http://bikini-science.com/
| Why Bikini Science Bikini Science analyzes the eroticism of the swimsuit, and seeks to illuminate the bikini's erotic edge; that is, where exposures are changing, in what direction, and why. Our mission here is two-fold: one part concerns distinction--how to label and classify a bikini--while the other part examines the who, when and where aspects of the bikini contextually and dynamically. The bikini is not a costume that is only about swimming. It is about fashion as well. Uninhibited? That is the question here. For the bikini has always had an edge, a line of permissibility that separates the risqué from the swift. It is a line in constant motion, changing not only from season to season, but from location to location as well. It is not so much that a bikini is sexy, it's the change in its size and shape, and where it is worn, that signals and communicates eroticism. |
Source
From James Laver, Taste and Fashion, from the French Revolution to Today, G. G. Harrap, London, 1945. Reproduced in Alison Lurie, The Language of Clothes, Vintage Books, Random House, New York, 1981, p. 7. 1 picture.
From James Laver, Taste and Fashion, from the French Revolution to Today, G. G. Harrap, London, 1945. Reproduced in Alison Lurie, The Language of Clothes, Vintage Books, Random House, New York, 1981, p. 7. 1 picture.
| Actions Adam and Eve, on a hot day in the Garden of Eden, go swimming to keep cool and enjoy the waters (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. They don't undress before swimming because they are not dressed to begin with. And they don't get dressed afterwards. They have yet to meet the snake and become self-conscious Commentary Toute nue; tout nu, or to translate the French, all nude (feminine), all nude (masculine). This is an example of what has later been called "skinny dipping." Source Recounted from The Bible, a religious text and social history which provides an account of the period before the bikini. Pictures are restages. 6 pictures. http://www.bikini-science.com/chronology/eden_SS/AE0005_S/AE0005.html  East Hampton, New York Summer 1974 EH7401 Costume White halter and culotte nombril bikini. TML + single barebreast (TMLB). Actions Cheryl, her husband, and three other couples sit together at the public beach. Cheryl's halter fits her just fine, but somehow or another she manages to move so that her entire right breast unknowingly pops out of her bikini top and lies fully exposed. This goes on for quite a while, but no mention is made of it and eventually she discovers it and quietly tucks it back in, without making a scene about it. Source Recollection courtesy companion. 1 picture. http://www.bikini-science.com/models/narratives_SS/EH7401_S/EH7401.html  East Hampton, New York Summer 1974 ES7402 Costume Maroon with little black flowers pattern lacy strap bra and matching lacy sidestrap nombril panties, actually underwear, but worn on the beach. TML. TMLB. N-3. Actions Eloise wears underwear to beach in lieu of a bathing suit, and claims, "This is the same thing as a bikini but it costs a lot less." Unfortunately for Eloise, her top gets washed up in the surf, and she ends up exposeing both of her breasts to a small clan of onlookers. Commentary Eloise's bra and panties are almost street legal, and although they don't expose any more of her the fact they are underware, and not bikini adds to their arousal. Another of the party also embarrasses herself (EH7401). Source Recollection courtesy boyfriend. 1 picture.  Sky Slope, Utah May 2001 NYA150 Costume Micro halter and g-string. TMLA. Tan lines. Actions One mother to another: "My hubsand and I go skiing in Utah, and our daughter comes along she doesn't want to ski, she wants to hang out by the pool with her friend. They want to get some guys to pay attention to them, and I say, 'how are you going to do that?' and she responds, 'Don't worry Mom, they will come to us.' Well, I walk by later and I take one look at them and they are wearing the smallest bikinis ever. And they are surrounded by a hive of guys--from the lifeguard on down. I think like this girl understands Robert Moses. When she comes back to the room I take a look at her tan and it is like two spots and a triangle, that's it. Two spots and a triangle.(1)" Commentary Robert Moses is urban planner responsible for the master plan of the highway system throughout much of greater New York City. "Build it and they will come," is his saying. Source Overheard in an office, New York. 1 picture. http://www.bikini-science.com/models/narratives_SS/NYA150_S/NYA150.html     "I shot these in a parking lot at Sandy Hook," writes a correspondent, "just as this girls was walking away from me (1). Here she is across the parking lot (2), and he she is coming back--she adjusted her suit when she saw me taking her picture (3), and then she gave me a smile (4). She said her name is Sara, but that's all I know." Commentary The pretzel maillot is strictly a mail-order purchase, and its appearance a public beach is a rarity. It may be argued that this maillot is intended to be a slingshot, but the fact it is tied criss-cross in front has mutated it species. Source Wildlife. 