11 Swimbest Swim Jacket

Swimbest Swim Jacket in 2023

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The Interesting History of the "Itsy Bitsy" Bikini

Whether you wear a bikini or you enjoy looking at them, you'll enjoy this interesting history of this scant swimwear. The US government, a South Pacific Island, and Sports Ilustrated, are just a few of that are involved with the bikini's history!

You see, on July 1, 1946, the United States military put "Operation Crossroads" in motion. This experiment involved detonating a series of nuclear bombs on a small island in the South Pacific named, "Bikini Atoll." To say that the military made "a splash" with their experiment would be an understatement. The event covered the front pages of the newspapers.

Four days later, on July 5, a French fashion designer named Louis Reard decided to take advantage of all the press the nuclear bombs testing was getting. So, he unveiled his newest fashion invention in Paris, a two-piece bathing suit. The prototype suit was named "bikini" after the small island used in "Operation Crossroads." To further gather runoff attention, Reard made the skimpy cotton outfit with fabric that had newspaper print on it.

Just like the nuclear bomb testings, and exactly like Reard wanted, the bikini caused quite an explosion of controversy and scandal. Even before the fashion designer had unveiled the bikini, he had had a terrible time finding a woman to model the scanty swimsuit. Finally, he managed to find a nude dancer who worked at the Casino de Paris. Michelle Bernadini wore the itsy bitsy bikini on its maiden journey into the fashion world. Even though the world at large instantly gave the bikini a "thumbs down", Bernadini reportedly received more than fifty thousand fan letters after she made her public appearance.

Reard wanted his scanty, itsy bitsy bikini to shock the world. And his audience didn't disappoint him. Reard's bikini was no more than thirty inches of fabric sewn together. The public protested that, "The two-piece swimwear reveals everything about a women except her maiden name." The bikini was forbidden in many religious countries. The Hollywood industry kept the latest swimwear from Paris, the bikini, off the golden screen. And Louis Reard reveled in the scandalous attention his two-piece design received. In fact, he purposely added fuel to the blazing fire of controversy by stating that "a two-piece suit wasn't a genuine bikini unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring." And the rest, as they say, is history.

It took a decade, but Reard's bikini finally made it onto the golden screen when sexy starlet Brigitte Bardot wore one in 1956. The French movie was, "And God Created Women" directed by Roger Vadim. Bardot's sexy hot love scene on the beach was made even hotter by her wearing a scanty bikini.

In 1962, Swiss beauty Ursula Andress wore a bikini in the very first James Bond movie titled, "Dr. No." In the movie, Andress slinks out of the ocean wearing a revealing white bikini. Reportedly, Andress credited the scant, two-piece swimsuit for her success.

In 1960, Louis Reard's bikini continued to make a splash, but this time it was in the world of pop songs. American singer Brian Hyland recorded the hit song, "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini." The song was written by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss. The song not only climbed up the record charts, but it also prompted excited American teenage girls to snatch the two-piece bikini off of store shelves.

Three years later, Hollywood finally put the bikini on the golden screen in full force. The first Annette Funicello/Frankie Avalon movie titled, "Beach Party" featured not just one, but several young girls frolicking on the beach dressed only in scant bikinis. The final movie of the series, which was released in 1966, was interestingly titled, "How To Stuff a Wild Bikini."

In the meantime, Sports Illustrated magazine joined in on the sexy bikini craze by publishing the company's very first swimsuit issue in 1964. The cover featured beautiful model Babette March wearing a white bikini while standing in the Caribbean. Since that time, Sports Illustrated has turned their swimsuit issue into a much-anticipated yearly event.

As the history of the itsy bitsy bikini has been written over the past sixty-plus years, this two-piece swimsuit has affected a lot of people throughout the years. But in the 1980's, the bikini craze finally died down. In the swimsuit market, the bikini only drew a scant third of the total sales. By the end of that decade, Louis Reard's company folded up.

Fortunately, it wasn't long before the popularity of the bikini was revived. Sexy model Pamela Anderson, who had graced the cover of Playboy magazine in October of 1989, accepted the role of lifeguard "C.J. Parker" in a new television show called, "Baywatch." Seeing Anderson, as well as the other bikini-clad beauties on Baywatch, renewed the public's interest in the two-piece swimsuit.

As for the United States government and the natives of Bikini Atoll, an agreement was made in the 1950's. The Bikinians gained "full territorial rights" to the island. The government also paid the islanders over $300,000.00 in compensation.