Micro Bikini
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