The monokini, designed by
Rudi Gernreich
Rudolf "Rudi" Gernreich (August 8, 1922 April 21, 1985) was an Austrian people, Austrian-born American fashion designer whose avant-garde clothing designs are generally regarded as the most innovative and dynamic fashion of the 1960s. He purposef ...
in 1964, consisting of only a brief, close-fitting bottom and two thin straps, was the first women's
topless swimsuit
The monokini, designed by Rudi Gernreich in 1964, consisting of only a brief, close-fitting bottom and two thin straps, was the first women's topless swimsuit. His revolutionary and controversial design included a bottom that "extended from ...
.
His revolutionary and controversial design included a bottom that "extended from the midriff to the upper thigh"
and was "held up by shoestring laces that make a halter around the neck."
Some credit Gernreich's design with initiating,
[ or describe it as a symbol of, the ]sexual revolution
The sexual revolution, also known as the sexual liberation, was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the United States and the developed world from the 1 ...
.
Gernreich designed the monokini as a protest against a repressive society. He did not initially intend to produce the monokini commercially,[ but was persuaded by Susanne Kirtland of '' Look'' to make it available to the public. When the first photograph of a frontal view of ]Peggy Moffitt
Margaret Anne "Peggy" Moffitt (born May 14, 1940) is a former American Fashion model, model and actress. During the 1960s, she worked very closely with fashion designer Rudi Gernreich, and developed a signature style that featured heavy makeup an ...
wearing the design was published in ''Women's Wear Daily
''Women's Wear Daily'' (also known as ''WWD'') is a fashion-industry trade journal often referred to as the "Bible of fashion".Horyn, Cathy"Breaking Fashion News With a Provocative Edge" ''The New York Times''. (August 20, 1999). It provides infor ...
'' on June 3, 1964, it generated a great deal of controversy in the United States and other countries. Gernreich sold about 3,000 suits, but only two were worn in public. The first was worn publicly on June 22, 1964, by Carol Doda
Carol Ann Doda (August 29, 1937November 9, 2015) was an American topless dancer based in San Francisco, California, who was active from the 1960s through the 1980s. She was the first public topless dancer in the United States.
In 1964, Doda made ...
in San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
at the Condor Nightclub, ushering in the era of topless nightclubs in the United States, and the second at North Avenue beach in Chicago in July 1964 by artist's model Toni Lee Shelley, who was arrested.
Some manufacturers and retailers refer to modern monokini swimsuit designs as a topless swimsuit, topless bikini
A bikini is a two-piece swimsuit primarily worn by women that features two triangles of fabric on top that cover the breasts, and two triangles of fabric on the bottom: the front covering the pelvis but exposing the navel, and the back coveri ...
, or unikini.
Etymology
Gernreich may have chosen his use of the word ''monokini'' (''mono'' meaning 'single') through back-formation
In etymology, back-formation is the process or result of creating a new word via inflection, typically by removing or substituting actual or supposed affixes from a lexical item, in a way that expands the number of lexemes associated with the c ...
by interpreting the ''bi'' of ''bikini'' as the Latin prefix ''bi-
Numeral or number prefixes are prefixes derived from numerals or occasionally other numbers. In English and many other languages, they are used to coin numerous series of words. For example:
* unicycle, bicycle, tricycle (1-cycle, 2-cycle, 3-cy ...
'' ('two'), denoting a two-piece swimsuit. But in fact the bikini swimsuit design was named by its inventor Louis Réard
Louis Réard (; 10 October 1896 – 16 September 1984) was a French automobile engineer and clothing designer who introduced the modern two-piece bikini in July 1946. He opened a bikini shop and ran it for the next 40 years.
Launching the bikini ...
after the Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese: , , meaning "coconut place"), sometimes known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 1800s and 1946 is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. After the Second ...
in the Pacific, five days after Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity in July 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices since the ...
, the first peace-time test of nuclear weapons, took place there. Réard hoped his design would have a similarly explosive effect.
Background
Austrian-American
Austrian Americans (, ) are Americans of Austrian descent, chiefly German-speaking Catholics and Jews. According to the 2000 U.S. census, there were 735,128 Americans of full or partial Austrian descent, accounting for 0.3% of the population. The ...
fashion designer
Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...
