How The Bikini Came To Be
Not all people know that the accepted origin of the bikini is actually in no less than the most romantic city of the world, Paris. Two Frenchmen inventors are credited for the invention of the bikini: Jacques Heim and Louis Reard. But maybe it would be more proper to call it "reinvention", as neither Heim nor Reard created the idea of the bikini. Since the 1600 B.C., drawings of suits that looked like bikinis have already been found on wall paintings. These bikini-like suites are actually two-piece garments worn by women for athletic purposes, dating back to as early as 1400 BC.
Before the launching of the first official bikini in Paris, swimwear that looks like it has already existed for many years. For instance, German films in the 1930s show women wearing two-piece bathing suits. Thanks to wartime rationing in 1943, two-piece swimsuits started appearing in the US when the U.S. Government ordered a 10 percent reduction in the fabric used in woman's swimwear.
Nevertheless, Heim and Reard were the first ones to call the revolutionary swimwear as "bikini". Reard, a French engineer, and Heim, a fashion designer, introduced it at a fashion show at Piscine Molitor in Paris. This official launch of the bikini allowed more countries to learn about the fashion breakthrough.
With the rising fame came opposition, and nearby European Catholic countries like Portugal, Spain and Italy banned the bikini. In the Unites States, certain groups pressured Hollywood not to showcase women wearing bikinis in films, as it is nothing but a revealing disgrace to the female species. Nevertheless, the bikini continued to gain popularity, albeit slowly, and a bit more faster in Europe. Thus, by the 1960's to the 1970's, it was obvious that the onset of bikini fashion cannot be stopped, and more and more women worldwide started to wear it, more so in the United States and especially in Europe.
Recognized as the "smallest bathing suits in the world", the bikini multiplied into so many variants since it was first launched. Though it shocked and titillated people worldwide in the 1930s to 1940s, the first bikinis were actually modest in coverage as compared to the modern bikinis. Bikini tops then provided full coverage of the bust area while bikini bottoms were cut above the navel.
Of course, if there's one thing that makes fashion so successful, it's the constant evolution of it. The string bikinis of the 1970's exposed the navel for the first time, while the thong bikinis of the 1980's allowed the littlest coverage possible in the rear of the suit. Today, bikinis range from the most "decent" to bikinis that offer no coverage at all, and from the simplest styles to the most outrageous prints and cuts. The basic rule is that there are no rules: whatever type of bikini a woman likes to wear, there's a bikini of such type that can be bought anywhere in the globe.
The bikini may be the smallest piece of clothing in the world, but it certainly is one of the biggest breakthroughs in the history of fashion all over.
