreich introduced the monokini, a topless suit for women consisting of a modest bottom supported by two thin straps. Although not a commercial success, the suit opened eyes to new design possibilities. In the 1980s the thong or "tanga" came out of Brazil, said to have been inspired by traditional garments of native tribes in the Amazon The one-piece suit continued to be popular, especially with women whose figures did not resemble those of popular fashion models. Men's swimsuits developed roughly in parallel to women's during this period, with the shorts covering progressively less. Eventually racing-style "speedo" suits became popular, regardless of whether the swimmer was concerned about the drag coefficient of his suit. Thongs were often seen among the more daring and provocative crowds. But in the 1990s, longer and baggier shorts became popular, with the hems often reaching to the knees. Perhaps due to the increasing weight of these suits when wet, or perhaps just to be daring, they were often worn lower on the hips than regular shorts. Brazilian Bikinis:
The History of the Bikini  Historia No Bikini Versao Portugese
Louis Reard (ray-YARD) had this problem. He had designed something that would stir the masses. But he needed a name for it, something exotic, bold, and eye opening. Four days before he was to show the world his new Brazilian bikini in Paris, the U.S. Military provided him with a name. They exploded a nuclear device near several small islands in the Pacific known as the "Bikini Atoll".
On July 5th, 1945, he unveiled the Brazilian bikini. Although he would later claim he named the Brazilian bikini after the islands and not the atomic blast, he was clearly taking advantage of a "hot topic". Another Frenchmen, Jacques Heim, had created his own two piece bathing suit, which he called "The Atome", and he described it as "The world's smallest bathing suit. Reard called his "Smaller than the world's smallest bathing suit."
Reard's "bikini" was so small, in fact, 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 Brazilian bikini, seeing as her day job was a nude dancer at the Casino de Paris Bernardini was not what you'd call a classic beauty, but after photos of her in a reclining pose hit the press, she was swamped with fan mail, close to 50,000 letters.Two piece suits weren't new. As part of wartime rationing, the U.S. Government, in 1943, ordered a 10 percent reduction in the fabric used in woman's swimwear. Off went the skirt panel, and out came the bare midriff. At beaches across the country, men paid special attention to women doing their patriotic duty. But Reard pushed the envelope. He shrunk his suit down to 30 inches of fabric - basically a bra top and two inverted triangles of cloth connected by string - and put the navel on center stage.
The world took notice. In Catholic countries - Spain, Portugal, and Italy - The Brazilian bikini was banned. Decency leagues pressured Hollywood to keep it out of the movies. One writer said it's a "two piece bathing which reveals everything about a girl except for her mothers maiden name." Movie star Esther Williams who probably was seen in a two piece bathing suit by more people than anyone in the world, once said: "A bikini is a thoughtless act"
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It's not clear whether she was talking about the Brazilian bikini or the thought of wearing one. Reard's firm did it's part to fan the fantasies by proclaiming that a two piece wasn't a bikini "unless it could pulled through a wedding ring." In the '50's Brigitte Bardot did wonders for business- But not in modest America. Here it remained an invitation to scandal. As recently as 1957, Modern Girl magazine sniffed, "It is hardly necessary to waste words over the so called bikini since it is inconceivable that any girl with tact and decency would ever wear such a thing.” By 1960 America was ready for new frontiers, including, it seemed, great expanses of bare flesh. That year pop singer Brian Hyland immortalized the suit with his song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini." Three years later "Beach Party", the first in a series of Annette Funicello / Frankie Avalon flicks with a recurring theme of women dancing in bikinis, hit the big screen. Times and tastes change, however, and just as importantly, people age. Through the '80s and early '90s, the Brazilian bikini sales began to slide. Sales dropped to less than a third of the women's bathing suit market. in 1988 Reard's company folded.