, co-founder[ of the ]Mattachine Society
The Mattachine Society (), founded in 1950, was an early national gay rights organization in the United States, perhaps preceded only by Chicago's Society for Human Rights. Communist and labor activist Harry Hay formed the group with a collection ...
, and nudist
Naturism is a lifestyle of practising non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms ar ...
[ ]Rudi Gernreich
Rudolf "Rudi" Gernreich (August 8, 1922 April 21, 1985) was an Austrian people, Austrian-born American fashion designer whose avant-garde clothing designs are generally regarded as the most innovative and dynamic fashion of the 1960s. He purposef ...
had strong feelings about society's sexualization of the human body and disagreed with religious and social beliefs that the body was essentially shameful. Gernreich developed a reputation as an avant-garde designer who broke many of the rules, and his swimsuit designs were unconventional. In its December 1962 issue, ''Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
'' remarked, "He has turned the dancer's leotard into a swimsuit that frees the body. In the process, he has ripped out the boning and wiring that made American swimsuits seagoing corsets."[ That month he first envisioned] creating a topless
Toplessness refers to the state in which a woman's breasts, including her areolas and nipples, are exposed, especially in a public place or in a visual medium. The male equivalent is barechestedness, also commonly called shirtlessness.
Expose ...
swimsuit which he called a monokini.
Origins
At the end of 1963, editor Susanne Kirtland of '' Look'' called Gernreich and asked him to submit a design for the suit to accompany a trend story along futuristic lines.[ He resisted the idea at first, but said, "It was my prediction. For the sake of history, I didn't want ]Pucci Pucci may refer to:
*Members of the Pucci family, a major Florentine political family
** Antonio di Puccio Pucci (c. 1350–1416), Florentine politician and architect
**Puccio Pucci (politician) (1389–1449), Florentine politician, son of Antonio
...
to do it first.[ Gernreich found the design more difficult than the expected. His initial designs looked like trunks or boxer shorts.][ He felt the swimsuit ought to just be bikini bottoms, but realized that this wouldn't constitute a unique design. He initially designed a Balinese sarong that began just under the breasts, but Kirtland didn't feel the design was bold enough and needed to make more of a statement. Gernreich finally chose a design that ended around mid-torso and then added two straps that rose between the breasts and were tied around the neck.][ The first two initial attempts to cut the design failed.][ When a photo shoot was arranged on ]Montego Bay
Montego Bay is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Por ...
in the Bahamas, all five models hired for the session refused to wear the design. The photographer finally persuaded an adventurous local to model it.
To avoid letting others sensationalize the swimsuit and to retain some control of the design, Gernreich asked William Claxton, the husband of Gernreich's usually sole model Peggy Moffitt
Margaret Anne "Peggy" Moffitt (born May 14, 1940) is a former American Fashion model, model and actress. During the 1960s, she worked very closely with fashion designer Rudi Gernreich, and developed a signature style that featured heavy makeup an ...
, to take pictures of his wife in the yellow wool swimsuit.[ Claxton, Moffitt, and Gernreich wanted to publish their own pictures for the fashion press and news media, and Gernreich gave pictures of Moffit modeling the monokini to a carefully selected handful of news organizations.][
Moffitt was initially resistant to the idea of posing topless. She said, "I didn't want to do it when he asked me. I am a puritanical descendent of the ]Mayflower
''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...
. I carried that goddamned Plymouth Rock
Plymouth Rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the ''Mayflower'' Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in December 1620. The Pilgrims did not refer to Plymouth Rock in any of their writings; the first known writt ...
on my back. When I did give in, I did so with a lot of rules. I would not show myself on the runway
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...
that way. I'd do it only with Bill. Since Rudi would never ever have enough money to do this, I did it for free. But I had final say on everywhere it went photographically." ''Look'' published a rear view, of an adventurous local[ from Montego Bay, modeling the swimsuit on June 2, 1964.] Claxton took his pictures of Moffit to ''Life'' but they said they could only print pictures of naked breasts "if the woman is an aborigine." Claxton took additional pictures of Moffit especially for ''Life'' with her arms covering her breasts. The picture was one of several images of Moffit in a story about the historical evolution of the breast in fashion history from 1954 to 1964. Moffit said, "The photograph of me in that issue—hiding my breasts with my arms—is dirty. If you are wearing a fashion that does not have a top as part of its design and hold your arms over your bosom, you're going along with the whole prudish, teasey thing like a Playboy bunny
A Playboy Bunny is a waitress who works at a Playboy Club and selected through standardized training. Their costumes were made up of lingerie, inspired by the tuxedo-wearing Playboy rabbit mascot. This costume consisted of a strapless corset te ...
