Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Women who deserve to be in the Bikinis Hall of Fame

The other day I expressed my disappointment that the Bikinis Hall of Fame is really more about celebrating large breasted celebrities than honoring the pop culture significance of the bikini bathing suit.
Last year, the Bikinis Sports Bar & Grill chain made actress-dancer Carmen Electra the first inductee into its Bikinis Hall of Fame. The decision likely was more about the availability of a female celebrity to mark the seventh anniversary of the Texas-based restaurant chain than honoring someone famous for wearing a bikini.
Electra was a star of the beach drama “Baywatch,” but I can think of a lot more women who would be more bikini-hall-of-fame worthy.
Film stars like Brigitte Bardot, Ursula Andress and Raquel Welch helped popularize the bikini in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Then there are all the supermodels who have graced the cover of the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue over the years, including Cheryl Tiegs, Christie Brinkley and Elle Macpherson.
Wikipedia has a section on the “Bikini in popular culture.”
A bikini hall of fame could easily have scores of well-known inductees. A proper shrine would have the original bathing suits or at least reproductions.
What follows are lists of famous bikini wearers from movies and TV shows.

20 Classic Movie/TV Bikinis (Entertainment Weekly: May 24, 2014)

Top Ten Bikini Movies of All Time (Bikinis Blog; July 31, 2014)

The Most Memorable Swimsuits Ever (InStyle)

Top 10 Bikinis in Pop Culture (Time; July 5, 2011)

Relive the Impossible Hotness of 17 Top Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Cover Models (People; Feb. 3, 2014)

List of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover models (Wikipedia)

Photos: Jessica Alba on the cover of the May 30-June 6, 2014, issue of Entertainment Weekly; and Cheryl Tiegs on the cover of the 1975 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.


No comments: