July 5, 2016 6:30 AM
Trends
The bikini turns 70. From Brigitte Bardot and Ursula Andress to Cameron Diaz and Marine Vacth
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July 5, 2016 6:30 AM
Explosive and sinful. Since its official launch the bikini caused a commotion. Louis Réard created the bikini on July 5 in 1946, further reducing the size of the Atome, created by Jacob Heim a couple of months earlier. The two-piece swimsuit was an alternative to the one-piece number, to save on fabric. It was called ‘bikini’ after the Bikini Atoll (Mashall Islands) where the Americans carried out nuclear tests. The name evoked the explosive effect and shock caused by the bikini. For the first time women exposed their legs, midriff and décolletage.
Cinema had a key role in the spread of the bikini popularity, when a young Brigitte Bardot wore it in Cannes. The beautiful and charming BB ended all the taboos. See her also the film Manina, The Girl in the Bikini.
The 60s were key. In various cult movies the bikini expressed a conscious and sensuous femininity, see Sue Lyon in Lolita by Stanley Kubrick (1962), or Annette Funicello in Beach Party (1963).
Ursula Andress was also an iconic bikini wearer, in the hot Acapulco summer nights but most of all as the Bond Girl in Dr. No: her white bikini became one of the sexiest images in cinema history. Jane Fonda, Goldie Hawn, Raquel Welch and, in Italy, Stefania Sandrelli and Mariangela Melato, wore a bikini in movies, but also off-screen, living the Dolce vita.
The Seventies were years of experimentation: mini bikinis, increasingly more succinct, and string bikini, to make the swimsuits even smaller and get an even tan.
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Like the colored styles by La Perla in a 1972 photo shoot with the title “Towards total sun”. Then came the first bandeau styles, and sporty designs suitable for sports like scuba diving. Fast forward to the Eighties, when the body and its care became a hot topic.
In the 90s the bikini was the must-have beachwear item, and the one-piece was much less popular. Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider, Cameron Diaz and Demi Moore in Charlie’s Angels, or Destiny’s Child in the video clip Survivor, evoking the bikinis worn by Madga Konopka, Victoria Vetri and Imogen Hassal in the 1970 film When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth. And in that same year, in May, Vogue Italia featured a white bikini embellished with exotic-tribal detailing.
See also, in A Bigger Splash (2015) the triangle bikini worn by Dakota Johnson, and the number donned by model-actress Marine Vacth in Young & Beautiful, in 2013: once again, a promising and genuine beauty uses the bikini as a weapon of seduction on the French Rivera. Like a new Brigitte Bardot.
Look at the gallery to see the bikini styles that went down in cinema and fashion history. Here, see the latest Spring Summer 2016 trends:
Beachwear for Summer 2016
Beachwear patterns
Are you beach body ready? Choose the right swimwear!
Vintage How To: Brigitte Bardot, Bikini
