This month is the 66th anniversary of the bikini, as designed by French Engineer Louis Réard on July 5th 1946. To celebrate I’m putting together my list of top 10 iconic bikinis – let me know if you think I’ve left any out!
1. Louis Réard’s original string bikini modelled by exotic dancer Micheline Bernardini which caused a sensation and was made from just 30 square inches of fabric.
2. Ursula Andress’s white bikini from James Bond film Dr. No. We’ve all see this bikini so many times that I figure a photo of her doing a handstand in it is much more interesting than the usual photos we’ve all seen over and over again! (plus we get a photo of Sean Connery too and that can never be a bad thing…)
3. Carrie Fisher wearing Princess Leia‘s slave bikini in Star Wars
4. Raquel Welch in her leather bikini from One Million Years B.C. (this is the Madame Tassauds version but you get the idea)
5. Salma Hayek in From Dusk Till Dawn
6. Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot - but I don’t have a photo of that one, so here’s Marilyn in an equally lovely bikini!
7. Bo Derek in 10 (I know, the swimsuit is more iconic than the bikini but still…)
8. Bettie Page
8.5 (I forgot this one originally!) Rudi Gernreich’s Topless Swimsuit. You can see more photos of this here
9. Halle Berry in Die Another Day – a homage to Ursula Andress’s original James Bond swimsuit
10. For number 10 I couldn’t decide whether to go for Elizabeth Hurley in Bedazzled or Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider – which do you think?
What do you think? Did you agree with my top 10? and who should get that final slot, Angelina or Elizabeth…? It wasn’t an easy decision, should I have included Katy Perry’s whipped-cream spurting bikini from California Girls, Sarah Palin’s stars and stripes hoax bikini or even stretched the rules and included Farrah Fawcett’s red swimsuit..?
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I agree !!! If you include swinsuits, there are others like Deborah Kerr in “from here to eternity”, making love on the beach… humm… Liz Taylor in white, so iconic, or Grace Kelly in “High Society” near the swimming pool, and Katharine Hepburn before her in “Philadelphia Story”. But it’s another top 10 to make
with the question of Pamela Anderson in red…
My favorite of all here is Ursula Andress (ok, maybe it’s beacause Sean is here too…) and I would choose Angelina as number 10.
Have a nice day
Anne
Thanks Anne
That’s definitely a post for another day – I might even get started on that one now – nice to see your ideas for it match mine!
nice post,keep it up
thanks, appreciate your kind words!
well you must be quite young to not remember and not list Rudi Gernreichs’ suits,especially the topless one from the 60′s. what an omission!
Ooh good point, thanks!
Yes I was born in the seventies, but still shouldn’t have missed that out! I’ll definitely have to add that on… And above Halle Berry…
mary…you also left out an important female designer of the 40′s and 50′s whose name was synonymous with the world of sportswear…claire mc cardell…she paved the way for modern dressing for women. wrap dresses…jump suits…skorts…she was really great…
did Claire McCardel do any bikinis? I thought she was more about one-piece swimwear?
yea!!! i see you added gernreich…i designed the all in none for exquisite form years ago…also the no-bra, which was really revolutionary. as to mc car del…she did a one piece WRAP halter suit that was so divine and unique…remember, the 50′s were all about control and pointy boobs…not this suit. see if you can find it in the catalogs…i copied it once just to see how it was done…not for manufacture,