Tiny Micro Bikinis
by Matt
Garrett
First up, we'll run through a
short history of the bikini (no sniggering at the back, please) and see
how we arrive at the micro bikini.
The two-piece swimsuit we know today as the bikini has only been marketed
and sold as such for 60 years. But archaeologists have discovered Minoan
wall paintings from 1600 B.C. and Roman mosaics from 300 A.D. that show
the bikini, so the ancients were livin' it up! Still, it is the debut of
the modern bikini in 1946 and its later modifications that truly define
the swimsuit.
The bikini was invented and launched by two French designers: Jacques Heim
and Louis Reard. Heim was a swimsuit designer who had created a two-piece
suit to be sold in his beach shop in Cannes. He marketed the swimsuit as
the 'atome', (named for its small size and meant to be compared with the
atom, the smallest particle of matter known). No doubt, it was an
outrageously tiny swimsuit.
The same year, Reard was creating his own similar, two-piece swimsuit. He
named and marketed his swimsuit as the bikini, claiming that it was "smaller
than the smallest bathing suit in the world". Reard christened his
swimsuit the bikini in honor of experimental atomic bombs being detonated
in the South Pacific, near the Bikini Reef.
So Reard's name stuck, though by today's standards, the bikinis of the
1940s and '50s were positively modest in their coverage. Bottoms were cut
above the navel, and tops fully covered the breasts.
Getting smaller by the year
The bikini went through several changes as time passed. Designers
experimented with many varieties for the swimsuit, including a bikini top
with attached propellers (!), a suit made entirely of red hair, and even a
version made of porcupine quills.
As early as the 1950s, the bikini was already so small that it could be
packed into a matchbook, but even more drastic shrinkage lay in store. In
the 1970s, the sexual revolution in the United States caused designers to
make the bikini even
more revealing.
So we had string bikinis, which exposed the navel by fitting the bottoms
on the hips. The top, too, provided only bra-style coverage. In the 1980s,
the popular thong bikini arrived on the scene. Designers claimed the thong
bikini originated from
the clothing of Amazonian
tribal groups in Brazil. As we know, the thong bikini leaves the bottom
virtually uncovered and
the back of the suit
disappears into the buttocks.
Micro bikinis
In the 1990s and 2000s, designers have continued to revamp the bikini and
innovated new styles. While the thong and
string bikinis retain their
popularity, the micro bikini has recently been added to the growing
selection. Essentially, micro bikinis are bikinis combining a micro bikini
top and a thong bikini bottom. Needless to add, it is scantier and more
revealing than traditional bikinis and hence its name.
Buying micro bikinis
· A word of warning: you need to be careful that you don’t opt for a
string bikini when you mean to buy a micro bikini.
There are enough illustrated
examples online to show you the difference.
· Numerous sites offer essential advice like how to shave your bikini line
(hairy exposures will NOT do). Make sure your
pubic area in particular is
well shorn.
· Choose the fabric well. Test your skin for itches and allergic rashes,
particularly since you will be spending a lot of time
in the sun wearing your bikini
· Have plenty of sunscreen handy. You need to use liberal doses all over
your body since you obviously will not have much
on in terms of protection from
the sun's rays! |
