Bikini introduced - Jul 05, 1946 - HISTORY.com Bikini introduced Publisher A+E Networks On July 5, 1946, French designer Louis Reard unveils a daring two-piece swimsuit at the Piscine Molitor, a popular swimming pool in Paris. Parisian showgirl Micheline Bernardini modeled the new fashion, which Reard dubbed “bikini,” inspired by a news-making U.S. atomic test that took place off the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean earlier that week. European women first began wearing two-piece bathing suits that consisted of a halter top and shorts in the 1930s, but only a sliver of the midriff was revealed and the navel was vigilantly covered. In the United States, the modest two-piece made its appearance during World War II, when wartime rationing of fabric saw the removal of the skirt panel and other superfluous material. Meanwhile, in Europe, fortified coastlines and Allied invasions curtailed beach life during the war, and swimsuit development, like everything else non-military, came to a standstill.

In 1946, Western Europeans joyously greeted the first war-free summer in years, and French designers came up with fashions to match the liberated mood of the people. Two French designers, Jacques Heim and Louis Reard, developed competing prototypes of the bikini. Heim called his the “atom” and advertised it as “the world’s smallest bathing suit.” Reard’s swimsuit, which was basically a bra top and two inverted triangles of cloth connected by string, was in fact significantly smaller. Made out of a scant 30 inches of fabric, Reard promoted his creation as “smaller than the world’s smallest bathing suit.” Reard called his creation the bikini, named after the Bikini Atoll. In planning the debut of his new swimsuit, Reard had trouble finding a professional model who would deign to wear the scandalously skimpy two-piece. So he turned to Micheline Bernardini, an exotic dancer at the Casino de Paris, who had no qualms about appearing nearly nude in public. As an allusion to the headlines that he knew his swimsuit would generate, he printed newspaper type across the suit that Bernardini modeled on July 5 at the Piscine Molitor.

The bikini was a hit, especially among men, and Bernardini received some 50,000 fan letters. Before long, bold young women in bikinis were causing a sensation along the Mediterranean coast. Spain and Italy passed measures prohibiting bikinis on public beaches but later capitulated to the changing times when the swimsuit grew into a mainstay of European beaches in the 1950s. Reard’s business soared, and in advertisements he kept the bikini mystique alive by declaring that a two-piece suit wasn’t a genuine bikini “unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring.” In prudish America, the bikini was successfully resisted until the early 1960s, when a new emphasis on youthful liberation brought the swimsuit en masse to U.S. beaches. It was immortalized by the pop singer Brian Hyland, who sang “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini” in 1960, by the teenage “beach blanket” movies of Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, and by the California surfing culture celebrated by rock groups like the Beach Boys. Since then, the popularity of the bikini has only continued to grow.

More on This Topic 40 Interesting and Fun Facts and Trivia About Fashion | Scratch Hard: Uncover what you're shopping for. 1. The word ‘jeans’ comes from the cotton pants worn by “Genes,” the local term for Genoan sailors. 2. The average American owns 7 pairs of blue jeans. 3. Initially, both men and women wore togas in Rome, but after the 2nd century BC, respectable women wore stolas and prostitutes were required to wear a toga. 4. The Ancient Greeks exercised naked. In fact, this is where our word “gymnasium” comes from; γυμνός (gymnos) means naked in Ancient and Modern Greek. 5. The four major fashion capitals of the world are New York, London, Milan, and Paris. Each city holds fashion shows twice, in February and September. 6. It was not acceptable for women to wear shorts in public until World War 2. 7. The first fashion magazine was published in Germany in 1586. 8. American households spend about 3.8% of their income on clothing, which equates to about $1,700 per person.

By comparison, Americans spent 11% of their income on clothes in 1950. 9. The price of clothing has decreased by 8.5% since 1992, even when adjusted for inflation. 10. Over a lifetime, an American woman will spend $125,000 on clothes. 3,000 items—271 pairs of shoes, 185 dresses, and 145 bags. Image: Martin LaBar, flickr 11. The five most common clothing materials are linen, cotton, polyester, and rayon. 12. Cotton is the most widely used clothing material, but it only became common in mid-1800s, when Eli Whitney’s cotton gin made it easy to separate the cotton fibers from the seeds. 13. Evidence for the first clothes dates somewhere between 100,000 to 500,000 years ago. 14. Simple needles made out of animal bone first appeared about 30,000 years ago. 15. The bikini was named after the island Bikini Atoll, where the US military was testing its bombs in World War 2.

It was so named because its creator, Louis Réard, belived the revealing suit would create a shock like that of the atomic bomb. 16. Women’s nominal clothing sizes have increased in physical size over the years in a phenomenon known as “vanity sizing.” A size 8 dress with a 32-inch bust in 1967 is now considered a size 0 today. 17. 10-25% of Western women don’t wear a bra, and 75-85% of women who do wear an incorrect size. 18. Men’s shirts button on the right, and women’s on the left. Portrait of the children of Philip III of Spain by Bartolomé González y Serrano, 1612 19. Both the pencil skirt and the A-line skirt were designed by Frenchman Christian Dior, who is singlehandedly credited with inspiring 1950s fashion. 20. Children dressed identically to adults until the mid-1800s, when the concept of children’s clothing took off. 21.

What Americans consider “tuxedos” are called “dinner jackets” in Great Britain, as the word tuxedo itself refers to the white version of the suit jacket in British English. 22. Dresses and skirts are commonly seen as women’s clothing in the West, but in other parts of the world, men wear them as frequently as women do. 23. More than 2 billion t-shirts are sold each year. 24. A person’s social rank and profession in the Medieval Ages was represented by the color of their clothing. The nobility wore red, peasants wore brown and gray, and merchants, bankers, and gentry wore green. 25. In Rome, purple clothing was exclusively reserved for emperors and magistrates. Oldest leather shoe, National Geographic 26. The earliest known shoes are sandals that date back to approximately 7,000 B.C. However, bone analysis of early humans suggest humans began wearing shoes as early as 40,000 years ago. 27. In Arab culture, shoes are considered dirty because they touch the ground and cover the lowest part of the body, the foot.

