The history of the bikini is a checkered one. Though the bikini shocked when it appeared on French beaches in 1947, its origins date back millennia. Depictions of bikini-like garments appear at the Chalcolithic site of Çatalhöyük, and two-piece bikini-like garments were worn by women for athletic purposes in Greece as far back as 1400 BC. Mosaic artwork dubbed "Bikini Girls" dating back to the Diocletian period (286-305 AD) in Rome, Sicily gained significant archeological renown, while statues of Venus in a bikini was found elsewhere in the Roman Empire. In the modern era, the first functional two-piece swimsuit was designed in 1913 by Carl Jantzen. Australian swimmer-performer Annette Kellerman was arrested in 1907 for wearing a two-piece. Later it was made popular by pin-up girls like swimmer-actress Esther Williams, and actresses Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth and Lana Turner.
The modern bikini was invented by French engineer Louis Réard in 1946. He named it after Bikini Island in the Pacific, the site of the Operation Crossroads nuclear test on July 1, 1946, believing that the burst of excitement it caused would be as explosive as a nuclear device. Since his contemporary Jacques Heim had called his bikini precursor the Atome in view of its size, Réard claimed to have "split the Atome " to make it even smaller. His innovation was largely based on exposing the navel, which was not available with earlier two-piece bathing costumes. Though a moderate hit in France, it was not well accepted in other parts of the world. The Miss World contest in UK, the Hays production code in the US, and the Catholic countries banned the costume. But, the advent of bikinis in popular media, including Ursula Andress in Dr. No. , Brian Hyland's song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini", and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, eventually gained social acceptance for the bikini. By the early 2000s, bikinis had become a US$811 million business annually, and boosted spin-off services like bikini waxing and the sun tanning industries. Further variants were added to the bikini family of beachwears and bathing costumes, contributing to the popular lexicon a variety of -kini s and -ini s.
Antiquity: earliest bikinis
See also: Clothing in ancient RomeIn the Chalcolithic era around 5600 BC, the mother-goddess of Çatalhöyük, a large ancient settlement in southern Anatolia, was depicted astride two leopards wearing a costume somewhat like a bikini. Two-piece garments worn by women for athletic purposes are depicted on Greek urns and paintings dating back to 1400 BC. Active women of ancient Greece wore a breastband called a mastodeton or an apodesmos , which continued to be used as an undergarment in the Middle Ages. While men in ancient Greece abandoned the perizoma , partly high-cut briefs and partly loincloth, women performers and acrobats continued to wear it.
Artwork dating back to the Diocletian period (286-305 AD) in Villa Romana del Casale, Sicily, excavated by Gino Vinicio Gentile in 1950-60, depicts women in garments resembling bikinis in mosaics on the floor. The images of ten women, dubbed the "Bikini Girls", exercising in clothing that would pass as bikinis today, are the most replicated mosaic among the 37 million colored tiles at the site. In the artwork "Coronation of the Winner" done in floor mosaic in the Chamber of the Ten Maidens ( Sala delle Dieci Ragazze in Italian) the bikini girls are depicted weight-lifting, discus throwing, and running. Some activities depicted have been described as dancing, as their bodies resemble dancers rather than athletes. Coronation in the title of the mosaic comes from a woman in a toga with a crown in her hand and one of the maidens holding a palm frond. Some academics maintain that the nearby image of Eros, the primordial god of lust, love, and intercourse, was added later, demonstrating the owner's predilections and strengthening the association of the bikini with the erotic. Similar mosaics have been discovered in Tellaro in northern Italy and Patti, another part of Sicily. Prostitution, skimpy clothes and athletic bodies were related in ancient Rome, as images were found of female sex workers exercising with dumbbells/clappers and other equipment wearing costumes similar to the Bikini Girls.
Charles Seltman, a fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge, curator of the Archaeology Museum there and an editor of The Cambridge Ancient History , illustrated a chapter titled "The new woman" in his book Women in Antiquity with a 1950s model wearing an identical bikini against the 4th-century mosaics from Piazza Armerina as part of a sisterhood between the bikini-clad female athletes of ancient Greco-Romans and modern woman. A photograph of the mosaic was used by Sarah Pomeroy, Professor of Classics at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, in the 1994 British edition of her book Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves to emphasize a similar identification. According to archeologist George M.A. Hanfmann the bikini girls made the learned observers realize "how modern the ancients were".
