The beach fashion boom

Long gone are the days of shock at the thought of the Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini (song co-written by Paul Vance in 1960). Before then, swimwear had been a rather corseted affair which showed legs, well controlled breasts but definitely no bottoms. The whole thing was based very much on safety and control within a potentially unpredictable environment. The bikini worn by girl in the song was very brief for the time and because it was so revealing, she had to remain in the sea, too embarrassed to come out.
Until the advent of the 1960s, women wore costumes that mirrored their mother’s but then things changed radically. The mini skirt in particular categorised the difference between older and younger women and the bikini did the same. Where all women were able to wear the swimming costume, only young women with good figures could really get away with wearing very brief bikinis.
Today the Rio look designer bikini is taken to the extreme and Brazilian cut swimwear can only be worn by very slim young women with tight, pert bottoms. Older women who have kept their figures can wear more revealing well designed swimwear, although Lycra in all its forms is able to safely support any seriously sagging bits and provide the security of the corseted 1950s costume.
Many swimwear outlets such as Betther, for example, have moved forward in their advertising where they suggest that most women do not have supermodel figures and they as a firm seek to cater for all shapes and sizes.