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.
A swimsuit is an item of clothing designed to be worn by people engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, diving and surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sun bathing. Different types may be worn by men, women, and children. A swimsuit can be described by various names, some of which are used only in particular locations or for particular types of suit, including swimwear, bathing suit, bathing attire, swimming costume, bathing costume, swimming suit, swimmers, swimming togs, bathers, cossie, or swimming trunks, besides others.
American 1920s woman's bathing suit
Historical marker SC-285, located in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, about the danger of swimsuits made of wool. Marker put in place in 2022 by the Delaware Public Archives. Photographed in 2023.
Unlike blue, gray, and white, neon pink and neon orange are highly visible colors underwater.
Olympic swimming gold medalist Tyler Clary of U.S. walks wearing men's swim briefs, while Michelle Bremer of New Zealand looks on in a racerback one-piece swimsuit, 2012