."[
The following day columnist Carol Bjorkman of '']Women's Wear Daily
''Women's Wear Daily'' (also known as ''WWD'') is a fashion-industry trade journal often referred to as the "Bible of fashion".Horyn, Cathy"Breaking Fashion News With a Provocative Edge" ''The New York Times''. (August 20, 1999). It provides infor ...
'' published Claxton's frontal view of Moffitt wearing the suit.[ It became a celebrated image of the extremism of 1960s designs. Moffit later said, "It was a political statement. It wasn't meant to be worn in public."][
On June 12, 1964 the '']San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' featured a photo of a woman in a monokini with her exposed breasts clearly visible on its front page.[ Claxton's frontal image of Moffit modeling the swimsuit was subsequently published by '']Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
'' and numerous other publications. ''Life'' writer Shana Alexander noted, "One funny thing about toplessness is that it really doesn't have much to do with breasts. Breasts of course are not absurd; topless swimsuits are. Lately people keep getting the two things mixed up." She mocked the swimsuit design as a "joke".[ The photo catapulted Moffitt into instant celebrity, reportedly resulting in her receiving everything from marriage proposals to death threats.][ Moffitt and Claxton later wrote ''The Rudi Gernreich Book'', described as an aesthetic biography of the fashion revolutionary.
Gernreich originally thought that only "six or seven" monokinis would likely be sold, but decided to design it anyway.][ However, when the design got worldwide notice, orders for the non-existent suit poured in until over 1,000 orders were pending.][ Despite the reaction of fashion critics and church officials, Harmon Knitwear made over 3,000 monokinis.] Gernreich first sold the suit to the Joseph Magnin department store in San Francisco, where it was an instant hit. In New York City, leading stores like B. Altman & Company, Lord & Taylor
Lord & Taylor was the oldest brick and mortar department store in the United States, in business from 1826 to 2020. The brand was purchased during former owner Le Tote's 2020 liquidation bankruptcy and relaunched by new owner, Saadia Group, as ...
, Henri Bendel
Henri Bendel, Inc. (pronounced BEN-del), established in 1895, was a women's department store based in New York City which in its later history sold women's handbags, jewelry, luxury fashion accessories, home fragrances and gifts. Its New York Ci ...
, Splendiferous and Parisette placed orders. On June 16, 1964, Gernreich's topless swimsuit went on sale in New York City. The suit was priced at $24 each.
Moffit said in 1985 that she had been offered $17,000 in 1964 () by ''Playboy'' to publish Claxton's photograph of her wearing the suit, but refused. "I turned it down as unthinkable. And I don't want to exploit women any more now than I did in 1964. The statement hasn't changed. The suit still is about freedom and not display."[
On August 13, 1985, Los Angeles Fashion Group produced a gala at the Wiltern Theatre to benefit the Rudi Gernreich Design Scholarship Fund. Moffit was a member of the committee. When the group considered showing the Monokini suit during the benefit, Moffitt strongly objected. She told the Los Angeles Times,]
The regional director of the Fashion Group, Sarah Worman, believed that the swimsuit was "the single most important idea he ever had—the one that changed the way women dressed all over the Western world." She said Moffitt's refusal to show it on a model did not make sense when the benefit was modeling everything else he ever did on live models.[
]
Monokini as a statement
Gernreich did not originally intend to produce the swimsuit commercially. It had more meaning to Gernreich as an idea than as a reality.[ Gernreich had Moffitt model the suit in person for ]Diana Vreeland
Diana Vreeland (September 29, 1903 – August 22, 1989) was a French-American fashion columnist and editor. She worked for the fashion magazine ''Harper's Bazaar'' and as editor-in-chief at ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'', later becoming a special c ...
of ''Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
'', who asked him why he conceived of the design. Gernreich told her he felt it was time for "freedom-in fashion as well as every other facet of life," but that the swimsuit was just a statement. He said, “omen
An omen (also called ''portent'') is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. It was commonly believed in ancient times, and still believed by some today, that omens bring divine messages fr ...
drop their bikini tops already,” he said, “so it seemed like the natural next step.”[ She told him, "If there's a picture of it, it's an actuality. You must make it."] Gernreich said in television interview, "It may well be a bit much now. But, just wait. In a couple of years topless bikinis will be a reality and regarded as perfectly natural."[
Gernreich purposefully used his designs to advance his socio-political views. He wanted to reduce the stigma of a ]naked
Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing.
