Timeless Pieces of Summer

The very 2 pieces of summer outfit that we all like to have if possible in multitudes, were celebrating their 62nd birthday last July this year: the bikini! While it took quiet a while for us Asians to Dare to Wear, it wasn’t all an easy ABC for our beloved Mere Nothing at the Parisian 1946 Debut. Frankly: it rather was that a shocking event that the models who were supposed to wear them refused, and a hired stripper had to save the show!

But it wasn’t really the very first time the bikini was wrapped around the female curves. In the 4th century Roman female gymnasts wore ‘bandeau’ tops, the spitting image of our much valued bikini of today. With the caving in of the Roman Empire darkness set in, till 1907, when Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman was charged with ‘indecent exposure’ for her beach appearing in a sleeveless tank suit, that just showed some arms and legs. But at least it was a first glimpse of a revival. In the American 40s celebs like Ava Gardner and Rita Hayworth were wearing two-pieces, oddly enough all with the navel covered. Belly-Button was a No-Way-to-Expose.

It was only till 1946 that the bikini was taking a more familiar shape when the two Frenchmen Jack Heim and Louis Reard got their more skimpy follow-up of the two-piece on the catwalk (with great difficulty, as mentioned above). The latter introduced his line just a handful of days after the USA had begun their atomic tests on the Bikini atol. He called his line ‘le bikini’, with pretty much the same impact on planet Earth! Not that the war was won: even in the 50s, many heads, exept some French, were nodding ‘oh no’. A quote from a 1957 ‘Modern Girl’ issue: ...it’s hardly necessary to waste words over the so-called bikini, since it’s inconceivable that any girl with tact and decency would ever wear ’such a thing’!

But the waves were keeping on bashing the Ancient Sand Castles of Fashion. The bikinis got strongholt after strongholt. In the 1962 James Bond ‘Dr. No’, Ursala Andress got on shore armoured in an ouverture not to be ignored. Bryan Hyland’s hit song ‘Itsy Bitsy Teene Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini’ was stripping off the last defence, made it start to become fun. In vain some sour faces tried to turn the tide with remarks like that ‘bikinis were just for the perfect, young and tummy-less’.

Was it all washed away, by then? There was a shivering, if not a tidal wave in the 70s, when the Brazilian thong-bikini wave hit the sandy beach of Copa Cobana. And it’s still noticable in some corners of this planet today. The side-effect of it was almost restricted to European beaches; the topless bikini. That wave has mainly been taken over by swimming suits and other less revealing outfits by now. Is this then the end of a 62-year old phenomenon? My guess is that as long as there’s a beach, bikinis will be on it!

If you still like to take a plunge into some ocean, and need an idea or two for some new stunning beachwear, I suggest a visit to a place like berrydog.com... if that stuff is dead and almost buried, I eat my old bikini, I swear it...