Editing Bikini (section)

== Bikini underwear ==
{{See also|Briefs#Design|Underwear as outerwear}}

Certain types of underwear are described as bikini underwear and are designed for men and women. For women, bikini or bikini-style underwear is underwear that is similar in size and form to a regular bikini. It can refer to virtually any undergarment that provides less coverage to the [[midriff]] than [[lingerie]], [[panties]] or knickers,<ref>Alison J. Carter, ''Underwear: The Fashion History'', page 111, Batsford, 1992, {{ISBN|978-0-7134-6222-7}}</ref> especially suited to clothing such as [[crop top]]s. For men, [[Briefs#Design|bikini briefs]] are [[underpants]] that resemble women's bikini bottoms, being smaller and more revealing than men's classic [[briefs]]. Men's bikini briefs can be low- or high-side that are usually lower than the true waist, often at hips, and usually have no access pouch or flap, nor leg bands at tops of thighs.<ref>Shaun Cole, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=EEEmuePeDX4C&q=bikini+underwear&pg=PA90 The Story of Men's Underwear]'', pages 90–93, Parkstone International, 2012, {{ISBN|978-1-78042-882-6}}</ref> String bikini briefs have front and rear sections that meet in the crotch but not at the waistband, with no fabric on the side of the legs.<ref>{{cite web |title=The History of Underwear |url=http://www.boxerbriefs.com/history_of_underwear.htm |publisher=Boxerbriefs.com |access-date=August 15, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130818070455/http://boxerbriefs.com/history_of_underwear.htm |archive-date=August 18, 2013 |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Swimwear and underwear have similar design considerations, both being [[form-fitting garment]]s. The main difference is that, unlike underwear, swimwear is open to public view.<ref>Jennifer Craik, ''The Face of Fashion: Cultural Studies in Fashion'', page 133, Routledge, 1993, {{ISBN|978-1-134-94056-1}}</ref> The swimsuit was, and is, following underwear styles,<ref>Christine Schmid, ''The Swimsuit: Fashion from Poolside to Catwalk'', page 6, A&C Black, 2013, {{ISBN|978-0-85785-124-6}}</ref> and at about the same time that attitudes towards the bikini began to change, underwear underwent a redesign towards a minimal, unboned design that emphasized comfort first.<ref>Dan Parker, ''The Bathing Suit: Christian Liberty Or Secular Idolatry'', page 170, Xulon Press, 2003, {{ISBN|978-1-59160-753-3}}</ref>

=== History ===
{{multiple image
| header            = Women's underwear
| align             = right
| image1            = Barcley custom corsets15.jpg
| width1            = 120
| caption1          = 1927
| image2            = Female model A 03.JPG
| width2            = 130
| caption2          = 2008
}}

As the swimsuit was evolving, underwear also started to change. Between 1900 and 1940, swimsuit lengths followed the changes in underwear designs.<ref>Muriel Barbier, Shazia Boucher, ''The Story of Lingerie'', page 139, Parkstone International, 2012, {{ISBN|978-1-78042-970-0}}</ref> In the 1920s women started discarding the [[corset]], while the Cadole company of Paris started developing something they called the "breast girdle".<ref name=napol>Anthony Napoleon, ''Awakening Beauty'', page 130, Virtualbookworm Publishing, 2003, {{ISBN|978-1-58939-378-3}}</ref> During the Great Depression, panties and bras became softly constructed and were made of various elasticized yarns making underwear fit like a second skin. By the 1930s underwear styles for both women and men were influenced by the new brief models of swimwear from Europe. Although the waistband was still above the navel, the leg openings of the panty brief were cut in an arc to rise from the crotch to the hip joint. The brief served as a template for most variations of panties for the rest of the century.<ref name=ddhills>Daniel Delis Hill, '' As Seen in Vogue: A Century of American Fashion in Advertising'', page 158, Texas Tech University Press, 2007, {{ISBN|978-0-89672-616-1}}</ref> Warner standardized the concept of [[Cup size]] in 1935. The first underwire bra was developed in 1938.<ref name=napol /> Beginning in the late thirties, {{Not a typo|skants}}, a type of {{Not a typo|skanty}} men's briefs, were introduced, featuring very high-cut leg openings and a lower rise to the waistband.<ref name=ddhills /> [[Howard Hughes]] designed a push-up bra to be worn by [[Jane Russell]] in ''[[The Outlaw]]'' in 1943, although Russell stated in interviews that she never wore the 'contraption'. In 1950 [[Maidenform]] introduced the first official bust enhancing bra.<ref name=napol />

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Bikini brief.jpg|Male bikini briefs
File:BikiniBottom-red-20030625.jpg|Female bikini briefs 
</gallery>

By the 1960s, the bikini swimsuit influenced panty styles and coincided with the cut of the new lower rise jeans and pants.<ref name=ddhills /> In the seventies, with the emergence of skintight jeans, thong versions of the panty became mainstream, since the open, stringed back eliminated any tell-tale panty lines across the rear and hips. By the 1980s the design of the French-cut panty pushed the waistband back up to the natural waistline and the rise of the leg openings was nearly as high (French Cut panties come up to the waist, has a high cut leg, and usually are full in the rear<ref>Lisa Cole, '' Lingerie, the Foundation of a Woman's Life'', page 45, Choice Publications, 2005, {{ISBN|978-0-9711803-4-5}}</ref>). As with the bra and other type of lingerie, manufacturers of the last quarter of the century marketed panty styles that were designed primarily for their sexual allure.<ref name=ddhills /> From this decade sexualization and eroticization of the male body was on the rise. The male body was celebrated through advertising campaigns for brands such as [[Calvin Klein]], particularly by photographers [[Bruce Weber (photographer)|Bruce Weber]] and [[Herb Ritts]].<ref name=schmidt>Christine Schmidt, ''The Swimsuit: Fashion from Poolside to Catwalk'', page 19, Bloomsbury Academic, 2012, {{ISBN|0-85785-123-3}}</ref> Male bodies and men's undergarments were commodified and packaged for mass consumption, and swimwear and sportswear were influenced by sports photography and fitness.<ref name=schmidt /> Over time, swimwear evolved from weighty wool to high-tech [[skin-tight garment]]s, eventually cross-breeding with sportswear, underwear and exercise wear, resulting in the interchangeable fashions of the 1990s.<ref>Christine Schmid, ''The Swimsuit: Fashion from Poolside to Catwalk'', page 102, A&C Black, 2013, {{ISBN|978-0-85785-124-6}}</ref>