It is considered offensive to show one’s shoe sole, and throwing your shoe at someone is an extremely grave insult. 28. The difference between two nominal clothing sizes is approximately ten to fifteen pounds. 29. Standard women’s clothes are designed to fit women between 5’4 and 5’8 tall. 30. One silk cocoon produces an average of 600 to 900 meters of silk filaments, but it takes four to eight pieces to make one strand of silk thread. In all, it takes about 30,000 silkworms to produce 12 pounds of raw silk. 31. Eyeliner became popular after its discovery in King Tutankhamun’s tomb in the 1920s. 32. It was once taboo to wear black unless one was in mourning. Victorian widows were expected to wear black mourning clothes for two years after their husbands’ deaths. Chinese lotus shoes 33. Until around the beginning of the 20th century, Chinese culture regarded small feet as beautiful, and it was a common practice to bind women’s feet from an early age to keep their feet small.

This practice was limited to the wealthy, however, as the feet of women who underwent this procedure were so deformed that they had difficulty walking. 34. The fashion industry generates an average revenue of $20 billion each year. 35. A Sneakerhead is someone who collects shoes. 36. Nowadays, kimonos are worn only in very formal occasions in Japan except by sumo wrestlers, who are required to wear traditional Japanese clothes when in public. 37. For all the hoopla made about Fashion Week, the average fashion show is only about 10 minutes long. 38. Vintage clothing refers to clothing made between 20 and 100 years ago, and retro refers to recently made clothing that is designed to resemble the style of another period. 39. It became more socially acceptable for women to wear shorts during World War 2, which introduced fabric rationing and forced women to take on more masculine jobs. 40. The skirt is the second oldest piece of clothing, outdated only by the loincloth. Posted on P When we think of the monokini today, we picture those fiddly one-piece swimsuits that give you awkward tan lines, popularised by the Kardashian and Hilton sisters.

But the first monokini was in fact originally a topless swimsuit that exposed the female breasts, conceived in 1964 by avant-garde designer Rudi Gernreich, who predicted (rather accurately) that “bosom will be uncovered within five years.” While the design initially had a harder time catching on in the United States (the first American model to pose in the swimsuit, Peggy Moffitt, received death threats), the monokini appears to have found itself more at home unsurprisingly in Paris, at the legendary Piscine Molitor, where the first bikini was revealed to the world nearly twenty years earlier in 1946… In this press shoot I found in the LIFE archives , photographer Paul Schutzer captures model Daphne Dayle showing off the topless design for a pack of hungry male journalists. The suit’s creator, Rudi Gernreich, was an Austrian-born American fashion designer and early gay activist who had learned about female fashion in his aunt’s dress shop in Vienna. Rudi and his mother fled Austria after its annexation to Nazi Germany, where Hitler had banned nudity, among many other acts. Austrian citizens were advocates of exercising nude, a rejection of the over-civilized world.

Gernreich was very much against sexualization of the human body and the notion that the body was essentially shameful, which was reflected prominently in his designs… Widely censored in the media and renounced from all corners including Vatican officials and the U.S Republicans, who tried to blame the suit on the Democrats’ stance on moral issues. Even the Soviet Union chimed in, calling it barbarianism. Never intended by the designer to be a commercial success, over 3000 monokinis at $24 were sold in New York in the summer of 1964 at leading store like Henri Bendel. The monokini greatly influenced the sexual revolution by emphasizing a woman’s personal freedom of dress, even when her attire was provocative and exposed more skin than had been the norm during the more conservative 1950s. The Peggy Moffitt photograph became a celebrated image of the extremism of 1960s designs and raised the feminist issue of whether both genders should be allowed equal exposure above the waist. In its December 1962 issue, Sports Illustrated declared that Rudi Gernreich had “turned the dancer’s leotard into a swimsuit that frees the body.

In the process, he has ripped out the boning and wiring that made American swimsuits seagoing corsets.” It had all started the year prior in 1963 when the editor of Look magazine, Susanne Kirtland had asked Gernreich to make the suit to accompany a trend story along futuristic lines. When a photo shoot for his topless swimsuit was arranged on Montego Bay in the Bahamas, all five models for the session outright refused to wear the design. The photographer finally persuaded a local prostitute to model it. Only the back view of the monokini ended up being published in Look in 1964, but it was Kirtland who pursuaded Gernreich to produce the design commercially and make it available to the public. In June of 1964, the PR manager of the Condor Nightclub in San Francisco gave one of the waitresses the monokini designed by Gernreich to wear for her act. At that moment, Carol Doda, a former prune picker became the first modern topless dancer in the United States. Within a few days, women in clubs all the Broadway St.

clubs of San Francisco were sporting the monokini in many of the clubs lining San Francisco’s Broadway St, effectively reinventing the burlesque era of the early 20th century and ushering in the era of the topless bar. Carol Doda was later arrested in 1965 for indecency which sparked a protest outside the police department calling for her release. The monokini had made the former prune picker a symbol of sexual freedom. Funnily enough, Rudy was also well-known for his revolutionary designs that actually covered the breasts. In the same year he released the monokini, Rudy also invented what we essentially know today as a seamless soft-cup elastic bra. The “No-Bra”, as he named it, was made of sheer-stretch fabric without underwires or lining of any kind. In 1972, he then designed the “No-Bra Bra”, which was made of sheer, stretchy fabric that could be pulled on over the head. His minimalist designed revolutionized bra design, changing the trend from a sculpted, bullet-shaped bosom to a more natural shape.

