The monokini was designed by Rudi Gernreich in 1964, consisting of only a brief, close-fitting bottom and two thin straps; it was the first women's topless swimsuit. His revolutionary and controversial design included a bottom that "extended from the midriff to the upper thigh" and was "held up by shoestring laces that make a halter around the neck." Some credit Gernreich's design with initiating, or describe it as a symbol of, the sexual revolution.
Peggy Moffitt, a model wearing a monokini, as published in Women's Wear Daily, 3 June 1964
Monokini designer Rudi Gernreich in 1951. Gernreich had predicted in a September 1962 issue of Women's Wear Daily that "Bosoms will be uncovered within five years."
Carol Doda wore Gernreich's monokini for her act at the Condor Club, starting the trend of topless bars
Woman wearing a monokini, 2010
A bikini is a two-piece swimsuit primarily worn by girls and women that features one piece on top that covers the breasts, and a second piece on the bottom: the front covering the pelvis but usually exposing the navel, and the back generally covering the intergluteal cleft and a little, some, or all of the buttocks. The size of the top and bottom can vary, from bikinis that offer full coverage of the breasts, pelvis, and buttocks, to more revealing designs with a thong or G-string bottom that covers only the mons pubis, but exposes the buttocks, and a top that covers only the areolae. Bikini bottoms covering about half the buttocks may be described as "Brazilian-cut".
Mexican actress Dolores del Río posing in a publicity photograph for the film In Caliente (1935). Del Río was a pioneer in wearing a two piece swimsuit.
A woman wearing a black bikini at a beach in 2009
Operation Crossroads was a nuclear test series at the Bikini Atoll, and the inspiration for the naming of two French swimsuit designs at the time, including the bikini.
The ancient Roman Villa Romana del Casale (286–305 AD) in Sicily has one of the earliest known bikini images.