Bikini (pronounced bih-kee-nee
(1) A two-piece bathing suit for women.
(2) A style of brief fitted low on the hip or slightly
below.
(3) The name of an atoll in the North Pacific; one of
the Marshall Islands and the site of two-dozen odd US nuclear weapon tests between
1946-1958 (with initial capital).
(4) As Bikini State, the UK Ministry of Defence's alert state indicator (1970-2006).
(5) In the retail coffee trade, barista slang applied to smaller variations such as a demitasse (or demi-tasse (half cup), used traditionally to serve espresso).
1946:
Although known as the Eschscholtz
Atoll until 1946, the modern English name is derived from the German
colonial name Bikini, adopted while part
of German New Guinea and was a transliteration from the Marshallese Pikinni (pʲi͡ɯɡɯ͡inʲːi), a construct
of Pik (surface) + ni (coconut or surface of coconuts). Bikini is a noun & proper noun; the noun plural is bikinis.
Proliferation; variations on the theme of bikini
Bikinis: Lindsay Lohan with former special friend Samantha Ronson (both with bare feet), Los Cabos, Mexico, October 2007.
The swimwear was first so named in 1946, the
brief as a stand-alone garment adopting the term in 1960 while the trikini, dating from 1967, was a variation with separate bra
cups fastened by Velcro. A lack of structural
integrity doomed the design for the mass-market but trikinis continue to be
used by the fashion industry, mostly in static photography where movement is minimalized. Trikini was at the time etymologically wrong because falsely
it presumed bikini a compound with a bi
prefix, an assumption not unreasonable because the English prefix bi is derived
from the Classical Latin bi, which,
like the Ancient Greek counterpart di,
means “two”. However, trikini is now
etymologically correct because (1) bikini and its variations have been wholly
been absorbed into English with compounds coined as needed and (2) progress in
the fashion industry proved so prolific a new suffix (apparently first
suggested by US author Bill Safire (1929–2009)), emerged: -kini. Thus far seen have been:
Monokini (a one-piece swimsuit)
Bikini (a two-piece swimsuit with top &
bottom)
Trikini (a type swimsuit which uses three,
strategic-placed fabric triangles)
Facekini (a piece of swimwear worn on the
head and covering the face and head)
Burkini (a full body bathing suit which
includes a hood; a kind
of figure-hugging Burqa for swimming of which not all muftis & mullahs (and certainly no ayatollahs) approve)
Mankini (a kind of sling bikini for men)
Bandkini (a swimsuit consisting of strapless
bandeau top and bikini bottom)
Halterkini (a swimsuit consisting of halter
top and bikini bottom)
Tankini (a bathing suit composed of tank top
and the lower half of a bikini)
Skirtini (a two-piece swimsuit consisting of
top and short, skirted bottom)
Microkini (a very skimpy bikini)
Slingkini (a one-piece swimsuit resembling
the Y-shape frame of a slingshot which is supported by fabric at the neck)
Stringkini (a two-piece swimsuit attached by
strings that is scantier and more revealing than a regular bikini)
Sidekini (a swimsuit designed to optimize
the side-boob effect)
Camikini (a swimsuit consisting of
thin-strapped camisole top and bikini bottom)
Flagkini (a swimsuit top informally created
by the wrapping of a flag)
Duckini (a swimsuit made of a stick-on
material (not to be confused with Kim Kardashian's endorsement of gaffer’s tape
for use as ad-hoc corsetry))
Numokini (a bikini worn without the top
(also called Unikini))
Underkini (a swimsuit designed to optimize
the under-boob effect (not suitable for all))
Seekini (a translucent or semi-translucent
swimsuit)
Hikini (s swimsuit with a higher-profile
bottom)
Louis
Réard (1896-1984) was a French engineer who took over his mother's lingerie business and
the bathing ensemble he designed debuted in 1946. As a concept it wasn’t new, such things
documented by many cultures since antiquity but Réard’s design was minimalist
by the standards of the time. Although
it was suggested he choose the name because an exploding A-bomb was his
preferred simile for the effect on men, in subsequent interviews he claimed his mind was focused on what he expected expected to be an "explosive
commercial and cultural reaction" to his design. Although originally Réard’s registered trademark
(patent number 19431), bikini has long been generic. When first displayed at Paris's Piscine Molitor (a large swimming pool complex) in July 1946, so scandalous did the established catwalk models find the notion of exposed navels that all declined the job so Monsieur Réard was compelled to hire Mademoiselle Micheline Barnardini (b 1927), then an exotic (ie nude) dancer from the Casino de Paris. For Mlle Barnardini even the skimpiest bikini was more modest than her usual professional lack of attire.