(Thanks for that Rudy!) The topless monokini went on to reach its highest popularity level during the 1970s but has since been revisited numerous times in magazine shoots, worn by supermodels such as Kate Moss and Laetitia Casta. Here we see our model Daphne in another of Rudi’s swimwear variations which became popular in the 1980s, a style known as the unikini– essentially, wearing only the bikini bottoms. In 1985, Rudi Gernreich unveiled his last design before his death, known as the pubikini , a bathing suit with a V-shaped opening that exposed the pubic area. This one didn’t catch on as well. Boys hard at work… We appear to have a grabber on the left. And again, going in for the grab. Aaand again. This might have been a re-occurring problem with the monokini. Alright back-off buddy. All images from the LIFE Archives SHARE July 3 2015 3:10 PM A Brief History of the Bikini How the tiny swimsuit conquered America.

By Julia Turner This holiday weekend, Americans will be cavorting on the beach, many of them in swimwear that covers as little as possible. In 2006, Julia Turner traced the history of the bikini to explain its exploding popularity. The article is reprinted below. Micheline Bernardini, 1946. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons Sixty years ago, the world's first bikini made its debut at a poolside fashion show in Paris. The swimsuit is now so ubiquitous—and comparatively so demure—that it's hard to comprehend how shocking people once found it. When the bikini first arrived, its revealing cut scandalized even the French fashion models who were supposed to wear it; they refused, and the original designer had to enlist a stripper instead. The images below illustrate how the bikini slowly gained acceptance—first on the Riviera, then in the United States—and became a beachfront staple. When the bikini was unveiled in 1946, it was by no means the first time that women had worn so revealing a garment in public. In the fourth century, for example, Roman gymnasts wore bandeau tops, bikini bottoms, and even anklets that would look perfectly at home on the beaches of Southern California today.

Image of the "bikini girls" mosaic at the Piazza Armerina in Sicily. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons Advertisement At the turn of the 20th century, though, such displays would have been unthinkable. Female swimmers went to extraordinary lengths to conceal themselves at the beach. They wore voluminous bathing costumes and even made use of a peculiar Victorian contraption called the bathing machine, essentially a small wooden or canvas hut on wheels. The bather entered the machine fully dressed and donned her swimming clothes inside. Then, horses (or occasionally humans) pulled the cart into the surf. The bather would disembark on the seaside, where she could take a dip without being observed from the shore. Woman perching on the edge of a bathing machine at an Ostend, Belgium, beach. Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images Annette Kellerman circa 1905. Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images In the decades that followed, the seaside dress code loosened up considerably.

In 1907, Australian swimmer and silent-film star Annette Kellerman—a vocal advocate of more hydrodynamic swimwear—was charged with indecent exposure for appearing on Boston's Revere Beach in a form-fitting, sleeveless tank suit. The ensuing high-profile legal scuffle led beaches across the nation to relax their swimwear restrictions. By 1915, American women commonly wore one-piece knitted maillots. Oddly enough, the two-piece swimsuit—which usually consisted of a structured halter top and modest bottom that covered the navel, hips, and derrière—arrived with much less fanfare than the bikini. By the early '40s, film stars including Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, and Lana Turner were all wearing the two-piece, and it was seen frequently on American beaches. Why were the inches of skin above the bellybutton so much less controversial than those below it? Hollywood's Hays production codes allowed two-piece gowns but prohibited navels on-screen. That meant the rib cage earned a ho-hum reputation, but the bellybutton was uncharted territory. Ava Gardner, Hollywood, Calif., 1941.

Photo by SNAP/Zuma Press In the 1940s—as Kelly Killoren Bensimon details in The Bikini Book —attractive women were known as "bombshells," and anything intense was "atomic." So, when two Frenchmen independently designed skimpy alternatives to the two-piece in the summer of 1946, both suits got nuclear nicknames. The first designer, Jacques Heim, created a tiny suit called the atome. The second, Louis Reard, introduced his design on July 5, four days after the United States had begun atomic testing in the Bikini Atoll. In a rather bold marketing ploy, Reard named his creation le bikini, implying it was as momentous an invention as the new bomb. Advertisement Thanks to its provocative name and cut, the bikini made international headlines. Photos of Micheline Bernardini, the stripper Reard had enlisted to model it, circulated across the globe. But in the United States, women—including actresses in movies like 1947's My Favorite Brunette and the model on this 1948 cover of Life magazine —stuck with the traditional two-piece. Poster of My Favorite Brunette, 1947.

Image courtesy Everett Collection In 1950, Time interviewed American swimsuit mogul Fred Cole and reported that he had "little but scorn for France's famed Bikini bathing suits," because they were designed for diminutive Gallic women. "French girls have short legs," he explained to Time. "Swimsuits have to be hiked up at the sides to make their legs look longer." Brigitte Bardot at the 6th International Cannes Film Festival, 1953. Photo by LIDO/SIPA Brigitte Bardot's legs, at least, didn't need the help. This photo was taken at the Cannes Film Festival in 1953, just as the bikini was becoming de rigueur on the French Riviera. Even so, it remained off-limits in the States, where it was seen as a suspect garment favored by licentious Mediterranean types. A few years ago, Sports Illustrated dug up a 1957 issue of Modern Girl that declared: "It is hardly necessary to waste words over the so-called bikini since it is inconceivable that any girl with tact and decency would ever wear such a thing." Just three summers later, though, the bikini had established a beachhead on these shores.

This was in large part because of the increasing popularity of the private pool, which gave women a secluded place to test out the new look. A Neiman Marcus buyer classified the bikini as "a big thing" for 1960. Brian Hyland also had a hit that year with the song "Itsy Bitsy, Teenie Weenie, Yellow Polka Dot Bikini," which takes on new meaning when you realize the swimsuit was still catching on at the time. No wonder the song's protagonist was "afraid to come out of the water." Bikini beach scene, 1965. 63 Fun Facts about Underwear 63 Fun Facts About . . . Underwear The average American woman owns approximately 21 pairs of underwear. Approximately 10% of women own over 35 pairs.k Ten-year-old Jack Singer of Warwick, New York, wore 215 pairs of underwear simultaneously on June 13, 2010.