The Brazilian bikini, however, appears to be making a comeback. Sales are up! Some cite the "Baywatch" factor - or perhaps the Internet itself. Brazilian Bikini Timeline 1946: An explosive year. Bikini Atoll becomes no Bikini at all. In Paris, engineer Louis Reard quietly unveils a swimsuit of the same name. The world yawns. 1951: Bikinis, perhaps seen as an unfair advantage to the wearer (and as potentially dangerous to the health of some judges) are banned from beauty pageants after the Miss World Contest. The tasteful one-piece reigns supreme. 1957: Bikini-clad Brigitte Bardot frolics in "And God Created Woman," creating a hot market for the swimwear. Coincidentally, Hollywood markets 3D glasses in theaters. 1960: Brian Hyland sings "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini," triggering a bikini-buying spree among American teens. 1963: The bikini meets a challenge in the generous form of Annette Funicello. The ex-mouseketeer's "Beach Party," with singer Frankie Avalon, leads to six sequels, including the memorably titled "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini" (in 1966). No special effects were used. 1964: The bi- ("two") kini becomes the mono- ("one") kini, in the eyes of designer Rudi Gernreich. The Vatican denounces the topless garb. An unrepentant Gernreich sells more than 3,000 suits in less than a season in Europe. More Americans go abroad. 1966: The bikini grows fur in "One Million Years B.C.," which catapults comely cave girl Raquel Welch to stardom despite mixed reviews of the saggy screen saga. 1970s: Rio and St. Tropez produce the Tanga suit-- also called the Thong, the string bikini or "dental floss." The uncomfortable design becomes de rigueur for teen posters, muscle car magazines and boxing ring girls who announce the rounds. 1983: Carrie Fisher, as Princess Leia, wears an ornate version of the bikini (studded collar optional) in "Return of the Jedi." Even Yoda notices. The film is the most successful of the George Lucas trilogy. 1993: Score one for the "sports bikini." The hugging halter-top design becomes the rage, thanks to Volleyball queen Gabrielle Reece and MTV. |
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A bikini is a type of women's bathing suit, characterized by two separate parts—one covering the breasts, the other the groin and buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two garments.Two-piece garments worn by women for athletic purposes have been observed on Greek urns and paintings, dated as early as 1400 BC. The modern bikini was invented by engineer Louis Reard in Paris in 1946 (introduced on July 5), and named after Bikini Atoll, the site of nuclear weapon tests in the Marshall Islands, on the reasoning that the burst of excitement it would cause would be like the atomic bomb. Reard's suit was a refinement of the work of Jacques Heim who, two months earlier, had introduced the "Atome" (named for its size) and advertised it as the world's "smallest bathing suit". Reard split the "atome" even smaller, but could not find a model who would dare to wear his design. He ended up hiring Micheline Bernardini, a nude dancer from the Casino de Paris, as his model. It took fifteen years for the bikini to be accepted in the United States. In 1951 bikinis were banned from the Miss World Contest. 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) and Frankie Avalon, led a wave of films that made the bikini a pop-culture symbol. 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. Where monokinis are in use, the word bikini may jokingly refer to a two-piece outfit consisting of a monokini and a sun hat. The term was coined by Rudi Gernreich. The tankini is a swimsuit combining a tank top and a bikini bottom. A string bikini is a more revealing alternative style where both top and bottom are reduced to triangles of cloth connected by strings. The lower part of the bikini was further reduced in size in the 1980s to the Brazilian thong, where the back of the suit is so thin that it disappears into the buttocks. Recently bikinis have been getting smaller. This trend started with the top piece, but after shrinking the top so much that it barely covers the nipples, swimsuit manufacturers have moved on to reducing the size of the bottom piece. One can see the trend toward reduction in the following styles: slingshot, mini, teardrop, minimini, micro, and, what could be called a double g-string, the mini-micro. Sportswomen who play beach volleyball are required to wear bikinis. Media depiction Red Sonja, a famous example of a fantasy wearer of an armor bikini.The obvious sex appeal of the apparel prompted numerous film and television productions as soon as public mores changed to accept it. They include the numerous surf movies of the early 1960s and the television series, Baywatch. 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). The character Red Sonja is a famous example. Styles of women's swimsuit: Styles of men's swimsuit:
- speedo (suit style)
- briefs
- boardshorts
- jammers
- sunga
A one-piece swimsuit is a usually skin-tight one-piece swimsuit used by women when swimming in the sea or in a swimming pool. The one-piece swimsuit usually covers the genitalia, the breasts and all of the front of the body in between. A special type is however the monokini, which is made in one piece but does not cover the breasts.Before the invention of the bikini, virtually all swimsuits where in one piece and in older days men used similar swimsuits that covered equivalent areas of the body. Sunga (Male Brazilian swimsuit)A sunga is a Brazilian term for a men’s swimsuit. The bikini to U.S. citizens is typically a small bikini, but in Brazil—and especially Rio—you’ll see the sunga. It is a modern and updated men’s bikini. The shape is similar, but the side is an inch thicker: it’s a cross between a bikini and a square cut.
Bikini (underwear)Bikini underwear is a term used for a type of undergarment worn by both men and women that is similar in size and revealing nature to the bottom half of a bikini bathing suit, popular among women.For women a bikini can refer to virtually any tight, skimpy, or revealing undergarment that provides less coverage to the midsection that traditional underwear panties or knickers. For men, a bikini is a type of undergarment that is smaller and more revealing than mens briefs. Men's bikinis can have both high or low side panels and normally rest lower than the true waist at the upper hips. Most men's bikinis lack a button or flap front. Most do not have a visible waistband like briefs. A more revealing type of bikini underwear is the string bikini. Monokini, a term used for different styles of one-piece swimsuits, which all have in common that they are inspired by the bikini.The Original Monokini
In 1964 Rudi Gernreich from Austria (but in the US) designed the original monokini, a top free bikini. The word is a back formation from bikini, interpreting the first syllable as the prefix bi- "two" and substituting mono- "one." Since Gernreich seems to have been the one who coined the term, his definition of it ought to be considered most correct. Other Uses of the Term Monokini- The term monokini has later sometimes also been used to describe a swimsuit which resembles a bikini but where the top and bottom parts have been made in one piece, usually connected at the sides of the body.
- Monokini can also refer to what is perhaps more commonly known as a sling bikini.
A sling bikini is a one-piece woman's swimsuit which provides as little coverage as a bikini. Usually, it is worn like a bikini bottom with the side straps, instead of going around the hips or waist, extending upwards to cover the breasts and go over the shoulders, leaving the entire sides of the torso uncovered. The straps then reach down the back to become a thong.
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