Hot Bikini Fashion, Summer Trends & Bikini History

Summer is coming... So pull out that “Bikini”. The word can strike fear in some women. A passage of summertime, lounging in the sun, and going to the beach…

How can such a small piece of fabric instill such feelings of fun,sexiness or dread? Who created this two piece creation?

Swimsuit season causes anxiety for many, whose white winter skin and soft middles are a far cry from the sleek, toned, and sun-kissed models who sport smaller and smaller bikinis each year.

Girls who frolic in the surf on the pages of catalogs or pose in health magazines that claim they can show you how to

“Get a bikini body in six weeks!!!”

The beautiful sexy images are sure to elicit feelings of inspiration, or possibly crush your self-esteem.

But unless you are a Victoria Secret Model, the Bikini may not be the most flattering Swimwear on the average American woman. Browse Victoria’s Secret 2012 trends in swimwear at http://www.victoriassecret.com/swimwear.

If you love the nostalgic swim styles of the past online stores now offer vintage and retro styles of clothing and swimwear. A good source is the website http://www.modcloth.com which has fun vintage style swimwear as well as clothing, and accessories that will get you into the retro vibe.

Browse today's swimwear catalogs and you will see how skimpy bikinis have become. Our culture has come a long way from the dowdy weighted garments women were once forced to wear in the water.

Despite today’s fashion models showcasing skimpy and sexy styles, most Americans stay away from overly skimpy swimwear. There was a time when a woman in such attire could be hauled away for indecency.

Bikini Beginnings

In 1907 Australian swimmer and performer Annette Kellerman was arrested on a Boston beach for wearing a form-fitting one-piece swimsuit much more modest than today’s one piece suits.

 However by 1910 this modest one piece became accepted beach attire. Women could wear the modest suits without being considered indecent.

By the end of the 19th century, swimming had become an "art," as well as an Olympic sport. In this environment, it finally became acceptable for women to swim; and as a result women's bathing suits entered a totally new era becoming lighter and more athletic.

In 1913, inspired by female Olympic swimming events, the designer Carl Jantzen made the first functional bathing suit, a close-fitting one-piece with shorts on the bottom and short sleeves up top.

During the 20s, recreation and leisure time were increasing and swimwear was becoming skimpier, slimmer and sexier. The new generation of designers turned the swimming suit into a two piece garment, showing more beauty of the female form. It was not long before trends continued to evolve even further.

By the mid-1920s Vogue Magazine was telling its readers that “the newest thing for the sea is a jersey bathing suit as near a maillot as the unwritten law will permit”.

The Modern Bikini Is Born

While two-piece bathing suits had been worn on the beach before, the modern bikini was finally in introduced around 1946.

 The inventors were two Frenchmen, Jacques Heim and Louis Reard. Although, Heim and Reard didn't exactly create the idea of the bikini, since drawings of bikini-like suits have been found on wall paintings dating back to 1600 B.C., but Reard gave the suit a modern name.

The two piece suit was named “bikini” after a few small South Pacific islands called Bikini Atoll, where the United States had established a nuclear test site. Reard predicted that his suit will cause explosive excitement (just like a nuclear experiment). At first no model was willing to wear Louis Reard’s scandalous swimwear, so the bikini was modeled by a nude dancer in a Paris nightclub named Micheline Bernardini.

Common Bikini Descriptions are:

• Typically a women's swimsuit, either a one-piece or a two piece. For the two-piece, one part of the attire is covering the breasts; the other the groin and, optionally, part or all of the buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two. The bikini is often worn in hot weather, while swimming or sunning.
• According to World English Dictionary “a Bikini is A woman's very brief two-piece swimming costume after Bikini atoll, from a comparison between the devastating effect of the atomic-bomb test and the effect caused by women wearing bikinis.”
• Merriam–Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition) describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit".

The Bikini was an almost instant trend for young women; and the styles evolved throughout the coming decades.

Flaunted by sexy movie stars, models, and daring everyday women finally free to show some skin and femininity if they wished.

Bikini Trend Highlights:

• In 1964 Sports Illustrated published the first swimsuit issue. The Model on the cover is wearing a simple white bikini.
• The 1960’s showcased a mod look with Bikinis in bold prints and designs.
• In the 1970’s during the sexual revolution in the United States the bikini became more revealing. "Harvest Gold" and "Avocado Green" were "in" colors, and so were string bikinis... The string bikinis of the 1970s exposed the navel and the bikini bottoms hung low on the hips. The tops were bra-like coverage.
• In 1983 Carrie Fisher wore skimpy a gold bikini in the third installment of the Star Wars saga “Return of the Jedi.” This gave her a place in pop culture and much infamy.

Since its introduction the bikini has transformed throughout the decades.

 Today new hot trends emerge every summer. Love it or hate it the Bikini is here to stay. So find the style that suits you and get to the Beach.