Bikini facts for kids
A bikini is a type of swimsuit for women. It has two main parts: a bottom piece like shorts or briefs, and a top piece like a bra top. These two parts leave a space uncovered in the middle. The idea of a two-piece swimsuit is actually very old, but the modern bikini was created again after the Second World War.
The bikini is one of the most popular types of beachwear for women around the world. Many people believe its popularity shows how women have gained more freedom and choices over time.
History of the Bikini
Ancient Times
The idea of a two-piece swimsuit is not new. Very old artworks from places like Çatalhöyük and the Greco-Roman world show people wearing clothes that look a lot like bikinis.
For example, in Sicily, Italy, there is an ancient Roman villa called Villa Romana del Casale. Mosaics (pictures made from small colored tiles) from around 286-305 AD show women exercising in outfits that look very much like modern bikinis. These women are sometimes called the "Bikini Girls."
Archaeologists have also found statues in places like Pompeii that show the Roman goddess Venus wearing a two-piece outfit similar to a bikini.
The Modern Bikini
By the early 1940s, two-piece swimsuits were becoming common on American beaches. Famous Hollywood movie stars like Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, and Lana Turner wore similar styles for films or photos.
The modern bikini, as we know it today, was officially introduced in Paris, France, in 1946. Two French designers, Louis Réard and Jacques Heim, were working on new beachwear designs. Heim created a two-piece swimsuit that covered the belly button.
Réard, who ran his mother's lingerie shop, then designed an even smaller two-piece swimsuit. He named his new design the "bikini." He got the name from the Bikini Atoll, a group of islands in the South Pacific. At that time, important tests of a new atomic bomb were happening there. Réard hoped his swimsuit would be as "explosive" and shocking as the bomb tests!
The bikini slowly became more and more popular throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
Images for kids
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Mexican actress Dolores del Río is seen as one of the first to wear a two-piece swimsuit, which later became known as the bikini. Here she is in a photo for the film In Caliente (1935).
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See also
In Spanish: Bikini para niños
