Top > World > 2006 > July > 2006-07-06

Modern Bikini Turns Sixty

On July 5, that modern symbol of female beauty and countless male dreams and fantasies, the modern bikini, turned sixty years old. The bikini has seen many different changes be applied to it since it was first invented, not just 60 years ago but more than 1,700 years ago, when women on the island of Sicily were depicted in mosaics. The modern bikini, though, has weathered scandal and time to become one of the most iconic objects of our world. Perhaps one of the greatest moments in modern bikini history occurred when Ursula Andress wore a skimpy bikini in 1962?s James Bond feature ?Dr. No?.

How many pin-up girls have worn bikinis, adorning the walls of teenage and adult males around the world? Take a trip to pretty much any beach in summer, and you?ll have a hard time not noticing all the bikinis around you. Sports Illustrated might not have been as successful as it has been without the various Swimsuit Issues that the publication has offered over the years, with supermodels like Kathy Ireland displaying the latest beach fashions in revealing poses that surely have had guys wishing they could not only see those bikinis in person, but also what is underneath.

There are still those in the world who are opposed to bikinis. Some styles never go out of fashion, but the same can be said for the opinion of the more conservative types in the world, the ones who long for the days when female bodies were fully covered. It is doubtful, though, that any young male in his right mind on a beach would wish that the girl sun-tanning next to him was, shall we say, less-than-revealingly adorned.