The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...
body, to “cure our society of its sex hang up,” as he put it. Gernreich stated, "To me, the only respect you can give to a woman is to make her a human being. A totally emancipated woman who is totally free."
Gernreich said, "Baring the breasts seemed logical in a period of freer attitudes, freer minds, the emancipation of women."[ Gernreich told '']Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine in 1969, the monokini "is a natural development growing out of all the loosening up, the re-evaluation of values that's going on. There is now an honesty hangup, and part of this is not hiding the body—it stands for freedom."[
In January, 1965, he told ]Gloria Steinem
Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism
Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in ...
in an interview that despite the criticism he'd do it again.
Moffitt said the design was a logical evolution of Gernreich's avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
ideas in swimwear design as much as a scandalous symbol of the permissive society
A permissive society, also referred to as permissive culture, is a society in which some social norms become increasingly liberal, especially with regard to sexual freedom. This usually accompanies a change in what is considered deviant. While t ...
.[ She said, "He was trying to take away the prurience, the whole perverse side of sex." She said his design was "prophetic." "It had to do with more than what to wear to the beach. It was about a changing culture throughout all society, about freedom and emancipation. It was also a reaction against something particularly American: the little boy snickering that women had breasts."]
Los Angeles Times staff writer Bettijane Levine wrote, "His topless was an artistic statement against women as sex objects, much as Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
painted ''Guernica
Guernica (, ), official name (reflecting the Basque language) Gernika (), is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the mu ...
'' as a statement against war."[ Over the next few weeks, his design was covered in more than 20,000 press articles.
]
History
There was a strong public reaction to the original swimsuit design. The Soviet Union denounced the suit, saying it was "barbarism" and indicated "capitalistic decay".[ The ]Vatican
Vatican may refer to:
Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum
The Holy See
* The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
denounced the swimsuit, and the ''L'Osservatore Romano
''L'Osservatore Romano'' (, 'The Roman Observer') is the daily newspaper of Vatican City State which reports on the activities of the Holy See and events taking place in the Catholic Church and the world. It is owned by the Holy See but is not a ...
'' said the "industrial-erotic adventure" of the topless bathing suit "negates moral sense." Many of Rudi's contemporaries in the fashion industry reacted negatively. In the US, some Republicans tried to blame the suit on the Democrats' stance on moral issues. Gernreich introduced the monokini at a time when U.S. nudists
Naturism is a lifestyle of practising non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms ar ...
were trying to establish a public persona. The United States Postmaster General
The United States Postmaster General (PMG) is the chief executive officer of the United States Postal Service (USPS). The PMG is responsible for managing and directing the day-to-day operations of the agency.
The PMG is selected and appointed by ...
had banned nudist publications from the mail until 1958, when the Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
declared that the naked body in and of itself could not be deemed obscene
An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be use ...
.[ Use of the word ''monokini'' was first recorded in English that year.]
In the 1960s
File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the 1969 Woodstock Festival; Neil Armstrong and Buzz ...
, the monokini influenced the sexual revolution
The sexual revolution, also known as the sexual liberation, was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the United States and the developed world from the 1 ...
by emphasizing a woman's personal freedom of dress, even when her attire was provocative and exposed more skin than had been the norm during the more conservative 1950s
The 1950s (pronounced nineteen-fifties; commonly abbreviated as the "Fifties" or the " '50s") (among other variants) was a decade that began on January 1, 1950, and ended on December 31, 1959.
Throughout the decade, the world continued its re ...
.[ Quickly renamed a "topless swimsuit",] the design was never successful in the United States, although the issue of allowing both genders equal exposure above the waist has been raised as a feminist issue from time to time.[
As the suit gained notoriety, the ]New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
was strictly instructed by the commissioner of parks to arrest any woman wearing a monokini.[ In Dallas, Texas, when a local store featured the suit in a window display, members of the Carroll Avenue Baptist Mission picketed until they removed the display.][ Copious coverage of the event helped to send the image of exposed breasts across the world. Women's clubs and the Catholic church actively condemned the design. In Italy and Spain, the Catholic Church warned against the topless fashion.]