He broke the previous record of 200 pairs.b While underwear may or may not be worn under kilts, tradition holds that a “true Scotsman” would wear nothing underneath.c Bra sizes consist of two parts, a number (band size) and a letter (cup size) According to bra-fitting experts, approximately 80% of women are wearing the wrong bra size.k Trend analysts observe that a woman who wears a g-string is typically a woman who feels more uninhibited and more confident to display her body. Sexually, she is more willing to try different and creative positions.c Sexual researchers note that a woman who chooses to wear white cotton panties tends to be a low maintenance and a no-frills type of a woman. Researchers note that this is akin to letting a man see her without makeup.c The average woman will wear six different bra sizes throughout her life.k Most bras should be replaced every 6 months.k Bras that don’t fit correctly can cause back strain and loss of breast firmness.k The country with the most underwear models working for Victoria’s Secret is Brazil.e The highest-paid Victoria’s Secret model of all time is Giselle Bï¿½ndchen.

At one point, she was earning nearly $5 million a year.e The size of an average woman is 5' 4" and 135 pounds. The size of a Victoria’s Secret model is 5' 10 " and 112 pounds. The typical measurements for a Victoria’s Secret model are a 34" bust, 24" waist, and 34" hips.e The U.K. typically sells the highest number of the largest bra cup sizes. Japan usually sells the most of the smallest sizes.f In Italy , women celebrate New Years by wearing red underwear because it is considered lucky.b A 2008 survey revealed that 9% of men in America have underwear that is at least 10 years old. Fifteen percent own underwear that is between 5-9 years old.d Bras that do not fit correctly can cause back strain After police in Colfax, Washington, arrested Greg Flaherty for hanging around an apartment laundry room, they discovered he had stolen over 1,613 pairs of women’s underwear.

Reports do not indicate whether they were stolen before or after they were washed.b On October 14, 1996, a student pledging for the Kappa Alpha fraternity at Texas A&M required emergency care after receiving injuries from a wedgie. He had to have one of his testicles removed as a result of the injury.b After Michael Hirschey gave Erik Kurtis Low a wedgie on May 8, 2003, Low fatally shot him. The prosecutor for the case said in his closing arguments “that receiving a wedgie is not a reason to kill somebody.”b In 2005, a member of Virginia’s House of Delegates, Algi T. Howell, proposed a $50 fine for wearing pants that showed one’s underwear. The bill did not pass.b Men’s briefs were invented in 1935. A contemporary magazine ad touted the brief’s “scientific suspension” and “restful buoyancy.”b A survey in 1998 revealed that 60% of French men change their underwear daily.

Approximately 75% of French women change their underwear daily.b ï¿½In 2012, Zimbabwe banned the importation and sale of second-hand underwear. Lawmakers hope the ban will help address health concerns and help the country’s own domestic textile industry.q The word “skivvies” appeared in 1932 as nautical slang for underwear.

While the term is of unknown origin, earlier use of skivvy/skivey was London slang for “female domestic servant.”c The word “wedgie” is derived from “wedge-heeled shoe” and became popular in the 1970s from the effect it gave the victim.c Single people are less likely to change their underwear on a daily basis than married people—82% versus 88%, respectively.d African American psychologist Tara Raines argues that bra manufactures cater only to white women in “nude” collections and is urging them to rethink the limited range of natural colors available to ethnic women.o The global underwear business is estimated to be worth over $30 billion.ï¿½ Bras represent over 50% of the overall market, briefs approximately 33%, and corsetry more than 10%.n During the Victorian age, women wore knickers, which left the entire crotch area open and exposed because it was believed that an open crotch was more hygienic. Consequently, underwear change was infrequent. Ironically, Parisian Can Can dancers helped usher in closed-crotch underwear.j A majority of American women prefer to wear bikini underwear (37%).

Briefs come in second (23%), followed by thongs (19%), boy shorts (17%), and other (4%).k Ten percent of American women have confessed to going "commando" Ten percent of American women have confessed to occasionally having gone “commando” to avoid visible panty lines.k At a recent auction in Edinburgh, a pair of Queen Victoria’s underwear sold for ï¿½9,375 ($14,500 American). The knickers were made from yards of white cream fabric and had her initials VR (Victoria Regina) embroidered in them.j To avoid urinary tract infections (among other things, such as keeping the genital and urinary areas clean), physicians recommend changing underwear at least once a day.c G-strings are very similar to thongs, but they have even less coverage in the back, just a string that essentially disappears between the buttocks.

The etymology of g-string is obscure, but it may stand for the word “groin,” which has historically been a taboo word.j While modern underwear is made from different fabrics (leather, satin, vinyl, latex, cotton, mesh, and polyester), it is typically considered good hygiene to have the crotch lined with a cotton fabric.c Factors that may cause a change in bra size include a weight gain/loss of five pounds or more, beginning/ending an exercise program, pregnancy or childbirth, more than a year since a last bra measurement, going through menopause or the hormonal changes.k Sexual researchers observe that men who wear the “boyish” briefs “may not be ready to grow up.”a Victoria’s Secret operates more than 1,000 stores across the United States. It was established in San Francisco in 1977 by Roy Raymond, who wanted to establish a store with an atmosphere similar to that of a Victorian boudoir.p The aging U.S. population is slowing down market growth in the underwear sector.

However, analysts note that there is significant growth potential in more developing countries due to increasing income levels, trends toward Western fashion, larger youth population, and rising standards of living.n During the recession, nightwear and knit underwear have done better than other types of underwear. Researchers note that these types of undergarments have been so successful because they are more necessary than other types of underwear.n The world hosiery market is expected to surpass $20 billion by 2015. Hosiery includes tights, socks, leggings, and pantyhose. The increase is largely due to new machinery—specifically, electronic knitting machines have largely replaced mechanical knitting machines.n The nightwear and knit underwear market is expected to surpass $70 billion by 2015. The factors fueling the market include rising levels of disposable income, new fabrics, and a larger variety of styles. Plus-size demand is also increasing in the Western market.n China has the fastest growing underwear market in the world.

