History of the Bikini
In 2011, the score is woolen layers 0, lycra triangles 11. Here are the key happenings in the last 250 years that took us from the picture on the left below (1864) to the picture on the right (2011).
VS. 
Late 1700's: Although sea bathing was fashionable in the 18th century, a suntan inferred that one was a manual laborer or a farmer. This was a negative in the eyes of the elitist landowners, who were among the few who had the time or means to go the beach at all. Women stayed covered up.
1800's: With expansion and advancement in transportation, the public beaches became more accessible and seaside recreation took off. Seaside walking dresses are designed and sold. They look like frilly full length coats with full length bloomers underneath. Long sleeves. Bonnets. A parasol. Gloves. Scarf. Perfect for the beach in Antarctica in the rain.
1865-1910: Women's commercial bathing suits in Europe and the Americas started to shrink, covering the neck to the knee rather than the entire body. Think knee-length bloomers and blouson tops. Kind of like the pajama's your mom gives you on holidays.
1910: Japan began to administer the Marshall Islands and the strategic outpost, Bikini Atoll.
1910-1920: Women's swimwear designers started to reduce the amount of fabric even further as female athletes emerged. By the early 1920's, women's swimsuits were a long top covering shorts, all made of heavy jersey. Stockings were still worn.
1920's: In France, the suntan began to signify expendable income and leisure time instead of a life of manual labor. Coco Chanel accidentally got sunburnt while visiting the French Riviera. Parisians also fell in love with Josephine Baker at this time. Tanned skin became a trend partly because of the status of these two women and the longing for their talents, personality and lifestyles. This trend caught on in the United States, spurred by the accumulation of wealth during the Second Industrial Revolution of the leisure class, and the significant improvement of living standards and the emergence of the middle class (shorter work week, higher wages).
1944: The United States military captured Kwajalein Atoll, crushing the Japanese hold on the Marshall Islands including Bikini Atoll.
December 1945: President Harry S. Truman issued a directive to US Army and Navy officials that joint testing of nuclear weapons would be necessary "to determine the effect of atomic bombs on American warships." The Bikini Atoll, because of its location away from regular air and sea routes, was chosen to be the new nuclear proving ground for the United States government.
July 1946: Bombs away.
1947: Jacques Heim introduces what he calls the world’s “smallest bathing suit. Car engineer Louis Réard, covering a shift at his mother's lingerie shop, immediately trumps Heim with something smaller by exposing the belly button and removing several inches of fabric in the rear, the first modern-day Brazil-style bikini. Réard names his creation after nuclear test site Bikini Atoll — declaring the design would create a shock heard round the world. Stripper Micheline Bernadini models the outfit at Réard's official launch at Piscine Molitor, a public pool in Paris. Tens of thousands of thank you letters are sent to Réard.
1947-1965: Tan lines become a summertime fashion accessory and symbol of health, as women and men begin to conspicuously show them off apres sun. In 1953 Brigitte Bardot arrives at the Cannes Film Festival in a bikini. Can't blame a girl for efficiency - makes sense to me to run down to the beach along Cote d'Azur immediately after being trapped in a theater for 2 hours. Ms. Bardot continues to popularize the bikini in her films throughout the 1950's. The Gidget films come out in 1959 and Annette Funicello films in the early 1960's, all about beaches, bikinis and surfing, And kissing.
1964: The first Sport's Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is published.
1965: "The Girl from Ipanema" wins Record of the Year at the 7th Grammy Awards
1966: Raquel Welch inspires the intersection of fur and bikinis in One Million Years BC - perfect for ski bunnies and apres ski partytime.
1970's: In bikini matters, this decade is most important for it's experimentation with style details. By the early 1970s, bikini waistlines were well below the bellybutton and not always covering the rear. This collided with a trend toward a slower-rising legline. The emerging point of contact - the side of the bikini brief - provided the focus for a flurry of design creativity. The resulting silhouettes include culotte sidegather, culotte sidering, culotte sidestrap, and culotte sidetie. This silhouette, which matured during the late 1970s, is commonly called the string bikini, and is one of the most definitive of all bikini silhouettes.