In ancient Rome, the bikini-style bottom, a wrapped loincloth of cloth or leather, was called a subligar or subligaculum ("little binding underneath"), while a band of cloth or leather to support the breasts was called strophium or mamillare . The exercising bikini girls from Piazza Armenia wear subligaria , scanty briefs made as a dainty version of a man's perizoma , and a strophium band about the breasts, often referred to in literature as just fascia , which can mean any kind of bandage. Observation of artifacts and experiments shows bands had to be wrapped several times around the breasts, largely to flatten them in a style popular with flappers in the 1920s. These Greco-Roman breastbands may have flattened big breasts and padded small breasts to look bigger. Evidence suggests regular use. The "bikini girls" from Piazza Armenia, some of whom sport the braless look of the late 20th century, do not depict any propensity of such popularity in style. One bottom, made of leather, from Roman Britain was displayed at the Museum of London in 1998. There has been no evidence that these bikinis were for swimming or sun-bathing.
Finds especially in Pompeii show the Roman goddess Venus wearing a bikini. A statue of Venus in a bikini was found in a cupboard in the southwest corner in Casa della Venere, others were found in the front hall. A statue of Venus was recovered from the tablinum of the house of Julia Felix, and another from an atrium in the garden at Via Dell'Abbondanza. Naples National Archaeological Museum, which opened its limited viewing gallery of more explicit exhibits in 2000, also exhibits a "Venus in Bikini". The museum's exhibits include female statues wearing see-through gold lamé brassiere, basque and knickers. The Kings of Naples discovered these Pompeii artifacts, including the one meter tall, almost unclothed statue of Venus painted in gold leaf with something like a modern bikini. They found them so shocking that for long periods the secret chamber was opened only to "mature persons of secure morals". Even after the doors were opened, only 20 visitors were to be admitted at a time, and children under 12 were not allowed into the new part of the museum without their parents' or a teacher's permission.
There are references to bikinis in ancient literature as well. Ovid, the writer ranked alongside Virgil and Horace as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature, suggests the breastband or long strip of cloth wrapped around the breasts and tucked in the ends, is a good place to hide love-letters. Martial, a Latin poet from Hispania who published between AD 86 and 103, satirized a female athlete he named Philaenis, who played ball in a bikini-like garb quite bluntly, making her drink, gorge and vomit in abundance and hinting at her lesbianism. In an epigram on Chione, Martial strangely mentions a sex worker who went to the bathhouse in a bikini, while it was more natural to go unclothed. Reportedly Theodora, the 6th century empress of the Byzantine Empire wore a bikini when she appeared as an actress before she captured the heart of emperor Justinian I.
19th century to 1930s: Bikini precursors
See also: Swimsuit and BeachwearThe modern bikini has had a checkered history. The first domestic swimsuit for "decency" appeared in 1830. Featuring red and white horizontal stripes from ankle to wrist, it was named the "prison suit". In 1907, Australian swimmer and performer Annette Kellerman was arrested on a Boston beach for wearing a form-fitting one-piece although it became accepted swimsuit attire for women by 1910. Pictures of her were produced as evidence in the Esquire magazine versus United States Postmaster General legal battle over indecency in 1943. In 1913, inspired by the introduction of females into Olympic swimming, t
Fitness Bikini Babes - Meet them 100% FREE
Fitness Bikini Babes - Meet them on line in a safe and friendly atmosphere. Totally FREE Personals, dating and singles website.
fitness models, bikini models, bikini babes, hot chicks
fitness models, bikini models, bikini babes, and hot fitness women for your viewing pleasure along with great muscle building info
Anabella Gordon Photos- Bikini Fitness Babe - Bikini ...
Please Click On Our Sponsors. FREE WEEKLY FITNESS TIPS NEWSLETTER Bodybuilding / Health / Fitness weekly e-mail tips, stay informed and stay motivated, join today!
Bikini models, bikini girls, bikini babes, sexy bikinis ...
All Pro Models – Bikini Model Babes and bikinis. We get that. College Humor - Bikini Pictures ... Also, check out our Fitness Models, cleavage, thong and g-string galleries, along with ...
Bikini Babes
Melissa Anne Marx is a 31 year old NPC Bikini Competitor from Scottsdale Arizona. ... Fitness Babes (75) Fitness Models (47) Fitness News (1) Gymnastics Babes (2)
brooke banx I fitness models I bikini babes
brooke banx gorgeous fitness model and bikini babe
Fitness Babes
Asian Fitness Models (6) Bikini Babes (9) Fit Babes (56) Fit Babes Videos (2) Fit Blondes (4) Fit Celebrities (2) Fit Cheerleaders (2) Fit Cougars (1)
Bikini contest, hot bikini contest videos, sexy bikini ...
Bikini contest, hot bikini contest videos, sexy bikini contest babes, wild bikini contest girls ... Bottom Line Fitness; Dashboard News; Gadget Teaser; Fearless Gamer; Opportunity Grows
fitness models I bikini babes I hot models I bikini ...
fitness models and pics of hot bikini babes ... Kari Hoyda graduated from The Ohio State University in August 2008 with a Bachelor of Science degree.
YouTube - Bikini Babes
Bikini Babes ... With Summer here already, it's time to enjoy some ... Fitness Babes #1