The China underwear market exceeded $16 billion in 2010, with a market growth of around 20% per year.n The main brands in the global underwear market include Calvin Klein, La Senza, DKNY, Princesse Tam Tam, Enamor, Embry Form, Jockey, Victoria’s Secret, Maniform, Wacoal Holdings, Gujin, La Perla, Armani, Wolford, Hanes, Fruit of the Loom, Etam, Chantelle, Triumph, AB Underwear, and Lovable.n Panty raids became popular in college after WWII During the 1950s, it was popular for college boys to storm the girls’ dorm and steal their underwear and then publicly display them. The popular term for these outings was “panty raids.”l The origin of the phrase “going commando” is unclear, though it probably originated with members of the military who more often than not preferred to go without underwear. In harsh environments, wet underwear could lead to crotch rot, jock and anal itching, and chafing.

Additionally, it was not uncommon for soldiers to develop severe cases of diarrhea, in which case a solider may go without underwear and cut off the back of the pants for easier elimination.c King Tut is the nickname for Tutankhamen, an Egyptian leader who ruled from age 9 to 18. He was buried with 145 underpants.m Some early American settlers had themselves sewn into their underwear for the winter. They did this because it was easier than having to button a lot of buttons. But it also meant that they didn’t bathe until spring.l During the 16th century, undergarments became associated with the word “drawers.” A drawer is literally something pulled or “drawn” and comes from the French word tirer (to pull).l Long knitted undergarments known as “long johns” were originally worn by a bare-knuckled boxer named John L. Sullivan in the late 1800s.

He wore long woolen drawers while boxing in cold weather.l Petticoat is from the Old French petite cote, or "little coat" In the 19th century, women typically wore heavy petticoats to keep the cold breezes from blowing up their skirts because they usually didn’t wear any underwear underneath. Until the mid-1800s, it was considered improper for a woman to wear anything in between her legs. This is why women rode sidesaddle and why pants were considered a male-only garment.l Spiritual undergarments go back at least as far as the ancient Babylonians. Often these garments had fringe, which symbolized of God’s protection.

Modern-day Mormons have sacred undergarments, which they consider to be the “armor of God.l Before the development of antiperspirants, the “dress protector” and the “shirt protector” were popular undergarments that helped absorb underarm sweat and prevent sweat marks from showing on outer layer of clothing.l The first modern "brassiere" was patented in 1914 Though there are several legitimate claims as to who is the “father” or “mother” of the modern bra, a New York woman named Mary Phelps Jacobs is typically credited with creating the modern bra. She had her maid sew together two handkerchiefs with some ribbon and a cord. She patented her bra design under the label “brassiere” in 1914 and later sold it to the Warner Brothers Corset Company for $15,000.i In 1995, a woman named Berbel Zummer was walking through a park in Austria during a storm wearing a wire-enforced bra under her clothes. The metal in her bra attracted a bolt of lighting that killed her instantly.l A woman from Britain invented a bra that monitors a woman’s heart rate.

If the heart rate is high, an alarm will sound as an indication that the woman is in danger.m The Russians are experimenting with bacteria that will eat the worn underwear of astronauts on long space missions.m Corsets were such a huge business that they provided thousands of jobs. Additionally, so much whalebone was used to stiffen corsets, hoop skirts, and other types of underwear, that the baleen whale was almost driven to extinction.m Scholars note that women seemed to wear corsets during times in history when their lives were severely restricted and they had few rights. As women gained more rights, they rejected the more restrictive underwear.l Falsies gave women's breasts an exaggerated and pointed shape A device that is stuffed into a bra to make it look bigger is called a “falsie.” Falsies were most popular during the 1950s, when big, pointy breasts were popular.m Underwear has often been used as a symbol. For example, in the 1960s, “bra burners” protested the way society discriminated against women and restricted their appearance.

Additionally, after WWII, French women who had relationships with German soldiers not only had their heads shaved, but they also were forced to walk through the streets in their underwear.l Underwear has been used to make rebellious fashion statements. For example, in 1780, Marie Antoinette shocked France by wearing chemise dresses at court. Previously, the chemise was worn only as underwear.l In 1951, Marlon Brando helped turn men’s cotton undershirts into outwear when he wore an undershirt in the movie A Streetcar Named Desire.l In the 1990s, hip-hop artists made it fashionable for men to wear their pants below their waists and showing their boxers or briefs. This style, called “sagging,” is said to have actually originated in prison when jail inmates had their belts removed because they might be used as a possible weapon.

Other historians believe this style originated as a sign of availability among homosexuals.l -- Posted October 12, 2012; Revised December 12, 2012 References The History of Underwear The History of Underwear Remnants of leather loincloths have been found with the remains of pre-historic man living more than 7,000 years ago. The loincloth is the simplest and probably the first undergarment worn by human beings. It was often worn alone in warmer climates and covered by outer garments in colder areas. Egyptians as long ago as 2, 000 B.C. used fabric to form an undergarment over which they wore other clothing. In tombs of the pharaohs, supplies of underwear for further use after death were buried with them. Ancient Greeks dressed very simply with a 'chiton', an oblong of woolen cloth large enough to wrap around the body from the neck down to just above the knees. The side left open was fastened by a 'fibulae' ï¿½ a pin or brooch.

A girdle was worn round it and the 'chiton' could by pulled through it and worn high by those who were physically active and left long by the older gentlemen. Over this was worn the 'himation', an outer cloak. Slaves wore loincloths. However, the ancient Greeks did not wear underwear. The closest article of clothing worn by men in ancient Rome was called a subligaculum, which in modern terms means a pair of shorts or a loincloth and was worn under a toga or tunic. Around the 13th century, pull-on underpants were invented and underwear became an important garment. The loincloth was replaced by large, baggy drawers called 'braies', which were often made from linen and seem to be worn by men from all classes of society under their normal clothing. Knights wore 'braies' under several layers of clothing topped by their armor. The wearer stepped into them and then laced or tied them around the waist and legs at about mid-calf. We know what they look like from illuminations of hot field-workers dispensing with all their clothes other than their braies for modesty and coolness.

