Wednesday Jul 23 2008

History will remember the icons in two piece costumes writes Declan Cashin, who pays tribute to National Bikini Month in America.

This month is a deeply significant one in the American calendar. After all, the Fourth of July celebrates the birth of the nation, marking the moment of the country's glorious independence from the British crown. However, you might not be aware that another culturally important American event is honoured in July — it's National Bikini Month. Every year, tributes to the iconic two-piece swimsuit are observed throughout the month of July (incidentally, it’s also National Hot Dog Month, National Ice Cream Month and National Dog House Repairs Month, among others).

The bikini deserves to be commemorated for its lasting impact on the world of fashion and popular culture. The garment was first unveiled by Paris engineer Louis Reard and fashion designer Jacques Heim on July 5, 1946, named after the island of Bikini, the scene of a US nuclear testing site.

Legend has it that the name was chosen for the swimsuit because the designers believed it would produce a burst of excitement like that of a nuclear detonation. Explode it did, and the bikini quickly became a must-have item, thanks in no small part to, er, support from sex bombs such as Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe.

The garment has also made an enduring mark on the silver screen, and so we salute some of the bikini's memorable moments on film.

Brigitte Bardot

And God Created Woman (1956)

Long before she was convicted for inciting racial hatred, French sex kitten Bardot was credited with starting the international craze for the bikini thanks to her role as a free-spirited teen in this 1950s movie classic. And God Created Woman was so saucy that it was condemned by the Catholic League of Decency. Good enough for us.

Ursula Andress

Dr No (1962)

Swiss screen siren Andress became a star the moment her character Honey Ryder emerged from the surf in that white bikini in James Bond's first movie outing. That scene is cherished as the most famous bikini shot in movie history. Did anyone even notice that Andress' voice had to be dubbed because of her accent?

Raquel Welch

One Million Years BC (1966)

“Discover a savage world where the only law is lust!” screamed the blurb for this trippy caveman adventure flick — and sex bomb Welch certainly stoked primeval urges by spending the entire movie clad in a slashed-cut, fur-laced bikini.

Phoebe Cates

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

This 1980s comedy features a sizzling slo-mo fantasy sequence where Phoebe Cates emerges from a pool in a red bikini — and then proceeds to shed the top part. Boys everywhere suddenly became men.

Carrie Fisher

Return of the Jedi (1983)

Young male audiences certainly felt the force when they first caught a glimpse of Princess Leia wearing that infamous metal bikini while a prisoner of Jabba the Hutt. Who knew that a monstrous gastropod like Jabba could have such good taste? The scene later inspired a classic Friends episode where Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) donned the two-piece for nerdy boyfriend Ross (David Schwimmer).

Jessica Alba

Into The Blue (2005)

Alba was voted the world's sexiest woman by FHM after her role as a permanently bikini-clad babe opposite Paul Walker in this aquatic thriller. Alba (left) may have wowed male fans with her assets, but not the critics: the role won her the Razzie for Worst Actress that year.

Of course, the bikini hasn't always been treated with respect by Tinseltown, and the greatest cinematic affront to the ‘thong' of beauty has to be Sacha Baron Cohen's notorious lime-green mankini in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. “You liiike?”

Er, no offence Sacha: you may have made us laugh until we got sick, but give us Halle Berry any day.

Halle Berry

Die Another Day (2002)

New Bond girl Berry (above) had just won an Oscar for Monsters Ball, so what better way to keep her career on a high than by recreating Ursula Andress' famous bikini moment from Dr No. Berry more than rose to the occasion, emerging from the sea in a figure-hugging orange two-piece. Is there a screen big enough to do her justice?

Salma Hayek

From Dusk till Dawn (1996)

Mexican minx Hayek made an impression as vampire queen Santanico Pandemonium in Quentin Tarantino's horror shocker. Hayek's character was the main attraction at the Titty Twister strip club, and at one point performs a musical number wearing just a burgundy bikini and a live snake on her shoulders. Bloody sensational!

Demi Moore and Cameron Diaz

Charlie's Angels: Full |Throttle (2003)

The then 41-year-old Moore made her comeback to the big screen by showing off her age-defying body in a tiny string bikini in this babe-tastic tongue-in-cheek action romp. Not to be outdone, Moore's co-star Diaz also stripped down into a white two-piece, running on the beach with a surfboard under her arm, and male fans everywhere in the palm of her hand.

Nicolette Sheridan

The Sure Thing (1985)

Before she became the resident tart on Desperate Housewives, the then 22-year-old Sheridan sent eyes-a-poppin' in this comedy when she played a mysterious temptress in a skimpy ivory two-piece, trying to seduce college student John Cusack.