France
In France in 1964, Roger Frey
Roger Frey (11 June 1913, Nouméa, New Caledonia – 13 September 1997) was a French politician. His parents were of Alsatian origin. He was Minister of the Interior and president of the Constitutional Council of France.
Political career
In 19 ...
led the prosecution of the use of the monokini, describing it as: "a public offense against the sense of decency, punishable according to article 330 of the penal code. Consequently, the police chiefs must employ the services of the police so that the women who wear this bathing suit in public places are prosecuted."Situationist International
The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...
,
Sketch of a Morality without Obligation or Sanction
'', Issue No 9, August 1964Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
, 25 July 1964 At St. Tropez on the French Riviera
The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...
, where toplessness
Toplessness refers to the state in which a woman's breasts, including her areolas and nipples, are exposed, especially in a public place or in a visual medium. The male equivalent is barechestedness, also commonly called shirtlessness.
Expose ...
later became the norm, the mayor ordered police to ban toplessness and to watch over the beach via helicopter.[
]Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran ...
, a founding mover of French New Wave
French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconocla ...
cinema, incorporated monokini footage shot by Jacques Rozier
Jacques Rozier (; 10 November 1926) is a French film director and screenwriter. He is one of the lesser known members of the French New Wave movement and has collaborated with Jean-Luc Godard. Three of his films have been screened at the Cannes ...
in Riviera into his film ''A Married Woman
''A Married Woman'' (french: Une femme mariée) is a 1964 French drama film directed by Jean-Luc Godard, his eighth feature film.
Plot
Charlotte is a woman in her twenties, married to Pierre, an affluent man in his later thirties or forties. Pierr ...
'', but it was edited out by the censors. A few defended Gernreich's design. Fashion designers Geraldine Stutz
Geraldine Stutz (August 5, 1924 – April 8, 2005) was an American retail groundbreaker. She was appointed president of Henri Bendel in 1957, serving for 29 years until stepping down in 1986.
Biography
She was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her p ...
, president of Henri Bendel
Henri Bendel, Inc. (pronounced BEN-del), established in 1895, was a women's department store based in New York City which in its later history sold women's handbags, jewelry, luxury fashion accessories, home fragrances and gifts. Its New York Ci ...
, said, "I only wish I were young enough to be one of the pioneers myself." Carol Bjorkman, a columnist at ''Women's Wear-Daily's'' wrote, "What's the matter with the front? After all, it is here to stay, and it is awfully nice being a girl."[
]
Chicago
When Toni Lee Shelley, a 19-year-old artists model, wore the topless bathing suit to the North Avenue beach in Chicago, 12 police officers responded, 11 to control and disperse the public and photographers, and one to arrest her. She was charged with disorderly conduct
Disorderly conduct is a crime in most jurisdictions in the United States, the People's Republic of China, and Taiwan. Typically, "disorderly conduct" makes it a crime to be drunk in public, to " disturb the peace", or to loiter in certain are ...
, indecent exposure
Indecent exposure is the deliberate public exposure by a person of a portion of their body in a manner contrary to local standards of appropriate behavior. Laws and social attitudes regarding indecent exposure vary significantly in different ...
, and appearing on a public beach without suitable attire. At her arraignment she asked for an all-male jury.[ She told the press that the swimsuit was "certainly more comfortable."][ Shelley was fined US$100 for wearing the swimsuit on a public beach.][
]
San Francisco
On 12 June 1964, ''San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'', published on its front page. a photo of a woman
with clearly visible, exposed breasts wearing a monokini.[
On 19 June 1964, Davey Rosenberg saw an ]Joseph Magnin
The Joseph Magnin Company was a high-end specialty department store founded in San Francisco, California, by Joseph Magnin, 4th son of Isaac Magnin founder of the I. Magnin department store. Joseph Magnin Co. and I. Magnin Co. were rivals.
Histo ...
ad for the Monokini in a newspaper.