Le
Monde Illustré in August 1947 applied a little of their bourgeois intellectual thuggery
in comparing the denuding of the surface of Bikini Atoll by the bomb’s blast
wave with the near-elimination of flesh-covering material in the swimsuit: “Bikini,
ce mot cinglant comme l’explosion même...correspondait au niveau du vêtement de
plage à un anéantissement de la surface vêtue; à une minimisation extrême de la
pudeur”. (Bikini, a word now of
explosions, compares the effect of the state of the clothing at the beach to an
annihilation of the dressed surface; an extreme minimization of modesty.) Even then however it wasn't something all that novel, two-piece swimwear often seen since at least the 1930s and French fashion designer Jacques Heim (1899–1967) early in 1946 had staged a re-launch of his pre-war two-piece swimsuit which he named the Atome, (atoms then much in the public imagination as something very small yet possessing great power) advertising it as "the world's smallest bathing suit". However, unlike Réard's creation, it covered the navel, most of the buttocks and more of the breasts, enabling M. Réard truthfully to claim the bikini was "smaller than the smallest bathing suit". The rest is history.
Le
Yacht de la Route "Bikini" by Henri Chapron on the chassis of a 1937 Packard Super Eight.
The term “land yacht” came into use in the
1970s to describe the truly huge luxury automobiles which the major US manufactures all produced for most of the decade before emission control legislation and fuel-efficiency
standards doomed the breed. The Cadillacs and
Lincolns were the most emblematic but on the basis of length, at 235¼ inches (5975 mm), the 1973 Imperial was
actually the biggest. All were highly
inefficient and, despite the dimensions, were frequently comfortable transport
only for two although once inside they were enveloped by leather or velour and
the driving experience, although not fast by the standards of today (or even
years gone by), was truly effortless, smooth and quiet. So isolated were the occupants from the
outside environment that a frequent comment was they seemed “to float down the
road”, hence the term “land yacht”. The
dinosaurs of the 1970s however weren’t the first of the breed. Before in 1940 taking over his mother’s lingerie
business Louis Réard was an automobile engineer and one with a flair for publicity
so he commissioned coach-builder Henri Chapron (1886-1971 and in the 1960s to become
famous for his line of Citroën DS & ID coupés & cabriolets) to build what
he called Le Yacht de la Route (the yacht of the road). Chapron’s design included an actual boat bow, a
cabin with portholes, a mast from a yacht and a rear deck where models would
pose in bikinis when the car was taken around France on promotional tours. Originally the coachwork was mounted on the chassis
of a 1948 Hotchkiss Artois but its 3.5 litre (212 cubic inch) straight-six proved inadequate
to propel to heavy load so it was swapped to that of a 1937 Packard Super Eight,
the 6.3 litre (384 cubic inch) straight-eight easily able to cope.
Model Adriana Fenice (b 1994) in bikini.
The curiously named "Bikini State" was the system by which an alert state was defined by the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) to warn of non-specific forms of threat, including civil disorder, terrorism or war. Introduced in 1970, it was in use until 2006 and the MoD's official position has always be "bikini" was a code name selected at random by a computer; those who accept that story are presumably not familiar with the long military tradition of providing misleading answers, either to amuse themselves or confuse others. There were five Bikini alert states: (1) White which meant essentially there was no indication of a specific or general threat, (2) Black which referred to a situation in which there was heightened concern about internal or external threats, (3) Black Special which indicated an increased likelihood of the conditions which triggered a Black Alert, (4) Amber which confirmed the existence of specific threats or the higher probability of entering a state of armed conflict and (5) Red which covered everything from a specific threat (including the target(s) to actually being in a state of war and at risk of a nuclear strike. The need for a system which was better adapted to providing advice to the whole population rather than just the military & civil service was acknowledged after the 9/11 attacks in the US when it was recognised the threat environment had shifted since the Cold War and that the whole country should be regarded as "target rich" in much the way the security services treated Northern Ireland. Accordingly in 2006, the Government adopted a new five layer system: (1) Low, last seen in the brief, optimistic era between the end of the "troubles" in Northern Ireland (1998) and the week of the 9/11 attacks, (2) Moderate which is about as close to "normal" as anyone now reasonably aspires to achieves and suggests folk should be "alert but not alarmed", (3) Substantial which indicates some event is likely, (4) Severe which indicates a heightened level of threat beyond the substantial and (5) Critical which suggests there is intelligence to indicate an imminent attack and security precaution should be elevated to their highest level.
