1.  The invention of the bikini – Bikinis and the atomic bomb – fise handwritten

2.  Bikinis and fascism/nazism & mass-media  – fise handwritten

3.  Types of bikinis – monokinis + different designes  – handwritten +

3.  Each one puts a different stress on some distinction –  perhaps a

 peculiarity of body shape –  in addressing itself to the specific type ofwoman for whom it is designed. Yet in spite of the apparently infinite

choice currently available to a woman, they all represent no more thanan insignificant fraction of the total number of bikinis that have passedthrough the great maisons de haute couture and the office-workshops

and the warehouses over the last fifty years.Bikinis made of bearskin, of sea-wrack (a type of seaweed), with

diamonds, of linked metal plaques, in cast-iron; bikinis that are

inflatable, submersible, adhesive, or disposable; bikinis that are simply painted on the body, or made of flowers stuck onto it; bikinis that retain

a cool temperature; bikinis that sprout windmills turned by solar energyhitting solar cells on the blades –  the history of the simple two-piececostume could fill a surprising and amusing gallery of swim-wear

fashion, and would deserve to be immortalized in a museum devotedentirely to the subject. Some models are hardly wearable at all, being

too heavy or just too awkward to put on. Others might certainly be

used to walk on the beach, but would be impossible to swim in. Yetothers are of such priceless value that they could never be taken out of

Most of the variations on the bikini were inspired by its origins. If a

designer believed that it derived from undergarments, then the accent

would be on an apparently intimate revelation, perhaps with therefinement of transparent (or at least seemingly transparent) materials.

Rather, if a designer thought that the bikini stemmed from its seasideconnections, then it might be covered with starfish or with bobbles

resembling sea-urchins, or made to look as if it was actually made ofseaweed. If a designer wanted to emphasize the sexual connotations,to suggest, for example, that it would make its wearer totally irresistible,

it might be moulded out of chocolate and be visibly “delicious” (though short-lived). Some insist on innocence, and work with the motifs

of childhood; others see in it as an extension of fierce Amazon dressCatherine Bleuze in Louis Réard’s Bikini de Mars, May 26, 1955. Gisèle Thierry in a Réard bikini, May 26, 1955.73

Déclaration – Louis Réard’s new collection, May 26, 1955.7475

and include, among its accessories, such items as a sheath for a dagger

and holsters for revolvers.