La Revolucion el Bikini

Blog article for our February 9, 2012 class: Queer and Feminist Theory
Inspired by the Bikini Episode of Love|Lust

We are all aware how sexy girls look with four small triangles covering only their most sensitive body parts but do we know the message beyond the sex appeal?

Apparently, the bikini served as a symbol of woman empowerment and a weapon to promote women's rights and further let the women's voices be heard.

1. Micheline Bernardini introduced the first modern bikini in July 5 1946 designed by French engineer Loius Reard and fashion designer Jacques Heim. It was described as "smaller than the smallest swimsuit". The most shocking feature of this latest swimsuit design is that the two-piece is so small, it showed the women's navel or the bellybutton already. This was just not acceptable for many men, including women, especially those of authority. The bikini, worn by a bombshell, a sexy dancer who can often be seen dancing nude, was scandalous and too sensual for men and women all over the globe.

Micheline Bernardini's debut of the world's first bikini

Apparently, the world was not ready for a grande display of navels every summer. The paternalistic religions greatly objected - The Catholic church considered wearing bikinis as a mortal sin and women who are caught wearing the bikini were punished "accordingly", some governments who oppose such radical liberalization also arrest women caught in the skimpy and "inappropriate" swimsuit. The United Kingdom, Switzerland, Netherlands and of course Italy where the Vatican City rested, did not allow women to wear such scandalous piece of clothing. The women then had no choice but to submit. 

2. Several years after it first debut, everything changes for the better. Briggitte Bardot showed up in the infamous Cannes Film Festival in 1953. She showed up not in a long glamorous gown but in the much despised bikini. However, this time, the bikini show-up wasn't as scandalous as the first. Why? Theorists say it is simply because of Bardot's personality and image. After all, she wasn't a nude dancer, she was a high-class actress. The goal and the general motive of the person wearing the bikini actually changed the way the people see it. Bardot had this goal to show the world, especially the men, the "strength" of women. For her, the bikini was very empowering and she wore it to show to women all over the world that they should not be limited or constrained in words, in deeds and very much so in clothing. She served as the American bikini icon as she bridged America's acceptance of the once despised swimwear.

Briggitte Bardot's "clean" bikini look

3. Brian Hyland's infamous novel hit the Itsy Bitsy Yellow Polkadot Bikini is not just a funny hit from the 70's, it served as some form of "Code of Acceptance" of the men to women's cry for attention and empowerment through the bikini. The lines "One, two, three four, tell the people what you wore" says how the song writers Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss encourages women to wear the bikini, feel free upon wearing it and flaunt it like any confident sexy woman would.

4. Many other iconic women simultaneously wore the bikini all over the world which eventually led to society's acceptance to it. The bikini becomes an essential part of every woman's wardrobe and it also quickly became the official "costume" of summer in beaches all over the world.

Top (L-R): Annette Funicello, Raquel Welch, Carrie Fischer and Babette March
Bottom (L-R): Ursula Andress, Tyra Banks, Demi Moore, Halle Berry and Helen Mirren

"Women favored bikinis because of its unique stylishness and the liberating nature of their design; wearing them provided women the opportunity to publicly display their bodies. On the other hand, men liked bikinis because they showed off more of the female body." [Read more]

The bikini, a masterpiece of men, by men, created for the men, to please and entice the men unknowingly and ironically became a weapon of women to empower themselves, give themselves confidence, courage and strength against the men, who were considered as the leaders of the once very patriarchal society we knew and experienced. The bikini, a creation which was supposed to only have a fashion-related agenda and nothing else, became one of the strongest medium of women to welcome the rise Feminism. 

♥ Reese Corpuz