Monokini

One factor common in all (styles of) monokinis is that they take inspiration from bikinis. European fashion designer Rudi Gernreich designed the first monokini swimsuit in the United States in 1964. His monokini had thin shoulder straps to hold bikini style bottoms in place leaving the breasts entirely bare. Thus, monokini swimsuits stirred quite a controversy provoking both applause and critique at the same time. Fashion designers of the era proclaimed it as useless since it was assumed to lead to the eventual demise of bikini. Church officials and priests termed it as shameless and immoral.

Despite severe critique, Rudi Gernreich’s monokini swimsuit gained immense popularity touching sales of over 3000 pieces within the first year. After 1964 the term monokini was used to refer to any topless swimsuit. Monokini bathing suits are one of the most controversial swimsuits to have hit the market. Interestingly, monokini swimwear was introduced in the backdrop of a struggle between the subtle and sophisticated 1950s and the daring and experimental 1960s. Despite prevailing in today’s swimwear market, monokini swimwear is more of a fashion statement than a practical and wearable swimwear option. Monokini swimsuits are more popular in countries having topless beaches. It is important to note that many beaches (and swimming pools) around the world do not allow visitors to wear monokini swimsuits because of their controversial nature.

As mentioned above, topless monokini swimsuits are popular in countries where topless bathing is the norm. Another more popular (and frequently worn) type of monokini swimwear is one that covers the breasts. The goal of such monokini swimsuits is to imitate the look of a bikini. Thus, most of your back and stomach area are exposed in a monokini swimsuit. Like conventional bikinis, the bottom of monokini swimwear varies in cuts including various types such as g-string, c-string, thong etc. You should also keep in mind that monokini swimsuits are not the ideal option for sun bathing because of their intricate designs. Since monokinis are one-piece swimsuits with the top and bottom merely connected by straps, laces, metal accessories (such as chains, strings) and mesh etc. your tan may end up looking like a road map. You can now easily buy monokini swimsuits online as an increasing number of swimsuit retailers with online presence have a variety of monokini swimwear available to choose from.

There has been on going debate about the practicality of monokini bathing suits since the time Rudi Gernreich designed the first monokini bathing suit in 1964. Monokini bathing suits are not recommended for sun bathing since they cover a substantial percentage of your body and the purpose of sun bathing is lost. Moreover, you would have to take off your monokini bathing suits every time you need to use the bath room. Bikini swimsuits address both these issues and are more popular than monokini bathing suits as a result. Another problem with monokini bathing suits is their lack of support i.e. most monokinis do not stay in place except on women with slight frames. This is a problem with habitual swimmers and is a reason for mediocre popularity of monokini bathing suits around the world. However, the support offered by monokini bathing suits will vary from one monokini bathing suits to the other. Thus, make sure you choose a good quality monokini bathing suit that will stay in place even in rigorous physical activity such as swimming and beach sports including water ball and volley ball. Since monokini bathing suits was designed as a fashion statement more than a piece of clothing it is hard to determine the most suitable body type for monokini bathing suits.