Bikini in Popular Culture

The bikini in popular culture appears in competitions, films, magazines, music, literature, magazines and even video games. Despite the easy availability of more revealing glamor imagery, bikini modeling remains popular and can still stir controversy. As a matter of fact, the popular culture portrayals of the bikini led, to a large extent, to its acceptance by society at large. In 1960, Brian Hyland‘s pop song “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” inspired a bikini-buying spree.[1] By 1963, the movie Beach Party, starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, led a wave of films that made the bikini a pop-culture symbol. Playboy first featured a bikini on its cover in 1962. The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue debuted two years later. This increasing popularity was reinforced by its appearance in contemporary movies like How to Stuff a Wild Bikini featuring Annette Funicello and One Million 0Years B.C featuring Raquel Welch.[2] Hollywood stars like Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Gina Lollobrigida and Jane Russell helped the growing popularity of bikinis further.