Wealthier men often wore chausses as well, which only covered the legs. In Europe underwear played an important role in shaping outerwear. Items for men developed during this time and included corsets, cod pieces, stockings, undershirts and drawers. By the Renaissance, the 'chausses' became form fitting like modern hose, and the braies became shorter to accommodate longer styles of chausses. However, chausses and many braies designs were not intended to be covered up by other clothing, so they are not actually underwear in the strictest sense. Braies were usually fitted with a flap in the front that buttoned or tied closed. This codpiece allowed men to urinate without having to remove the braies completely. At first, the codpiece was entirely a practical matter of modesty. Men's hose were typically very snug on the legs and open at the crotch, with the genitalia simply hanging loose under the doublet. A shortening of the doublet resulted in often-exposed genitalia, so the codpiece came into being. As time passed, codpieces were shaped to emphasize the male genitalia and eventually often became padded and bizarrely shaped.

Henry VIII of England began padding his own codpiece, which caused a spiraling trend of larger and larger codpieces that only ended by the end of the 16th Century. They also often doubled as pockets, handy carrying places for a variety of items. The modern men's shirt appeared during this era, but it was originally an undergarment. Renaissance noblemen also adopted the doublet, a vest-like garment tied together in the front and worn under other clothing. In Victorian times men's undergarments were in two pieces and all undergarments were made by hand. Materials used were cotton through linen and even silk. In America, before the Civil War, from the waist down "drawers" were worn which were usually made of wool flannel, but could be of any fabric. The most common were knee length with a simple button overlap in front and a drawstring at the waist in the back. The preferred upper garment was a wool flannel shirt worn next to the skin. The Industrial Revolution with the invention of water-powered spinning machines and the ï¿½cotton ginï¿½ made cotton fabrics widely available and saw the beginning of mass-produced underwear.

For the first time, people began buying undergarments in stores rather than making them at home. The standard undergarment of this period for men, women, and children was the ï¿½union suitï¿½, which provided coverage from the wrists to the ankles. The union suits of the era were usually made of knitted material and included a drop flap in the back to ease visits to the toilet. Because the top and bottom were united as a one-piece garment it received the name ï¿½union suitï¿½. Hanes opened several mills producing 'union suits'. Originally made with ankle length legs and long sleeves, later versions were available in knee length versions with or without sleeves. The name 'Long Johns', long skin-tight underpants, was actually first used for the long underwear issued to American soldiers during World War Two. The name is derived from the old boxing gear worn by John L. Sullivan, who was a boxer in the late 1880s, the height of his career being 1882-92. In the 1930s, union suits went out of favor and boxers and briefs became the 'vogue'.

The 1930s saw another major innovation, that is easy elastic waists replaced button, snap, and tie closures. At around this time companies began selling buttonless drawers fitted with an elastic waistband, which were the first true boxer shorts. The name is derived from the shorts worn by professional fighters. The word "underpants" also entered the dictionary. 'Jockey' began making briefs in 1930 but it was not until 1934 with the advent of 'Jockey' Y-vent briefs that the design of menï¿½s underwear made a leap forward. It was the first time an easy-to-use diagonal vent was applied to boxers and briefs. Today one can buy jockey shorts which are knit fabric, with access pouch or flap, usually at or near true waist, leg bands at tops of thighs. Traditional high and lox cut jockey shorts have vertical flaps or diagonal flaps. In 1936 ï¿½Munsingwearï¿½ developed the 'kangeroo pouch' underwear which used a horizontal vent. During the Second World War there was a difficulty in obtaining underwear as the first priority were troops abroad.

Also there was a shortage of rubber and metal, and button fasteners were again used. For the first time color was used for underwear; soldiers were issued with drab-olive briefs for safety, as white briefs were too conspicuous when being hung up to dry. The preferred undergarments of this period were knit briefs, broadcloth shorts with buttons, and the union suit. Designs incorporated French backs, that is a design with small tabs at the rear of the waistband, usually secured by buttons, for adjusting the size and fit at the waist, and tie-sides. At war's end, Jockey and Hanes remained the industry leaders. Also at the end of the war a preshrinking process called Sanforization came to be used. Prior to this one had to buy underwear a size larger to allow for shrinkage in the wash. After the Second World War underwear continued to change significantly helping create the shape and the look for the outer clothes we wear. In 1947 came the introduction of nylon tricot, as well as men's stretch briefs, and in 1950 the first T-shirts with nylon-reinforced neckbands to prevent sagging were introduced.

From the 1950s design in underwear became more innovative and exciting with the introduction of color and pattern. Underwear began to be a fashion statement. New fabrics were introduced such as rayon, Dacron and DuPont nylon. Nylon tricot briefs were made in a multitude of colors. By the 1960s boxer shorts were decorated with every type of 'fun' image and bikini type underwear was introduced using animal prints. However, white cotton underwear was still the major seller. New fabric technology continued to offer better comfort in men's underwear, particularly with the introduction of Lycra and Spandex. In the 1960s in Italy Peppino Gheduzzi realized the importance of elasticity in fabrics used in men's underwear to improve comfort (close - fitting - support). He proposed the idea to Du Pont and subsequently the first product in Lycra Cotton was realized. Spandex was created in the late 1950s and developed by Du Pont, but the first commercial production of Spandex fiber in the United States began in 1959. Underwear became smaller with far more variety designed for specific age groups and purposes.

In the 1970s and 1980s the new 'designer' underwear producers as Calvin Klein, Sauvage, Ron Chereskin, Tommy Hilfiger, 2(x)ist, as well as Jockey, used 'sex' as the main selling point for major advertising campaigns. Briefs got briefer and great design, unusual fabrics, wonderful colors and combinations, and great variety of choice made for underwear becoming a 'fashion' item. Today you can get underwear for sports, casual, romance, figure enhancement, warmth (thermals), humor, and with dual purposes such as the inclusion of pockets. Also, like the women's designs, the newest and hottest styles are almost totally seamless. The modern sexualization of underwear has started one more curious trend: not wearing underwear at all. This practice is known in slang as freeballing (or freebuffing for females); going commando (a term popularized by the TV show ï¿½Friends)ï¿½ is also used for both sexes. This trend only emphasizes how far underwear has come from its beginnings as a hygienic aide.

