Just a tiny piece of clothing. That was all it required to trigger protests, bans and arrests in many countries.
In the long debate about what is modest and what is free, the bikini was vilified yet also managed to achieve success. Popes saw it as a sin. It was forbidden by the government.
Yet women kept choosing to wear it and each time they did, they changed the norms.
People working as tailors on the sand
In the early 20th century, swimsuits were nothing like the cool, fashionable versions we see today. Previously, these suits were heavy and covered your entire body with wool, created to keep you warm and shield you from the sun. This wasn’t intended to make a fashion statement; it was meant to be modest.
There were strict rules about what people could and could not wear at many U.S. beaches. In the book on 1920s pop culture by Kathleen Morgan Drowne and Patrick Huber, they tell us that swimsuits found to be too revealing at Chicago’s Clarendon Beach were given tailored adjustments on site.
Throughout the country, places such as Coney Island began to ban things like wearing bathing socks that revealed “dimpled knees” in 1915. Tape measures were often used by beach police in Washington, DC during their code enforcement.
Is a dress what got you in trouble?
In the early 1900s, covering up was the main trend. Women and men alike were told to dress in suits covering their entire body — no one was permitted to break the rule. If any skin was out in the wind? That caused quite an uproar.
But change was just around the corner. In 1907, swimmer Annette Kellerman performed the famous backstroke in a suit that bowed off society’s traditional main rules.
For her outstanding swimming, Kellerman often went by the nickname “the Australian Mermaid,” and she frequently challenged popular thinking.
Kellerman has said herself that she was arrested for her “indecent” appearance, yet there is no official record of the incident. Even so, the act of a woman swimming in this style provoked controversy. Many people learned about the incident and joined the movement.
Her bold swimwear decision attracted many people and before long, everyone wanted to wear one-piece suits.
Because of her newfound fame, she decided to start her own line and the ”Annette Kellermans” would eventually become key in evolving the way women’s swimwear looked.
The roaring ‘20s brought about a fresh trend in fashion.
The flapper style, first seen in evening clothes, became popular at the beach during the 1920s.
It began when California surfers started to rebel against the rules of surfing. Often dubbed the ”skirts be hanged girls,” their main aim was to make swimwear that women could also swim in.
Therefore, people wanted swimwear that was both practical and close-fitting which led to the change. The phrase ”skirts be hanged girls” stood for a larger shift across the country, related to both dress and the freedom to move easily.
Even though it was only a modest look by today’s standards, women were beginning to reveal more skin, wearing swimsuits designed to allow free movement. However, the real change was still yet to happen.
The bikini was a shocking development.
In 1946, the bikini was first introduced. Louis Réard, a French engineer, invented this two-piece swimsuit in 1946 and it showed more skin than society felt proper for a woman to wear in public.
Less than a week before the bikini was first shown in Paris in 1946, the U.S. tested its first peacetime nuclear bomb at Bikini Atoll which attracted attention worldwide.
Many people believe that Louis Réard gave the swimsuit the name “bikini” to show just how explosive he expected it to be, much like the famous bomb. It is also thought that the name came from the excitement of the Pacific or from comparing revealing swimwear to the strong impact of an atomic blast.
Many beaches in the U.S. immediately forbade the bikini and wearing it was considered crime. Life wasn’t simpler for Europeans, either. Beginning in 1949, bikinis were not allowed on French beaches and in Germany, people were not allowed to wear them in public pools until the 1970s. At the same moment, some communist groups criticized the bikini as an act of capitalist immorality and greed.
Pope Pius XII called the bikini immoral which led Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain to get rid of the swimsuit at a national level.
In 1952 at Surfers Paradise, Australian model Ann Ferguson was told by authorities to leave the beach because her Paula Stafford bikini was thought to be excessively revealing.
How the famous photo came to be
This one picture stood for the entire argument about the rightness or wrongness of wearing bikinis on beaches. It originally comes from Italy.
