Animal print swimsuits were first seen in the 1950s. It was quite a revolution! Swimsuits had printed fabrics for years before that, but putting animal prints on swimsuits made a literal “splash.” In order to sell women on the idea of animal prints on their swimwear, advertisers came up with this tagline: “If you can’t drive a Jaguar, wear one.”

Me-ow! We sure would love to do both if possible: drive a sexy car and own luxurious animal print swimwear! But if we’re forced to chose, we’ll take the bikinis and head to the beach! Especially with choices like the Tamed Tiger Bandeau bikini from Sabz Luxury and the Bardot Ruffle bikini by ViX. Yes, please! Or you can check out the entire selection of animal print swimsuits to find what suits your inner animal.

How’d you do? When you’re all done, tell us what surprised you in the comments!

Bendita Vainilla by Agua Bendita Swimwear

What does the word “bikini” mean, anyway? Does “bi” stand for “two” and “kini” stand for piece? You might think so (we certainly did!), but it’s not true at all. The word “bikini” comes from the name of a Micronesian island named Bikini Atoll. And the bikini wasn’t even invented there – it was invented in Paris by Parisian fashion designer Louis Réard, just two weeks after Bikini Atoll was the site of a nuclear test.

Réard named his revealing two-piece creation “the Bikini” for its explosive effect on anyone that viewed it. And it made quite a stir amongst everyone, including the models he asked to wear it! Most models turned it down for being too revealing, until a model named Michèle Bernadini stepped up to the challenge. Below she can be seen wearing Réard’s creation poolside for the Paris fashion press in 1946.

We don’t think the original bikini seen here is the most flattering suit for Ms. Bernadini, but we love that designer Réard took the risk and made a suit that was so ahead of its time! It took a while after that for bikinis to catch on, but boy are we glad they finally did!

Though two-piece outfits have been seen throughout history as far back 3000 BC, what we know as the modern bikini debuted in 1946 in Paris. During that summer, French engineer Louis Réard and designer Jacques Heim each independently designed a skimpier version of the traditional bathing suit. Heim’s design was the first to debut, but Réard gave the new swimsuit the name “le bikini” after the Bikini Atoll Island.

The new more revealing version of traditional two-piece suits was met with scandal and scorn all over the world and even the French models hired to wear them refused. It wasn’t until the early 50s that the bikini began to gain popularity along the French Riviera and it would take even longer to reach the United States (even Sports Illustrated blasted it as late as 1957!). Luckily the combination of private pools and the hit song “Itsy Bitsy, Teenie Weenie, Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” in 1960 finally brought acceptance of the bikini in the US. And we have never looked back!

So this weekend, as we celebrate the birth of the United States, lets also take some time to celebrate the birth of our sexiest beach ensemble. Cheers to Louis Reard, Jacques Heim, “itsy bitsy, teenie weenie” bikinis, and all the women who make them look fabulous!

A thought on how far we’ve come. From this:

To this:

Hooray for designer bikinis!