Anytime we’re having a bad day or the weather is too cold or we’re daydreaming at work…the first place we long to go to is the beach. Frozen mango margarita in hand, waves crashing at our feet, white sand beneath our toes, a perfect breeze under sunny skies, and a figure-flattering bikini, hugging us in all the right places. Ugh, someone fly us somewhere tropical ASAP! In honor of the bikini's 65 year anniversary (not to mention the countdown to summertime!) here's a look at the short history of our favorite swim style.

However, years and years ago a day on the beach was not associated with a day in a bikini. Not even a century ago, there was just one design to choose from: the figure stifling swimsuit. So you can only imagine our historical counterparts' surprise when two men, French engineer Louis Reard and fashion designer Jacques Heim, revealed the world’s first bikini. Dubbed “smaller than the world’s smallest swimsuit” there is no doubt that the design was as shocking as it was risqué!

Because the design came out with such a bang and revolutionized the swimwear industry forever, the itsy, bitsy bikini was named after the Bikini Apollo nuclear test site – a fitting name for the lasting impact the design has made! Designer Jacques Heim hoped that the “bikini” design would have a similar shock among people. Now, navel is in!

In 1946, Micheline Bernardini, a nude dancer from Paris, scandalously strutted her stuff at a beauty contest in Molitor, France. Making a statement in a newsprint-pattered fabric, this bikini emerged as the world's first, and likewise, Bernardini became the world’s first bikini model!

But, not everybody embraced the controversial design like the French. In the 1950’s Miss World competition, the United States and other Catholic countries banned contestants from sporting the design.

When the bikini finally made its way across the pond, a little magazine called Sports Illustrated (you might have heard of it) published their first ever Swimsuit Issue in 1964. The bikini’s nuclear effects are now forever felt by men and women all over the world!  

Like any good design, we couldn’t just stop with the first bikini; its evolution was inevitable. Also in 1964, at the height of the swinging sixties, came the monokini. From this day forward, Rudi Gernreich liberated breasts from traditional triangle bikini tops. We have to say, we haven't spotted too many of these gracing our public beaches lately. However, art it remains and the Total Look Exhibition is celebrating the creative collaboration between Gernreich, his monokini muse Peggy Moffitt, and photographer William Claxton. It is one of the hottest fashion exhibitions to run this year and is on display now through May 27^th, 2012 at The Museum of Contemporary Art  (MoCA) in Los Angeles. 

In a drastic turn of aesthetic, the tankini was the next style to shake up swim design, offering more support and revealing less skin than the traditional bikini. Created to embrace the curves on women of every size, tankinis reflected everything we loved about one-piece swimwear: more support, scrunching, cinching, halter-straps and more body coverage.

And you're probably not surprised that we've come almost full circle, this season's swimwear is inspired by the retro designs of high waists and hip-covering shorts. So to the swimsuit “smaller than the world’s smallest swimsuit”, we women of the world salute you! (And men, well we're sure they do, too.) You’ve made our bodies feel voluptuous, our curves proud, quenched our need for delicious designs, and turned us into worthy beach goddesses. Here’s to the next 65!