Bikinis

A bikini is usually a women's abbreviated two-piece swimsuit with a bra top for the chest and panties cut below the navel.  The basic design is simple: two triangles of fabric on top cover the woman's breasts and two triangles of fabric on the bottom cover the groin in front and the buttocks in back.

Bikinis

A Bikini is a type of swimsuit for women. It consists of two parts; pants and a bra top, leaving an uncovered area between the two.  The bikini is perhaps the most popular female beachwear around the globe.

The size of a bikini bottom can range from full pelvic coverage to a revealing thong or G-string design.

Bikini bottoms can refer to swimwear or underwear.  A bikini bottom in underwear is a type of panty.  Actually, women or men can wear a bikini bottom.

Bikini tops come in several different styles and cuts, including a halter-style neck that offers more coverage and support, a strapless bandeau, a rectangular strip of fabric covering the breasts that minimizes large breasts, a top with cups similar to a push-up bra, and the more traditional triangle cups that lift and shape the breasts.  There are four fundamental types of bare-midriff bikini tops: the brassière, halter, bandeau, and vest. These styles are differentiated by the number of shoulder straps and the resultant number of edges to the garment.  Some of these tops include a halter-style neck strap that offers more coverage and support, a strapless bandeau, a rectangular strip of fabric covering the breasts that minimizes large breasts, a top with cups similar to a push-up bra, and the more traditional triangle cups that lift and shape the breasts.

Women's Bikinis

Bikini Bottoms are as important as the tops

Their appears to be tons of differnt bikini bottoms that vary in style, cut and the amount of rear coverage they offer. It is important to pick the one that it most appropriate for your body type.  The coverage ranges from full, as in the case of more modest bottom pieces like briefs, shorts, or briefs with a small skirt-panel attached, to full butt exposure, as in the case of the thong bikini.  Skimpier styles have narrow sides, including V-cut (in front), French cut (with high-cut sides) and low-cut string (with string sides).

Women's Bikini

While the name bikini was applied to the skimpy fashion that first revealed the wearer's navel, the fashion industry considers any two-piece swimsuit a bikini.  Modern bikini fashions today are characterized by a simple, brief design: two triangles of fabric that form a bra and cover the woman's breasts and two triangles of fabric on the bottom forming a panty cut below the navel[3] that cover the groin in front and the buttocks in back.  The amount of coverage can vary widely, from a string bikini with very little coverage to a full design with maximum coverage. A topless swimsuit may still be considered a bikini, although naturally it is no longer a two-piece swimsuit.

Bandeaukini - A bandeaukini, alternatively called a bandini, is a bandeau top, with no straps going over the shoulders, worn with any bikini bottom.

Bikinis - A bikini is a two-piece item of swimwear, with briefs and top to cover the bust, just like a panty and bra set. Perfect for maximum tanning and for staying cool by the pool. There are many variations in style and cut.  If playing in the ocean, becareful of the big waves.  When you stand up, make sure to check that your bikini top is still properly inplace before exiting the water.

Brazilian Bikinis - A Brazilian bikini is somewhere between a normal bikini brief and a thong brief, the Brazilian is low rise and cuts upward in a curve across the cheeks, making them quiet revealing.

Convertible Bikinis - If you are undecided whether you want a bandeau (strapless) bikini or a bikini with tie sides, you will find that some stores have a convertible version. These bikinis come with a detachable strap so you can remove them entirely in an instant. Now you can have the best of both swimwear versions in one garment.

High Waisted Bikinis - A high waisted bikini is perfect for achieving that vintage look. High waisted bikinis come in all shapes ad sizes, some coming up to just above the widest part of the hip to about the belly button.

Microkini - A microkini is an extremely skimpy bikini.  Uses very little fabric.

Monokini - A monokini, more commonly referred to as a topless swimsuit and sometimes referred to as a unikini, is a women's one-piece swimsuit equivalent to the lower half of a bikini.  In 1964, Rudi Gernreich, an Austrian fashion designer, designed the original monokini in the US.  Gernreich also invented its name, and the word monokini is first recorded in English that year. Gernreich's monokini looked like a one-piece swimsuit suspended from two halter straps in the cleavage of bared breasts. It had only two small straps over the shoulders, leaving the breasts bare.

Skirtini - The skirtini, which features a bikini top and a small, skirted bottom, is an innovation for bikini-style clothes with more coverage.

Sling Bikini - The sling bikini is also known as a "suspender bikini", "suspender thong", "slingshot bikini" or just "slingshot". It is a one-piece suit which provides as little, or even less, coverage (or as much exposure) as a bikini. Usually, a slingshot resembles a bikini bottom, but rather than the straps going around the hips or waist, the side straps extend upwards to cover the breasts and go over the shoulders, leaving the entire sides of the torso uncovered, but the nipples and pubic area covered. Behind the neck, the straps join and reach down the back to become a thong.  The variation of sling bikinis that has the straps simply encircle the neck and another set of straps pass around the midriff, instead of the straps passing over the neck and down the back, is called a pretzel bikini.

Sting Bikini - A string bikini is scantier and more revealing than a regular bikini. It gets its name from the string characteristics of its design. It consists of two triangular shaped pieces connected at the groin but not at the sides, where a thin "string" wraps around the waist connecting the two parts. String bikini tops are similar and are tied in place by the attached "string" pieces. String pieces can either be continuous or tied. A string bikini bottom can have minimal to maximum coverage of a woman's backside.

Tankini - The tankini is a swimsuit combining a tank top, mostly made of spandex-and-cotton or Lycra-and-nylon, and a bikini bottom introduced in the late 1990s.  According to author William Safire, "The most recent evolution of the -kini family is the tankini, a cropped tank top supported by spaghetti-like strings." The tankini is distinguished from the classic bikini by the difference in tops, the top of the tankini essentially being a tank top. The tankini top extends downward to somewhere between just above the navel and the top of the hips.

Triangle Bikinis - Triangle bikinis have a triangular-shaped cup and brief covering, which is held in place by narrow, string-like ties. This bikini top consists of two triangle shaped cups that provide minimal coverage, and tiny straps that tie around the neck and back to lift and shape the bust, and leave your skin exposed for tanning.

Trikini - The trikini appeared briefly in 1967, defined as "a handkerchief and two small saucers." It reappeared a few years ago as a bikini bottom with a stringed halter of two triangular pieces of cloth covering the breasts.  The trikini top comes essentially in two separate parts.  The name of this woman's bathing suit is formed from bikini, replacing "bi-", meaning "two", with "tri-", meaning "three".

The history of the bikini can be traced back to antiquity. Illustrations of Roman women wearing bikini-like garments during competitive athletic events have been found in several locations. The most famous of them is Villa Romana del Casale. French engineer Louis Réard introduced the modern bikini, modeled by Micheline Bernardini, in July 5, 1946, borrowing the name for his design from the Bikini Atoll.  French women welcomed the design but the Catholic church, some media, and a majority of the public initially thought the design was risqué or even scandalous.  We wonder what they would have thought if they saw the g-string style.

Learn about bikini underwear.

You may want to also learn about swimwear, g-strings, and thongs.

View bikini blog posts.


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