From the bathing suits of the 1920s, which covered up almost everything ... to ...

... to the swimear of today ... which leaves very little to the imagination.

A few years back I bought a CD version of The American Heritage Dictionary and loaded it onto my laptop. It defines the bikini as "a very brief, close-fitting, two-pieced bathing suit worn by women."

Wikipedia expands on that by saying it's a woman's bathing suit "with two parts, one covering the breasts, the other the groin, leaving an uncovered area between the two."

The invention of the modern bikini is attributed to Frenchman Louis Reard in 1946. An automobile engineer by education, he wound up running his mother's lingerie boutique near Les Folies Bergeres in Paris. Working with fashion designer Jacques Heim, the two men designed the "world's smallest bathing suit." Reard named the new design "bikini" for two reasons.

(1) Because he believed the new bathing suit would cause excitement similar to a nuclear explosion.

During the summer of 1946 the United States conducted a series of publicly witnessed and controlled nuclear tests to determine the toxicity and residual effects of atomic bomb detonations. The testing caused quite a stir around the world. Called Operation Crossroads, the tests were conducted in the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific on the Bikini Atoll.

(2) Reard thought the shape of the bathing-suit bottom was similar in shape of the Bikini Atoll.

At first, Reard had problems finding a woman daring enough to model the new creation. He eventually convinced Micheline Bernardini, a nude dancer at the Casino de Paris, to be the first model. On July 5, 1946, she wore a string bikini at Piscine Molitor, a public swimming pool in Paris.

Soon after its debut, the bikini began popping up on the French Riviera and caught on fast with trendy French women.

The bikini gained favor in the United States during the late 1940s when Hollywood stars Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, and Lana Turner started wearing the scanty suits on the beach in Malibu, and in some of their movies. Esther Williams advanced the bikini movement by wearing a provocative number in the 1949 Hollywood release - Neptune's Daughter.

Pinups of Rita Hayworth and Esther Williams became quite popular. As witness of this fact, the Rita Hayworth pinup played a part in the plot of The Shawshank Redemption when Andy Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins, got Red, played by Morgan Freeman, to procure a Rita Hayworth pinup to hang on the wall of his cell. In fact, the movie was an adaptation of a short story by Stephen King titled "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemtion."

No one advanced the cause of the bikini more than French film star and sex-symbol Brigitte Bardot. She was not only seen wearing one of her bikinis on beaches all around the world, but she also wore a bikini in films like And God Created Woman (Et Dieu Crea la Femme).

Her "look" gave rise to the term "sex kitten" - which came to describe women who were sexually provocative and sexually active. Legend has it that Birigitte fit the definition of sex kitten to a T.

Evidence of bikini-like attire pre-dates Louis Reard's bikini.

Greek urns and paintings dating back to 1400 BC show women wearing two-piece outfits when competing in athletic events. Archaeological finds uncovered in the ruins of Pompeii depict the Roman goddess Venus wearing a bikini.

Artwork dating back to the beginning of 4th century AD were discovered in Villa Romana del Casale in Sicily showing images of ten women, which have come to be known as "The Bikini Girls," exercising in clothing very similar to Reard's bikini.

Annette Kellerman, born in Australia in 1887, played a huge part in the evolution of women's swimwear. Kellerman was a professional swimmer who went on to become a vaudeville headliner and Hollywood film star. She was, in fact, the first major actress to appear in a nude scene when she appeared fully nude in A Daughter of the Gods. She has her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 1952, a movie was released about her life. The film was called Million Dollar Mermaid and she was portrayed by Esther Williams. More recently, in 2002, an award winning documentary was produced in Australia. It was called The Original Mermaid.

In 1905, at the age of 18, she became the fiirst woman to attempt to swim the English Channel. She tried and failed on three occasions, then declared, "I had the endurance but not the brute strength."

She is often credited for inventing synchronized swimming and, in 1907, performed the first water ballet in a glass tank. That performance took place in the New York Hippodrome. It was in her role as a world-recognized swimmer that she began a crusade to change the mores regarding bathing suits and women.

In the early 1900s, women were expected to wear burdensome swim attire that was a combination dress and pantaloon ensemble. She began speaking out in favor of a one-piece swimsuit which was far more revealing.

In 1907, at the height of her popularity, she wore a one-piece suit on a beach in Boston. She was arrested, but kept right on campaigning for reform by wearing one-piece suits everywhere she went. The popularity on her one-piece led to her own line of swimwear. Called "The Annette Kellerman," it was the first step toward modern swimwear.

Her popularity was immense. In 1908, Dr. Dudley A. Sargent, of Harvard University, condcuting a survet of 3,000 women. The study named Annette Kellerman as "The Perfect Woman" and called her physical attributes to be similar to Venus de Milo.

As the bikini gained favor spin-offs soon started appearing.

Today we have bikini underwear, sports bikinis, bikinis for men, and bikini waxing.

You do this ...

Warm wax is applied to the area of unwanted hair, and covered with small strips of cloth. The wax is allowed to harden. Then the cloth is ripped off quickly to remove the hair, in an upward direction from the roots.

Some discomfort is associated with the process, and the discomfort can last up to five days, If done improperly, infection can set it. Waxing can still be performed during pregnancy, but the process generally causes more discomfort due to the increased sensivity of the tender areas.

Bikini waxing can be performed at home with the purchase of a do-it-yourself home kit.

 ... to wind up looking like this ...

Over the last twenty years or so the bikini spawned a whole new commercial industry - bikini waxing.

Bikini waxing, or pubic depilation, is the removal of body hair in and around the pubic area. Originally, bikini waxing was designed to just remove the hair around the outside edges of the bikini. But bikini waxing turned into a monster and now often includes the removal of body hair that's covered by the bikini.

Today, there are three major waxing techniques - American waxing, French waxing, and Brazilian waxing.

In any case, most women who wear bikinis would not wear them without employing one of the bikini waxing techniques.

American waxing was the first type of bikini waxing. Called the basic bikini wax, it involves the removal of all hair not covered by the bikini - the hair from the tops of the thighs and the hair between the navel and the top of the bikini bottoms.

French waxing came second. It involves the removal of hair until just a narrow strip remains, two to three fingers wide, to just above the vulva. It is usually referred to as the "landing strip" or a partial Brazilian waxing.

Hair may also be removed from the peri-anal area and labia. In which case it is also called Playboy waxing or G-string waxing.

The most severe form of bikini waxing is Brazilian waxing. It came in response to the arrival of the thong-style bikini.

A Brazilian wax job involves the removal of all hair ... from the buttocks ... the anus ... the perineum ... and the vulva. It is referred to as the full Brazilian wax, the full bikini wax, the Hollywood wax, the Spinx wax, and the Yul Brenner.

No article about the bikini would be complete without a Bikini Contest.

Check out the Bikini Babes that follow, and vote for your favorite. There are seven contestants ... Patrice ... Paula ... Jessica #1 ... Brooke ... Susan ... Jessica #2 ... and ... Michelle