Many countries have similar systems in place although most maintain different arrangements for civilian & military purposes, the latter always tied to specific protocols and procedures. Some are trans-nation such as those used by the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and five-layers used to be the preferred option although this has changed. In the US the military's DEFCON (defense readiness condition) uses five color-coded levels ranging effecting from "stand easy" to "global thermo-nuclear war is imminent or already begun". The now defunct civilian Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS; 2002-2011) used a five-level approach but it was much criticized and since 2011 the US has used National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) which is event specific and defined by start and end dates, rather than maintaining the country in some nominal state of alert.
Sala delle Dieci Ragazze (Room of the Ten Girls), a first century AD mosaic in Villa Romana del Casale, Sicily. For whatever reason, it was a later addition, added atop what's thought to be a conventional geometric mosaic.
The bikini might in the popular imagination
be thought a symbol of Western freedom and something which liberated women from
the demands they remain as invisible as possible but the concept of the garment
is truly ancient. Some 2 miles (3.2 km) from
the Sicilian town of Piazza Armerina lie the ruins of what would once have been
the impressive Roman villa, Villa Romana del Casale. A UNESCO World Heritage Site thought to have
been built early in the fourth century AD, it contains one of the most
extraordinary collections of ancient Roman mosaics, all though the works of African
artists and artisans. One creation which
has proved of great interest is that which sits in what is popularly known as
the Sala delle Dieci Ragazze (Room of
the Ten Girls), depicting ten women, nine of whom wearing something in the
style of two-piece bathing suits, archeologists suggesting the bottom being a loincloth
made cloth or leather and known as a subligaculum,
a scanty version of the male perizoma
worn both as underwear and sometimes by athletes and slaves. It was a design which is thought to have
spread throughout the empire because archaeologists in Britain discovered during
the dig of an old well a leather “thong” that was found to date from shortly
after the time of Christ. Its size and
shape was exactly that of a modern bikini bottom and it’s now an exhibit at the
Museum of London.
The top part was essentially a breast-band,
known also to have been worn in Greece where the garment was known as a mastodeton or apodesmos (a strophium to
the Romans). In deference to comfort, mastodetons are thought often to have
been made from linen. The contribution
to fashion is one thing but what interested historians was that the women are
clearly participating in sports, their “bikinis” activewear and not swimwear. Some of the activities are ambiguous but it’s
obvious some are running, another is in the throes of throwing a discus while two
are engaged in some form of ball sport. Interestingly,
the ball is multi-colored but whether this reflected the nature of sporting
equipment in Antiquity or was a piece of artistic license isn’t known. Of political interest are the young ladies with
crowns of roses and palm-fronds, traditionally the prizes awarded to those
victorious in athletic competitions so the events were, to some degree,
apparently structured. It’s a myth women
in the Roman Empire were always banned from sport although there were
restrictions in that men and women competed separately and while, in Athenian
tradition, men generally competed naked (something outside the home not
permitted for women), the ancient “bikinis” were a compromise which afforded comfort
while avoiding unduly exciting any man whose glance might fall upon female
flesh.
That the US nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll made the swimsuit a world-wide success was noted by one Australian entrepreneur who, after the British conducted their own tests in October 1952 in the Montebello Archipelago, some 60 miles (100 km) off the north-west coast of Western Australia, attempted to promote his own variation: the Montebello suit (actually a bikini under another name. The tests, known as Operation Hurricane, came about because the British, fearful of (1) a nuclear-armed Soviet Union, (2) a possibly resurgent Germany and (3) a one-day un-interested United States, were anxious to possess their own independent nuclear deterrent. The British project proved a success and the UK to this day maintains a boutique-sized but strategically significant array of nuclear weapons and a delivery system which permits them to be aimed at any target on the planet. The Montebello swimsuit of the early 1950s was not a success but the name has be revived and bikinis using the name are now available.