A little story
Women's swimsuit: a little story
Many times the women's swimsuit has been remodeled. Testifying to successive societal changes, those of mores, looks, it was also the symbol of the emancipation of women. A little throwback...
All covered! This was the leitmotiv of rigor before the appearance of the women's swimsuit in the mid-1800s. At that time, women still bathed fully covered, wearing a bathing suit. This usually consisted of trousers, a shirt, a belt and a cap. They changed in bathing cabins, then they were transported to the sea away from prying eyes. Only then could they enjoy their swim. And this, despite their comfort and personal hygiene. The only goal was therefore to conceal their bodies as much as possible. Thus, women were liable to be arrested if the outfit was above the knee!
It was only in 1905 that the Australian athlete Annette Kellerman , a visionary, dressed in a feminine one-piece swimsuit that hugged her curves. It was on Revere Beach in Boston. She was quickly kicked out of the place. Indeed, his detractors felt that his outfit disturbed morals too much. And yet, many were those who followed her in the movement she initiated. Thus in the 1940s, two-piece swimsuits covering the navel and the breasts made their remarkable debut on the beaches of the whole world.
Feminine swimsuit: the bikini
In 1946, couturier Louis Réard created his first high -cut two-piece model , audaciously called a “bikini”. Marketed in a simple box of matches, it had the slogan: “the bikini, the first anatomical bomb” . And for good reason: the launch of this new women's swimsuit followed Operation Crossroads , the name given to a series of nuclear tests that took place in Bikini Atoll during the summer of 1946. of the first atomic tests since the end of the Second World War.
The bikini was so controversial that even the models refused to wear it. However, Louis Réard could count on Michelle Bernardini, a naked dancer from the Casino de Paris, to promote it. Subsequently, the bikini was banned on many beaches. The idea? That no girl could wear it as long as she had an ounce of decency. But in 1970, the bikini became a symbol of protest. From then on, he embodied the emancipation of women wanting to free themselves from male dictates.