When modern people bathe every day, underwear is not nearly as necessary, and with underwear as the final barrier to sex, not wearing it at all is a powerful turn-on for many people. Traditionally a kilt is worn without underpants. Boxer Briefs: In the 1990s, retailers started selling boxer briefs, which take the longer shape of boxers but maintain the tightness of briefs. Though marketed as a new design, these are actually quite similar to the bottom half of the two-part union suits worn in the 1910s. Boxer style are at or near true waist, leg sections extending to thighs) . They can be woven boxers (traditional) or knit boxers (like traditional but with more fabric give) . Boxer briefs ere also knit and more form-fitting .

Pouch boxer briefs have a pouch for genitals rather than access flap and athletic and bike-style boxers are generally skin-tight, usually with no access pouch or flap, like short tights Bikinis: The 'bikini' was invented in 1946 by two Frenchmen, Jacques Heim and Louis Reard, who named it after the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the site of atomic bomb testing, because the 2-piece swimsuit was miniscule in size. The name became popular for both men and womenï¿½s briefs. Bikini briefs can be low or high-side bikini briefs but are usually lower than true waist, often at hips, and usually have no access pouch or flap, legs bands at tops of thighs. String bikini briefs, another style have front and rear sections meet in the crotch but not at the waistband, with no fabric on the side of the legs. Thongs & G Strings: Men in ancient cultures wore thong-like items for ease and comfort. The thong was very popular in South America, particularly in Brazil, since the 1980s and was used on the beaches as swimwear by both men and women.

Even prior to this 'exotic dancers' were thongs. But at that time you could not wear thong swimsuits on the U.S. beaches and the fashion was slow to catch on. Nowadays the thong has become popular as underwear not only for its erotic appeal, but its use has the ability to give a smooth and rounded finish to the bottom, particularly for wear under tight trousers. Current styles: ï¿½ G-string have a front pouch for the genitals but no rear coverage ï¿½ Thongs have a strap securing the pouch at the bottom rear, passing up the crack between the buttocks to the waistband ï¿½ Athletic supporters use two straps securing the pouch at the bottom rear, passing around the bases of the buttocks up to the waistband at the sides. ï¿½ Strapless pouches have a front pouch and waistband only with no securing straps Vintage Fashion Guild : Fashion History : Swim Wear History Vintage Fashion Guild | by admin | Fashion History | Features , Garment & Item Specifics , Swim Wear You may think that the body-baring bikinis of today would have shocked the world centuries ago but you’d be wrong.

Actually today’s swimwear is rather similar to that which was worn in ancient Greece as far back as 300 BC. As pictured on mosaic walls, ancient Greek women were barely covered by pieces of fabric, much like the scanty bikinis of the 20th century! During the Roman Empire, the communal bathhouse was an important neighborhood gathering place. Here business was discussed and gossip shared in pleasurable surroundings that offered the luxury of oil and water, hot and cold baths while you chatted. After the fall of the Roman Empire, bathing was no longer considered a recreational pastime in western society and was reserved for therapeutic use only. Years later ‘spas’ began to reappear in European towns like Bath in England and Germany’s Baden Baden, at which men were segregated from women. Even though females couldn’t be viewed by the male gender, they were still concerned about their modesty, so bathing dresses were donned. To prevent the skirts from rising up around the body when entering the water, hems often had weights sewn into them. The suits were worn with heavy dark stockings and for extra caution, many were also worn with long knickers or bloomers.

It was not until the mid 1800s that swimming at the seaside was considered to be a form of relaxation and enjoyment. New rail systems transported holidaying Victorian families to the coast. To preserve female modesty bathing machines were developed that were effectively changing rooms on wheels. This enabled them to be pulled by horses into the sea, allowing females to be on show as little as possible as they emerged for a dip. Young men would take up position along the pier to peek through telescopes (intended for scenic edification) in order to catch a glimpse of forbidden delights. Not that there was much delight to be had, Victorian costumes were the ultimate in cover up, at least while they were dry. Once wet, the woolen fabric clung to the body removing the need for a vivid imagination. The weight of the sodden wool also turned swimming into a bit of a challenge. Mixed bathing became acceptable at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Edwardian ladies even took to walking openly along the beach while in their costumes. Annette Kellerman created quite the uproar in 1907, which led to her arrest.

Her crime was to appear at Boston’s Revere Beach in a one-piecing bathing suit that revealed her arms, legs and rather a voluptuous body! The first annual ‘bathing suit day’ was held at Madison Square Garden on May 16, 1916 and shortly afterwards beauty contests became common where participants showed off their physique in a bathing suit. In 1921 Jantzen Knitting Mills launched the first one-piece ‘elastic’ suit that immediately gained popularity with the Bathing Beauty Pageant that was held in Atlantic City. For the next 15 years, wool knit swimming suits were worn by both men and women. In 1920 they covered the wearer from the neck to almost the knees, but as time went on, the swimsuit got smaller and smaller. Knitted wool swimsuits were eased into history in the mid 1930s when California swimsuit maker Mabs of Hollywood began to fashion swimwear from Lastex, a woven satin finish elastic and silk material first used for girdle manufacture. Mabs made sure of its success by making suits for Joan Crawford, Loretta Young, and Jean Harlow.

When Marlene Dietrich wanted one too and went into Bullocks department store to order a dozen in every colour, the day of the knitted suit came to an abrupt end. In 1946, designer Louis Reard was obliged to hire Micheline Bernardini (an exotic dancer at the Casino de Paris) to model his latest creation – the ‘Bikini’ – because his regular models flatly refused to wear it. The introduction of Reard’s bikini (named after Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific where atomic bomb testing had taken place) caused quite a stir in the United States. That was nothing, however to the reaction in predominantly Catholic European countries, including Italy and Spain, where the powers that be actually banned women from wearing bikinis on their beaches! Although Reard was credited as having introduced the bikini, Jacques Heim had actually presented his version of the bikini, which he called the ‘Atome’ in the same year. Yet even Heim’s ‘Atome’ wasn’t the first swimsuit that bared the female midriff. Only three years earlier, the U.S. government had passed legislation for a ten percent reduction in the fabric content of woman’s swimwear as part of the war effort.