The photo, now very well known online, features a man dressed in white standing near a young woman wearing a bikini. Many people who share this image say it was taken in Rimini, Italy, during 1957. The most famous story says that the policeman gives the woman a ticket simply because she is in a bikini.
In addition, a Reddit post that included the image received more than 31,000 likes and over 1,400 comments this year. Its title reads: “A woman is stopped by a police officer for having her bikini on, 1957.”
However, was it actually true?
The photo is real, but no one knows for sure what really happened in it. There’s no evidence that the ticket was given because of her swimwear. There are those who think the scene could have been staged with models or actors and there are also people who believe the officer could’ve pulled her over for another reason.
Still, the image made people think deeply.
Emphasizing that the picture was taken during a time when Italy had swimwear rules, the director of the State Archives of Rimini reached out to Snopes to confirm the law.
Braschi points out that the 1932 law made public nude bathing and wearing provocative swimwear illegal. The law was technically still in force until 2000, but agencies did not enforce it with great consistency.
While it’s impossible to know the entire reason for that viral picture, it stands for the serious troubles that surrounded bikinis back then, as they could also get you into legal problems.
The significance of Hollywood
In the 1960s, people began to wear bikinis more often. As communities began to change, more designers introduced daring styles for women’s swimsuits.
Nevertheless, people did not all agree about the war. Some more traditional areas opposed the fashion of wearing a bikini.
As an example, from 1934 onward, the United States Motion Picture Production Code or Hays Code, was followed by filmmakers. Although it permitted two-piece clothes in films, any display of the navel was completely prohibited. In addition, a Roman Catholic group called the National Legion of Decency urged both American and international filmmakers to not feature bikinis on the big screen.
Marilyn Monroe, Ursula Andress and Brigitte Bardot made the world look differently at beauty and confidence after they rose to fame in Hollywood. They didn’t simply wear swimsuits — they made them a part of their identity.
The Swimsuit Girl
No one promoted the bikini as much as French actress Brigitte Bardot did, leading to its rise to fame across the world.
What really stood out was how confidently she wore her bikini. When she played the lead in The Girl in the Bikini, Bardot made the swimsuit a symbol representing a new kind of woman. The viewers of the film were captivated by her legs which came out from under a flawed-looking diamond bikini top.
With her tousled hair and easy manner, Bardot was turning the film industry’s ideas about women upside down.
The film clearly wanted to show her close to nature and the elements, but honestly, it was her body they were most attracted to. Filmmakers styled Bardot to appear classic, but she was much more than a pretty face, making her the first to give a bikini a prominent role as a main character.
While another woman had already sported one, Bardot made the bikini symbolic in a story and that film’s U.S. debut led to her instant fame across the globe.
Ursula Andress wore a white bikini in Dr. The film No became an icon as soon as it was released for its unusual mix of sensuality, power and strong visuals.
After rising from the sea, Andress wowed the audience by being both strong, certain in herself and completely memorable. Because of that scene, she became known as the ultimate Bond girl and a bikini became a sign of confident femininity.
The bikini became a widespread sight by the 1970s. It wasn’t long before bikinis became smaller and more revealing, with thongs being the latest thing on the market. As the years passed and modesty became less popular, men’s swim trunks became shorter too.
Today’s swimwear: Focusing on body positivity and diversity
Swimwear today is not only about what society tells us is acceptable. There are now so many different designs in the swimwear market.
Whether you like a one-piece match or daring bikinis and thongs, you’ll find a style to suit your taste. In addition, the way people talk about body types has changed a lot. Currently, the idea is to be comfortable, self-assured and positive about bodies, as everyone at the beach or pool can show up in whatever style they like.
It’s no longer necessary to restrict swimwear choices based on some idea of decency. Now, it’s more about individuals making their own style choices. A person might choose almost any kind of swimwear today and the country’s acceptance and welcoming nature reflect this change.
Fashion which began as a push for respectful clothing, now embraces diversity, different identities and freedom. Whenever you’re at the beach, keep in mind: it’s not only about what you wear, but also about discovering your own style.