4 pictures. http://www.bikini-science.com/models/familyphotos_SS/SH9354_S/SH9354.html         Actions Kelly returns newly glued and models the pink pasties lying on her side (1, 2). Her breasts are obviously unsupported (3, 4) and are free to move when Kelly does (5, 5, 7). She sits (8, 9, 10) and pauses for a solo shots of her right (11) and left (12) pasty. She reclines on her back for a full-body pose (13), closeups of her chest (14), and her g-string (15), then rolls onto her belly to show off her bare back (16) and buttocks (17). Commentary The pinks are one size smaller than the reds (KP88F7), and one size bigger than the lavenders (KP88F6). The sized pasties suggest a dynamic, a temporal component, a game, and methods of transverse. You can explore this. Source Fantasmo, "Sized Crochet Pasties Set," 1989. 17 pictures.  Actions A young woman and her date have ascended the escalator to the forth floor of the Museum of Modern Art. The boyfriend is tall and lean and the girlfriend is shorter and slender. She flashes the side of her belly when she wipes the hair out of her face. Her exceptional display is not her belly flashing but is a continuum beyond her bare legs. Many of the visitors are wearing shorts, but this visitor's loose-fitting shorts reveal not only the line where her cheeks meet her leg, but the lower third of her butt as well. Such an exposure would be provocative at the beach, but here in the museum it is past the extreme. A pair of eyes stalk her and she looks over her shoulder at the voyeur. He keeps looking and she turns away, her boyfriend pretending obviousness. She looks around again, and discovers that her stare is failing to dissuade her admirer. Delicately she clasps her hands behind her back, and then carefully distends the museum program from her fingers so that it partly covers her butt (1). She drifts away and turns her head again, only to discover that her action has attracted other eyes. Out of the other side of her eye she catch a young couple riding up the escalator who have become oblivious to her exposure from a lower angle, and are jousting each other about it. She is over exposed and can't hide. Commentary One wonders about the politics here. A skilled exhibitionist would not try to intimidate her onlookers. Perhaps she was trying to arouse her boyfriend, or perhaps he put her up to it, but in either respect he has drawn her into a situation of embarrassment. Source Recounted by the Chief Bikini Scientist. 1 picture.        March 20, 1993 CB9372 Costume White T-shirt over pink, green and yellow V-front, Y-back torpedo maillot tanga. MLA > TMLA. N-7. Excessive cleavage centros and côté. Inguinal. Tan lines. Actions In Round One Contestant Two prances around with a T-shirt over her maillot (1, 2), and then pulls it off overhead. The V-cut of her maillot strikes to seven inches below her navel; the back of the tanga rises straight up in the air and Y's out, mid-back, up to her shoulder straps (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9). This contestant makes it to Round Two (10, 11, 12), Round Three (13, 14, 15, 16, 17), and into the Final Elimination (18). Commentary The tan lines indicate residuals of a more normal micro tanga (if indeed such a thing is possible), which she apparently wear when she is not on stage. In fact, stripping is part of the bikini contest at Coconuts, if indeed it is only limited to ripping off a t-shirt. Source Wildlife. 18 pictures.          Coconuts, Cocoa Beach, Florida March 20, 1993 CB9377 Costume White slit T-shirt over pink and white string nippled patch torpedo maillot g-string. MLA > TMLA. N-4. Excessive cleavage. Inguinal. Headlights in see-through. Actions Contestant Seven rips opens her T-shirt from the front and quickly establishes her costume (1, 2). It is a homemade torpedo, with each bra cup less than two inches wide and four inches tall suspended spider style (3, 4, 5, 6). It is obvious her nipples are erect. A little pink rabbit's tail adorns the back of the suit where a string up to the neck (7, 8). She prances through Round Two (9, 10, 11, 12, 13), dances through Round Three (14, 15, 16, 17), and emerges the winner in the Final Elimination (18). Commentary Total surround cleavage distinguish this homemade (or custom made) torpedo as the Easter Bunny sweeps away the day in some very tough bikini competition. Gum Arabic may be necessary to keep this costume in place! Source Wildlife. 18 pictures. http://www.bikini-science.com/locations/CB90_SS/CB9377_S/CB9377.html Actions Since bikinis consist (by definition) of two pieces--a top and a bottom--a great deal more resolution and detail is required to accurately describe them. To prevent ambiguity we use the term soutien-gorge to refer to the bikini top in a generic sense, and the term culotte to refer to the bottom. A wide variety of soutien-gorge and culotte exist. Popular literature uses a wide range of terms generically--tops are called halters, bras and blouses, and bottoms are called shorts, panties and briefs--with the effect of losing any finer resolution. The definitions and illustrations advanced in Bikini Science distinguish over two-dozen individual species of each in order to facilitate analysis. Various drafts of these symbols for bikini tops and bottoms have evolved, from early hand drawings (1, 2), to Hypercard drawings of top (3) and bottom (4), to the icons used in the website. Source Judson Rosebush, Bikini Science Hypercard Stack, 1988. 4 pictures. 
 
 
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