The obvious (and only decent) saving was made by removing the mid section of the one-piece costume. Whether this reduction helped win the war is debatable. However, it certainly boosted the morale of soldiers on leave as they watched the patriotic promenading along public beaches. Three of the top names in American swimwear all started out as knitwear companies. Portland Knitting Mills became Jantzen, West Coast Knitting mills made the Cole of California swimsuits and Catalina swimwear was produced by Bentz Knitting Mills, later to rename themselves Pacific Knitting Mills. For many years swimwear was knitted from wool and each of these companies found ways of incorporating a form of elastic, known as Lastex into the weave, which resulted in a more figure-hugging and flattering garment. Many of the big swimwear companies developed their own form of Lastex and claimed a patent. Cole’s was Matletex, and the company went on to develop a version of Spandex, originally devised by DuPont who patented the trade name Lycra. Fred Cole secured the services of famous swimming Hollywood star Esther Williams to promote his swimwear in the early 1950’s.

Cole himself was a product of Hollywood having been a silent movie star in the 1920’s before entering the swimwear industry, via West Coast Knitting Mills which was owned by his parents. Using his Hollywood contacts to the full introduced him to designer Margit Felligi, who joined Cole in 1936 and maintained her design leadership for the company for the next thirty-six years. During this time she created such note-worthies as the Swoon and the Scandal suit. The first was a product of the war years and was made from parachute silk (the company made parachutes for the government) and the second was a one-piece, launched in the mid-60’s that had net-panels on its front and sides. This gave the viewer more than just a peak at the body underneath. Cole’s daughter Anne followed in his footsteps and became one of the most famous swimwear designers. Cole even persuaded Dior to design a swimwear collection for the company in 1955. At first Dior was reluctant, pleading that he knew nothing of swimwear to which Cole responded “You’re a designer aren’t you?

So design.’ Not being able to argue with that logic Dior complied and produced his one and only swimwear collection. Catalina used promotional tactics to build its swimwear reputation. Unlike Cole, which was all about Hollywood glamour and Jantzen, which had a sporty profile and promoted itself by sponsoring swimming education programmes, Catalina founded the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants as product promotion tools, giving it access to a wide audience. Catalina’s styles (Mary Ann DeWeese headed design and went on to form her own company) largely appealed to the girl next door and her mother; although in the 1940s it too enlisted the services of movie wardrobe designers Orry Kelly, Milo Anderson, Edith Head and Travis Banton. The Portland Knitting Company was founded in 1910 by Carl Jantzen and John and Roy Zehntbauer. In the first years of the company, they produced mainly heavy wool sweaters, gloves and socks. By 1918 they were making a very popular unisex swimming suit, and the company changed its name to Jantzen Knitting Mills.

In 1921, a logo was added to the swimming suit – a diving girl in a red swimsuit. This became the Jantzen trademark. As styles changed, so did the red diving girl, and the style of her suit can be a hint as to the age of the garment. Through the 1920s and 1930s, Jantzen refined their basic swimsuit into the modern bathing suit. Swimwear continued to be the most important part of their business, but in 1939, they expanded into foundations, and in 1940 they introduced a line of sportswear. Popular in the 1950s were one-piece costumes constructed like that of a foundation undergarment in a variety of styles, although these gradually gave way to the two-piece body baring styles. By 1956 the bikini was finally accepted and became popular largely due to Bridget Bardot who was frequently photographed strolling the French Riviera wearing hers!

American and UK teens went wild in the 1960s, scampering everywhere to find the ‘Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini’ made famous by Brian Hyland who rose to the top of the music charts with a song of the same name! In 1964 Rudi Gernreich unveiled his bare breasted bathing suit called the ‘Monokini’, which caused the world to take a large intake of breath. The Vatican denounced the topless garb, but an unrepentant Gernreich sold more than 3,000 suits in less than a season in Europe. Defending his creation, he said, “Sex is in the person, not in what she puts on.” Although sold in the U.S. monokinis were mostly discounted for a few dollars at the end of the season. There were few places you could wear them as they were illegal on most public beaches around the world. Gernreich continued with his body baring designs by introducing his thong bathing suit in 1974. This was followed by Rio and St.

Tropez, introducing the ‘Tanga’ suit, or Brazilian Thong, which required not only the dental flossing of ones buttocks but a derriere without a trace of cellulite and nerves of steel! Another innovation in swimwear in the 1970s was the tan-through swimsuit but as the issue of skin protection from the sun emerged, their popularity was a short-lived novelty. Support (for those who sadly didn’t need support) came via the launch of ‘Top Secret’ in the early 1990s. Devised by Cole of California (which like many of the original brand name manufacturers is still going strong) this seemingly innocent looking bikini featured inflatable falsies concealed within the cups of its top. A pump, positioned in the centre, would deliver air through plastic chambers that led into the cups and before you knew it, the flat-chested had a profile and cleavage they could be proud of. If you over-inflated your ego, you could simply press the release valve! ‘Top Secret’ was probably also of great benefit to those who weren’t strong swimmers too – rather like having your own built-in water wings.

Since then there had been little new in the swimwear sector with the exception, perhaps, of less rather than more exposure. The ‘Tankini’ offers sporty and more modest beachwear that can be mixed and matched with bikini bottoms or shorts. Also increasingly, many beach visitors opt for co-ordinated sarongs and cover-ups to wear when not swimming. Written by Susan Raymonnd (b*a* vintagequeen) and Anne Dettmer (artisannes) Bathing costumes c. 1870

Question: In which year was the first bikini worn in Britain?
Answer: 1950