Jewish Invention Myths: The Bikini
I was recently made aware of yet another jewish invention myth that is similar in many ways to the myth that jews invented the bra (1) and blue jeans (2) in the form of the claim that jews invented the bikini.
The basis of this claim is that Jacques Heim – a jew who owned a fashion design house in Paris – (3) ‘invented the bikini in 1932’ as ‘Belle de Soiree’ explains:
‘It is not entirely clear who the original inventor of the itty-bitty swimsuit was, with arguments for both Louis Reard, a Parisian-based mechanical engineer who took over his mother’s lingerie business in the 1940s, and Jacques Heim, a fashion designer, and owner of the Fashion House of Jacques Heim which was Avenue Matignon in Paris.
Both men developed two pieces swimsuits which exposed the naval, which for the time was a very dashing fashion choice, creating an explosion.
In 1932, Jacques Heim created a two-piece swimsuit consisting of a bra with ruffles and pretty bloomers, which he called the Atome. However, despite being available to the public in 1932, women were not yet ready to reveal their midriff, with only a few daring to wear his swimsuit.
In June 1946, he relaunched his two-piece swimsuit, the Atome, which he advertised as "the world's smallest bathing suit." However, on 5 July 1946, Louis Reard, a French engineer, had a Paris stripper pose before reporters in an even briefer two-piece swimsuit, which Réard called the Bikini and which he promoted as "smaller than the smallest bathing suit". Réard's design, unlike Heim's, for the first time presented a female swimsuit with the navel exposed. Though financially successful, the bikini was very controversial. The name Bikini for the swimsuit caught on and became the common name for the style of swimwear.’ (4)
‘Belle’s’ point is well-taken and is confirmed by Alac’s research suggesting that Heim likely beat Reard to re-launching what became the bikini in 1946, (5) but this fundamentally forgets that the two-piece bathing suit (aka the bikini) was actually invented by swimsuit pioneer Carl Janzen in 1913. (6)
As Hannah Huber explained in ‘Glamour’ in 2021:
‘Carl Jantzen invented the two-piece bathing costume in 1913, but it was very different from modern suits. The bathing suit is two pieces but covered from the shoulders to just above the knee. The suit was made of wool and came with a stocking cap.’ (7)
The fact that it was rather different and rather less racy than modern bikinis tend to be should not blind us to the fact that this was more or less the same thing but simply exposed far less skin. Indeed, contextually we should note that one-piece female swimsuits were considered borderline nudity just a few years before in 1907.
To quote Claudia Kidwell discussing this:
‘Miss Trapp received a terse letter from the Brooklyn School Board stating that they thought it improper for an educator of Brooklyn children to appear in public so scantily dressed in a one-piece swimming costume.’ (8)
Thus, we can see that just because it was different and showed less flesh does not mean that it wasn’t a bikini. Indeed, more revealing two-piece outfits that are functionally identical to modern bikinis – as well as showcasing topless women with bikini bottoms – are found in the 1929 Soviet film ‘Man with a Movie Camera’ – filmed and produced by Soviet jews Dziga Vertov and his brother Mikhail Kaufman – (9) as well as the 1932 American films ‘Footlight Parade’ and the 1937 ‘The Hurricane’. (10)
So put in other words: the bikini was not invented by Jacques Heim in 1932 but rather by Carl Janzen in 1913 and by the 1920s and 1930s it was becoming increasing popular and was being showcased in both American and Soviet film before Heim’s so-called ‘invention’ of it in 1932!
References
(1) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/jewish-invention-myths-the-bra
(2) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/jewish-invention-myths-blue-jeans
(3) Patrik Alac, 2012, ‘Bikini Story’, 1st Edition, Parkstone Press: New York, p. 28
(4) https://belledesoiree.com/blogs/news/bikini?srsltid=AfmBOoo7SrEDd4SF8sPbDqL28ZOBlqzcILIXcAr5nxbANdGgirom8jVS
(5) Alac, Op. Cit., p. 21
(6) https://web.archive.org/web/20150923120254/http://news.globalintimatewear.com/FashionStyle/6810/3/The_Beginning_History_of_Swimwear.html and https://web.archive.org/web/20070909195749/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/web/20060705-bikini-swimming-suit-louis-reard-micheline-bernardini-paris-brigitte-bardot.shtml
(7) https://www.glamour.com/story/watch-the-beloved-bikini-evolve-over-100-years
(8) Claudia Kidwell, 1968, ‘Women’s Bathing and Swimming Costume in the United States’, 1st Edition, Smithsonian Institute Press: Washington D.C., p. 26
(9) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_with_a_Movie_Camera
(10) https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/the-bikini