The bikini has spawned many stylistic variations. A regular bikini is a two-piece swimsuit that together covers a female's crotch, buttocks, and breasts. Some bikini designs cover larger portions of the wearer's body while other designs provide minimal coverage. Topless variants are still sometimes considered bikinis, although they are technically not a two-piece swimsuit.
Video Bikini variants
Terminology
While the name bikini was applied to the skimpy fashion that first revealed the wearer's navel, the fashion industry considers any two-piece swimsuit a bikini. Modern bikini fashions today are characterized by a simple, brief design: two triangles of fabric that form a bra and cover the woman's breasts and two triangles of fabric on the bottom forming a panty cut below the navel that cover the groin in front and the buttocks in back. The amount of coverage can vary widely, from a string bikini with very little coverage to a full design with maximum coverage. A topless swimsuit may still be considered a bikini, although naturally it is no longer a two-piece swimsuit.
These derivations of the word bikini were created through inappropriate analogy with words like bilingual, bifocal and bilateral, which contain the Latin prefix "bi-" (meaning "two" in Latin), the word bikini was first back-derived as consisting of two parts, [bi + kini] by Rudi Gernreich when he designed the monokini in 1964. Later swimsuit designs like the tankini and trikini were also named based on the erroneous assumption that the "bi-" in bikini denotes a two-piece swimsuit. These new coinages falsely presumed that the back-formation [bi + kini] was purposeful.
The "-kini family" (as dubbed by author William Safire), including the "-ini sisters" (as dubbed by designer Anne Cole) has grown to include a large number of subsequent variations, often with a hilarious lexicon. Major stylistic variations and an array of spinoff styles include string bikini, monokini or numokini (single, top part missing), tankini (tank top, bikini bottom), camikini (camisole top and bikini bottom), hikini or hipkini, thong, slingshot or sling bikini (actually a one-piece swimsuit), minimini, teardrop, seekini (transparent bikini), microkini and granny bikini (bikini top and boy shorts bottom). In just one major fashion show in 1985, there were two-piece suits with cropped tank tops instead of the usual skimpy bandeaux, suits that are bikinis in front and one-piece behind, suspender straps, ruffles, and daring, navel-baring cutouts.
Maps Bikini variants
Variants
Styles
In one major fashion show in 1985 were two-piece suits with cropped tank tops instead of the usual skimpy bandeaux, suits that are bikinis in front and one-piece in back, suspender straps, ruffles, and daring, navel-baring cutouts. Subsequent variations on the theme include the monokini, tankini, string bikini, thong, slingshot, minimini, teardrop, and micro.
To meet fast changing tastes, some of the manufacturers have made a business out of making made-to-order bikinis in around seven minutes. Popular Brazilian beach markets have been identified as the source for the most diverse range of bikini merchandises.
Bikini tops
Bikini tops come in several different styles and cuts, including a halter-style neck that offers more coverage and support, a strapless bandeau, a rectangular strip of fabric covering the breasts that minimizes large breasts, a top with cups similar to a push-up bra, and the more traditional triangle cups that lift and shape the breasts.
There are four fundamental types of bare-midriff bikini tops: the brassière, halter, bandeau, and vest. These styles are differentiated by the number of shoulder straps and the resultant number of edges to the garment. Some of these tops include a halter-style neck strap that offers more coverage and support, a strapless bandeau, a rectangular strip of fabric covering the breasts that minimizes large breasts, a top with cups similar to a push-up bra, and the more traditional triangle cups that lift and shape the breasts.
Bikini bottoms
Bikini Science identifies 30 different types of bikini bottoms that vary in style, cut and the amount of rear coverage they offer. The coverage ranges from full, as in the case of more modest bottom pieces like briefs, shorts, or briefs with a small skirt-panel attached, to full butt exposure, as in the case of the thong bikini. Skimpier styles have narrow sides, including V-cut (in front), French cut (with high-cut sides) and low-cut string (with string sides).
Material
Bikinis have been made out of just about every material known. The fabrics and other materials used to make bikinis are an essential element of their style and crucial modifiers of swimsuit design. The use of cotton made the swimsuit more practical, and the increased reliance on stretch fabric after 1960 simplified construction; alternative swimwear fabrics such as velvet, leather, and crocheted squares surfaced in the early 1970s. Crochet, lace, PVC, raffia, fur, latex, velvet and other uncommon items are also used as bikini material.
Fashion adviser Malia Mills has two basic criteria to check the material--it doesn't wrinkle into a bundle at the back, and nothing "falls out" when picking a towel or raising the arms. For the female bodybuilder the material regulations are more stringent, as "the two pieces of the bikini are fastened together with two strings, and the fasteners as all as the bikini must not consist of metallic material or padding."
Cotton
Modern bikinis were first made of cotton and jersey. Today bikinis are made with mostly made with treated fabric, having been stretched over a plastic mold, then baked in order to set its shape and create bikini brassieres. They are usually lined with fabric which is designed to stop them becoming transparent when wet. The use of cotton made the swimsuit more practical, and the increased reliance on stretch fabric after 1960 simplified construction; alternative swimwear fabrics such as velvet, leather, and crocheted squares surfaced in the early 1970s.