The 1970s was also crucial because Brazil staked a major claim on the future of the bikini. It is claimed that Brazilian fashion model Rose di Primo created the first string bikini when she had to sew one for a photoshoot (she had no money to purchase one and her mother insisted she make it herself). The first formal presentation of string bikini was done by Glen Tororich, a public relations agent, and his wife Brandi Perret-DuJon, a fashion model, for the opening of Le Petite Centre, a shopping area in the French Quarter of the New Orleans, Louisiana in 1974. Inspired by a picture of Ms. de Primo in an issue of Women's Wear Daily, they had a local fashion designer create a string bikini for the event. Models presented it by removing fur coats on stage.
1983: Princess Leia is enslaved by Jabba the Hutt and made to wear a gold bikini while awaiting Han Solo's rescue mission in Return of the Jedi. Geeks flock to the beach, and the term "hot nerd" is coined.
Late 1980's: The leg cut of the bikini creeps higher exposing more rear. The tanga ("loincloth" and "bikini" in portuguese) starts being used internationally as a style reference to describe a specific bikini cut.
VS. Late 1700's: Although sea bathing was fashionable in the 18th century, a suntan inferred that one was a manual laborer or a farmer. This was a negative in the eyes of the elitist landowners, who were among the few who had the time or means to go the beach at all. Women stayed covered up.
1800's: With expansion and advancement in transportation, the public beaches became more accessible and seaside recreation took off. Seaside walking dresses are designed and sold. They look like frilly full length coats with full length bloomers underneath. Long sleeves. Bonnets. A parasol. Gloves. Scarf. Perfect for the beach in Antarctica in the rain.
1865-1910: Women's commercial bathing suits in Europe and the Americas started to shrink, covering the neck to the knee rather than the entire body. Think knee-length bloomers and blouson tops. Kind of like the pajama's your mom gives you on holidays.
1910: Japan began to administer the Marshall Islands and the strategic outpost, Bikini Atoll.
1910-1920: Women's swimwear designers started to reduce the amount of fabric even further as female athletes emerged. By the early 1920's, women's swimsuits were a long top covering shorts, all made of heavy jersey. Stockings were still worn.
1944: The United States military captured Kwajalein Atoll, crushing the Japanese hold on the Marshall Islands including Bikini Atoll.
December 1945: President Harry S. Truman issued a directive to US Army and Navy officials that joint testing of nuclear weapons would be necessary "to determine the effect of atomic bombs on American warships." The Bikini Atoll, because of its location away from regular air and sea routes, was chosen to be the new nuclear proving ground for the United States government.
July 1946: Bombs away.
1964: The first Sport's Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is published.
1965: "The Girl from Ipanema" wins Record of the Year at the 7th Grammy Awards
1966: Raquel Welch inspires the intersection of fur and bikinis in One Million Years BC - perfect for ski bunnies and apres ski partytime.
1970's: In bikini matters, this decade is most important for it's experimentation with style details. By the early 1970s, bikini waistlines were well below the bellybutton and not always covering the rear. This collided with a trend toward a slower-rising legline. The emerging point of contact - the side of the bikini brief - provided the focus for a flurry of design creativity. The resulting silhouettes include culotte sidegather, culotte sidering, culotte sidestrap, and culotte sidetie. This silhouette, which matured during the late 1970s, is commonly called the string bikini, and is one of the most definitive of all bikini silhouettes.
1983: Princess Leia is enslaved by Jabba the Hutt and made to wear a gold bikini while awaiting Han Solo's rescue mission in Return of the Jedi. Geeks flock to the beach, and the term "hot nerd" is coined.
Late 1980's: The leg cut of the bikini creeps higher exposing more rear. The tanga ("loincloth" and "bikini" in portuguese) starts being used internationally as a style reference to describe a specific bikini cut.