History of the Bikini

Everyday each and everyone of us walks out in this cold Ithaca weather and wishes we had chosen to go to school in a warmer climate. What do you think each of us imagines when we picture a tropical place. I’ll tell you what I imagine. I think of beaches full of beautiful people in bathing suits and bikinis. What many of us don’t know is the hardships that women’s swimwear had to go through to get to where it is today. It, just like many of society’s minorities, had to fight to be accepted among society and freely worn around the world. I am now going to share with you the development of the bikini to how you know it today.

Women’s swimwear has come a very long way since the first recorded use of a bathing suit in Greece, around 300 B.C. Little did the Roman’s know but swimwear was to experience a long standing dry spell after the fall of their empire. During the 1700’s in Europe, public bathing became very popular, forcing women to adapt a special outfit for thi...