Nylon
The stretch nylon bikini briefs and bras which complemented the adolescent boutique fashions of the 1960s also allowed those to be minimal. Women on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro and Saint-Tropez went even further, forgoing all rear-view coverage to show off their thongs.
Lycra
When DuPont introduced Lycra (DuPont's name for spandex) in the 1960s, a stretch fiber that allowed them to stitch tinier pieces of fabric, it completely changed how suits were designed and who could wear them. Spandex expanded the range of novelty fabrics available to designers which meant suits could be made to fit like a second skin without heavy linings streamlined athletic styles, emphasizing high-tech fabrics and finishes. "The advent of Lycra allowed more women to wear a bikini," wrote Kelly Killoren Bensimon, a former model and author of The Bikini Book, "It didn't sag, it didn't bag, and it concealed and revealed. It wasn't so much like lingerie anymore." It allowed designers to create the string bikini, and allowed Rudi Gernreich to create the topless monokini.
Retailer Marks & Spencer reintroduced the material used as an alternative to nylon in swimsuits in the 1960s. While Lycra is used in most swimsuits designs because of its high elasticity, lower expense, and water wicking nature, its major drawback is that it breaks down in chlorine, commonly found in swimming pools. When worn daily, a swimsuit made of Lycra will break down in about 2-3 months. Speedo introduced Fastskin in 2007 as the lightest and fastest material for competitive swimwear. Unlike lycra, it does not break down in chlorine.
Uncommon material
Bikinis have been made out of just about every material known. UK actress Diana Dors wore a Mink bikini designed by Julie Harris at the Cannes Film Festival to become an instant sensation. In 1967, a paper-made bikini was introduced in France, which disintegrated when in water. Italian sportswear designer Emilio Pucci produced bikinis in soft silk jersey in his signature style. Norma Kamali's innovative designs utilized gold Lurex for a shiny sexy swimsuit.
Rio de Janeiro Designer Triya created a rigid metal bandeau top that looked a cast of the model's chest. Designer Laura Jane created bikinis made of neoprene, the rubber material used to make wetsuits, in 1989. Fernando Garcia, a bikini designer in South Beach, Miami, turns various exotic material into bikinis including blacklight paint, python skin, Mongolian lamb fringe and black fox material.
PETA used "Lettuce Bikinis" to propagate vegetarianism. Apart from storming streets with women wearing bikinis made of faux-lettuce, the activist organization had a number of celebrities to be their "Lettuce Ladies" including Pamela Anderson, Elizabeth Berkley, Jayde Nicole, Alicia Mayer, Courtney Stodden and others. Pop star Lady Gaga wore a "meat bikini" (not to be confused with the meat dress), for the cover of Vogue, which was highly criticized by PETA.
Eco-friendly material
By the 2010s, a number of manufacturers came up with environmental friendly bikinis that used organic cotton, organic bamboo fibers, fabric remnants, post consumer plastic including soda bottles, discarded fishnet, recycled nylon, even soy (all of which used eco-friendly dyes). Inventor Claudia Escobar made bikinis out of tanned and dyed salmon skin in 2003 which earned a Green Seal of approval for sustainable products.
Precious metal and jewels
A platinum bikini valued at US $9500 was made by Mappin and Webb of London in the 1977, and was worn by Miss United Kingdom in that year's Miss World beauty pageant. It was entered as a Guinness World Record for the most expensive bikini. A more expensive but exclusive bikini was designed in February 2006 by Susan Rosen. The bikini, made up of over 150 carats (30 g) of flawless diamonds, was worth a massive £20 million. Pistol Panties, a label favored by celebrities like Victoria Beckham and Kate Moss, introduced a UK£2,000 bling-kini in 2009. Unsuitable for swimming, it was covered with 5,000 Swarovski crystals.
Pattern
The bikini precursors as well as the first modern bikinis were made of cotton and jersey and were mostly striped or monochrome. Réard introduced the first printed material for bikini. By the 1970s, when American women were catching up with the more daring Europeans attitudes, bikini variants started to diversify widely. Flower patterns became popular in the late 1960s. Designers like Tom Brigance at Lord & Taylor department store cut his swimwear from colorful cottons in stripes, large prints, and polka dots to give early bikinis a more tailored look.
In April 2004, responding to protests by followers of Buddhism, Victoria's Secret withdrew a bikini design that featured images of Buddha. Buddhists were again upset in 2005, when organizers of Miss Universe photographed bikini-clad contestants in front of Buddhist religious sites in Thailand.
See also
- Bikini waxing
- Burqini
- Facekini
- History of the bikini
References
External links
- Evolution on the swimwear on Fashion Era
- Bikini Science: A comprehensive site on the bikini
- Bikini exhibition
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments