EXPLOSIVE LITTLE NUMBER
SWIMWEAR ON THE WAVES OF TIME
Perhaps it was their highly developed bathing culture, or maybe their proverbial love of life in line with Horace's motto "Carpe diem!" - "Seize the day". For obviously the bikini as the most revolutionary form of swimwear is no achievement of the 20th century, rather, it is far more a fashion trend that was customary even in Ancient Rome.
In 2006, the world officially celebrated its 60th birthday. We are talking about the bikini, which definitively liberated the swimwear of the modern age from the bonds of prudery. Two French fashion designers are credited with its invention: Louis Réard, a former engineer who had the "world's smallest bathing suit" at the time patented in Paris, and his rival Jacques Heim, whose suit with the telling name "Atom" could be bought in his shop in Cannes. Significantly, both brought their two-piece suit onto the market in the summer of 1946, i.e., shortly after the legendary US atom bomb test on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, which heightened the explosive effect of the skimpy bathing suit into a public spectacle - in the end the name was on everyone's lips. After the shock came success, and the bikini took the Western world by storm.
The delight and frustration of bathing
While in ancient times people wore a toga in water for moral reasons, in the Middle Ages they went so far as to bath naked or wearing a loincloth at best tied at the sides. In Ancient Rome too, a positive delight in bathing in lively company developed at the same time as many other sensual pleasures. Roman women even wore a type of bikini in this period, as shown by well-preserved mosaics in Sicily. It consisted of the "fascia pectoralis", the so-called boob tube and "subligaculum", short triangular pants. However, with the fall of the Roman Empire, this liberal attitude changed over the course of the centuries into a distinct tabooisation of nakedness. And in the age of the Renaissance at the latest, uncovered bathing in public was a definite no no. In the 18th and 19th centuries too, modest swimming costumes for both men and women were a very inexpedient matter. This is shown by the calf-length pantaloons, bathing skirts with sewn-in weights and of course high-necked dresses, which were worn together with the so-called bathing stockings and shoes as well as hats worn over bonnets.
…because they are there for swimming in
Then, in the 20th century, bathing outfits were finally given a contemporary purpose, namely, swimming. The trail was blazed by Australian competitive swimmer Annette Kellermann, who rebuffed all criticism aimed at her fitted one-piece costumes - which were like shorts at the bottom mind you - with the words, "I want to swim, and I can't do that with a washing line full of material on my body".
However, her risqué outfits were not permitted outside the swimming pool and she was arrested in 1907 on a Boston beach for indecency.
The sleeveless, knee-length one-piece cotton garment, in a nice sailor-striped pattern, that we are familiar with only really caught on properly after the Second World War. However, from then on, despite the efforts of all apostles of morality, fashion designers more or less had a free reign as far as the design of modern swimwear was concerned. They found support from the medical profession, of all people. In the 1930s, doctors positively advised people to wear little clothing in the sun, which, as the "medicine bottle of the universe", was to ensure the economic success of later sun protection creams. And thus the way was paved for fashionable one-piece costumes and the bikini's film debut.
"A lovely bit of nothing …
…that you almost have on there." Legendary words for a legendary moment. When, in 1962, Ursula Andress alias Bond girl Honey Ryder emerged from the Caribbean Sea in an ivory two piece with a knife in her belt, it was not only actor Sean Connery with his license to kill who was gob-smacked, but an entire global cinema audience. For at the time, the sassy bikini, similar versions of which are again available today in a trendy retro style, caused many a dry throat and glassy expression. However, it was not only men who took up the cudgels for the two-piece wonder. Rather, with this bathing suit, the armed Bond icon established herself as a symbol of the athletic, self-confident woman, which became a role model for an entire generation.
New fabrics perfectly phased in
The only thing that was missing for the definitive breakthrough into the lavish swimwear fashion mix of the 21st century was the right material. "Polyamide 6.6." and "Fibre 66" are the terms for the trailblazing textile fibres with which the American firm Du Pont laid the foundation in 1938 for light, soft and especially quick-drying materials. They were followed by textured nylon called "Helanca", Lycra and polyamide/elastane blend fabric and finally the feather-light microfibre, which revolutionised professional swimming trunks and costumes in particular.
Now the rule of thumb is, if people like it, it is allowed. And so now we are left with the torturous choice between countless styles from the treasure chests of the fashion world. For with the first warm rays at the latest, we feel the overwhelming desire for the scanty pieces of material with their sheer unbelievable variety of colours, shapes, styles and material blends which sweeten the holiday season very nicely.
