Now you may think that it is a very long leap from the loincloth to the bikini. And you may also remember that the bikini was named after an atomic bomb, with the designer comparing the devastating effects of the bomb to the effect that seeing a woman in a bikini would have on men.
The truth is that yes, the name "bikini" does date from 1946, the start of the atomic testing on and above the Bikini atoll, part of the Marshall Islands. However, a strip of cloth across the breasts of a woman is often seen, in accompaniment with a loincloth, in Greek frescoes, especially when women are depicted taking part in sporting events, and it is likely that it was designed for comfort during activity, much as we have a sports bra today. Whilst a similar costume is shown being worn by a goddess from the region that we today call Turkey, and even earlier, around 5600 B.C. - but this also begs the question that unless human women were known to wear such things, how would the painters have thought of one for their goddess ?
Strangely, after this, the bikini disappeared, for reasons of morality and such continued right until the Victorians, who still believed it unthinkable to emerge out of a bathing machines at the seaside without the equivalent of a long flannel nightgown.
It was the rise of women`s sport that changed this, though there was much resistance, and often police interference, to anyone who dared to push the boundaries. It was not until 1912 that the Summer Olympics, in Stockholm, Sweden, allowed women to compete in swimming for the first time - and that led to a rash of silent movies featuring mermaids, and also to the Sennett Bathing Beauties. Though Annette Kellerman, an Australian film star and swimming champion, had made several films in which she wore a one piece costume, and one, "A Daughter of the Gods", released in 1916, where she wore nothing, making her the first ever film star to appear on the screen in the nude - though extras and minor actresses had done so even before that.
The 1920s and 30s added the next change, for many reasons; the rise of sunbathing and outdoor living, the building of lidos and outdoor pools, and the simple fact that young people and women were at last having more of a say in how they were allowed to behave. This led to the one piece becoming shorter, sometimes cut out at the sides, and also beginning to shape into a "V" at the neck. Materials also helped with this, artificial ones like nylon, and the discovery that rubber was not only useful for tyres and other mechanical purposes. However all this changed with the start of the Second World War, when those new materials were needed for the war effort - and it changed because someone had the brilliant idea to save materials by making a complete two piece costume, with a strip of material removed right around the body between the bottom of the breasts and the waist.
Now we are back to where we began, to two men. One of these was called Jacques Heim, the owner of a beach supplies shop in Cannes, who called his tiny costume "Atome", not after a bomb, but because an atom was the smallest particle of material you could find in the galaxy. The other was Louis Reard, an engineer looking after his family lingerie business, he called his the bikini, and it was he who was the first man to cut the material below the navel, which was why it created such an effect, and got into so much trouble, being banned in several European countries, Australia and parts of America.
It was the French film star Brigitte Bardot, whose appearance, also at Cannes, re-introduced the bikini to a slightly more modern audience, and also led to its appearance in many 1960s movies, songs, and television. These included the James Bond films, and Raquel Welch sporting a fur bikini in "One Million Years B.C.", which, given the history of the garment that we have just uncovered, is no longer so far fetched an idea.
This set got a lot of bad press too, part of which was the idea that these were "Pin-Up Girls" - though that name did not appear on any of the cards. And using beauties to sell cigarettes was definitely nothing new. just check out the cards of beauties which were issued by "Melia", round about 1912, and it won`t be long before you find someone showing more of her assets than she really ought - and they are real photographs as well. Even earlier than that, especially in South America, you can get sets of women retiring to bed, gradually removing each piece of outer wear till just her skin remains.
This set is described in our original World Tobacco Issues Index as :
- PIN-UP GIRLS. (A) See X1/Ha.640 ... A41-2
A. Small, 68 x 40.
1. First 12 subjects :
(a) Front "For Men Only" - Unnumbered
(b) Front "Ask for Allman - always" - Unnumbered
(c) Front "Ask for Allman - always" - Numbered
2. Second 12 subjects. Front "Ask for Allman - always !" - Unnumbered
3. All 24 subjects. Back "First Series of 24" with offer of Art Reproductions. Numbered
B. Large, 75 x 68. Unnd. (24)
This text is identical in our updated World Tobacco Index, save the reference to X1.Ha.640, which is in the original handbook, and which has been replaced by H.640, which leads to the modern handbook. And, of course, a new card code, of A435-600.
The write up under X1.Ha.640 shows all the cards, albeit in black and white. I will scan that and set it in later. There is also a description, which reads :
- X1/Ha.640. PIN-UP GIRLS. (A) Issued by Philip ALLMAN & Co., as follows
A. Small size, 68 x 40 m/m
1. First 12 subjects, as illustrated in X1/Ha.640.1.
(a) Front "For Men Only" - Unnumbered
(b) Front "Ask for Allman - always" - Unnumbered
(c) Front "Ask for Allman - always" - Numbered
2. Second 12 subjects, as illustrated in X1/Ha.640.2. Front "Ask for Allman - always !" - Unnumbered
3. All 24 subjects. Back "First Series of 24" with offer of Art Reproductions. Numbered
B. Large size, 75 x 68 m/m. Unnumbered series of 24 (both illustrations).