By June 22, 1964, Davey Rosenberg, the publicist of the Condor Club
The Condor Club nightclub is a striptease bar or topless bar in the North Beach section of San Francisco, California"Nudity, Noise Pay Off in Bay Area Night Clubs", ''Los Angeles Times'' (February 14, 1965) Page G5. The club became famous in ...
in San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
's North Beach district had bought Gernreich's monokini from Joseph Magnin
The Joseph Magnin Company was a high-end specialty department store founded in San Francisco, California, by Joseph Magnin, 4th son of Isaac Magnin founder of the I. Magnin department store. Joseph Magnin Co. and I. Magnin Co. were rivals.
Histo ...
, and had given it to former prune picker, file clerk, and waitress Carol Doda
Carol Ann Doda (August 29, 1937November 9, 2015) was an American topless dancer based in San Francisco, California, who was active from the 1960s through the 1980s. She was the first public topless dancer in the United States.
In 1964, Doda made ...
to wear for her act. That night, Doda became the first modern topless dancer
Toplessness refers to the state in which a woman's breasts, including her areolas and nipples, are exposed, especially in a public place or in a visual medium. The male equivalent is barechestedness, also commonly called shirtlessness.
Expose ...
in the United States,[ renewing the ]burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. era of the early Twentieth Century in the U.S. San Francisco Mayor
The mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of the San Francisco city and county government. The officeholder has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by ...
John Shelley said, "topless is at the bottom of porn."[ Within a few days, women were baring their breasts in many of the clubs lining San Francisco's Broadway St., ushering in the era of the ]topless bar
A strip club is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease or other erotic or exotic dances. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or bar style, and can also adopt a theatre or cabaret-style. Am ...
.[ Her debut as a topless dancer was featured in ]Playboy magazine
''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...
in April 1965.[
San Francisco public officials tolerated the topless bars until April 22, 1965, when the San Francisco Police Department arrested Doda on indecency charges. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the police department, calling for release of both Doda and free speech activist ]Mario Savio
Mario Savio (December 8, 1942 – November 6, 1996) was an American activist and a key member of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement. He is most famous for his passionate speeches, especially the "Bodies Upon the Gears" address given at Spro ...
, held in the same station.[ Doda rapidly became a symbol of sexual freedom, while topless restaurants, shoeshine parlors, ice-cream stands and girl bands proliferated in San Francisco and elsewhere. Journalist Earl Wilson wrote in his syndicated column, "Are we ready for girls in topless gowns? Heck, we may not even notice them." English designers created topless evening gowns inspired by the idea.][ The '']San Francisco Examiner
The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863.
Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...
'' published a real estate advertisement that promised "bare top swimsuits are possible here".[
]
Later designs
Going topless reached its highest popularity during the 1970s. In the early 1980s monokini designs that were simply a bikini-bottom (also known as the unikini) became popular. , some swimsuit designers continue to produce a variety of monokini or topless swimsuits that women can wear in private settings or in places where topless swimsuits are allowed.
Unlike Gernreich's original design exposing the women's breasts, current designs are one-piece swimsuit
A one-piece swimsuit most commonly refers to swimwear worn primarily by women and girls when swimming in the sea or in a swimming pool, playing water polo, or for any activity in the sun, such as sun bathing. Today, the one-piece swimsuit is usua ...
s that cover the women's breasts but typically include large cut-outs on the sides, back, or front. The cutouts are connected with varying fabrics, including mesh, chain, and other materials to link the top and bottom sections together. From the back the monokini looks like a two-piece swimsuit. The design may not be functional but aesthetic. Some suits are designed with a g-string
A G-string is a type of thong, a narrow piece of fabric, leather, or satin that covers or holds the genitals, passes between the buttocks, and is attached to a waistband around the hips. A G-string can be worn both by men and by women. It may al ...
style back and others offer full coverage.
Pubikini
In 1985, four weeks before his death, Gernreich unveiled the lesser-known pubikini, a topless bathing suit that exposed the wearer's mons pubis
In human anatomy, and in mammals in general, the ''mons pubis'' or pubic mound (also known simply as the mons, and known specifically in females as the ''mons Venus'' or ''mons veneris'') is a rounded mass of fatty tissue found over the pubic symp ...
. It was a thin, V-shaped, thong-style bottom that in the front featured a tiny strip of fabric that exposed the wearer's pubic hair
Pubic hair is terminal body hair that is found in the genital area of adolescent and adult humans. The hair is located on and around the sex organs and sometimes at the top of the inside of the thighs. In the pubic region around the pubis bon ...
. The pubikini was described as a ''