Swimsuit Evolution In Film

From Here to Eternity, 1953

Censors demanded that Deborah Kerr's haltertop swimsuit include a skirt so as not to be too provocative. But this modification didn't stop her beach scene with Burt Lancaster from becoming one of the most smoldering ever created for mainstream cinema, and it certainly didn't hinder her rise to fame. "I don't think anyone knew I could act until I put on a bathing suit," the leading lady once said. She went on to be nominated for the Oscar for best actress six times.
Summer days are meant for lying out by the pool, lake, or river.  A fabulous swimsuit, whether it be a one-piece, tankini, or bikini can make the day perfect.  Throughout the years, we've been influenced by the swimsuits we see in film and print.  As the years went on, the swimsuits appear smaller and smaller.  Take a look.

Gidget, 1959

Four decades prior to Kate Bosworth in Blue Crush, there was Sandra Dee in Gidget, proving that even the most petite surfer girls can make a big splash.

Suddenly, Last Summer, 1959

In the film version of Tennessee Williams' dark play, Elizabeth Taylor's character Catherine Holly is asked by her cousin to wear an alluring white maillot in order to attract his would-be paramours. Taylor ended up succeeding both onscreen, and off, where the image of her in this one-piece still endures to this day.

Blue Hawaii, 1961

Legendary Hollywood costume designer Edith Head must have known most women would have trouble taking their eyes off of Elvis in this scene. The solution? A lemon yellow formfitting one-piece on costar Joan Blackman.

A Very Private Affair, 1962

Brigitte Bardot is often credited with popularizing the bikini first by wearing the look in her 1952 film, The Girl in a Bikini, and then by wearing it a year later in Cannes, where paparazzi photographed her sunbathing in a strapless two-piece. But it is this white underwire top and ruffled bottom from Louis Malle's New Wave film that truly makes waves for us.

Dr. No, 1962

Selling for over $60,000 in 2001 at a Christie's auction, this bikini is perhaps one of the most valuable ones in existence, and it's no wonder why. When it rose out of the Caribbean waters, dangerously hugging every curve of actress Ursula Andress, it gave birth to her character Honey Ryder and the lasting phenomenon of The Bond Girl, as well.

10, 1979

This beyond basic nude one-piece proved sometimes it's the simpler things in life that matter the most, unless you factor in Bo Derek's trendsetting cornrow braids.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High, 1982

Phoebe Cates' itsy-bitsy red bikini was the stuff that fantasies were made of, quite literally, as it spurred on costar Judge Reinhold's racy daydream sequence that remains more memorable to this day than Sean Penn's role as high school burnout Jeff Spicoli.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, 2001

Not all bikinis are created alike, as Angelina Jolie proved in this poised-for-action black two-piece that was almost the perfect homage to Ursula Andress's swimsuit in Dr. No.

Die Another Day, 2002

But the best homage to Ursula Andress's swimsuit in Dr. No is this tangerine bikini from Eres that Halle Berry wore as the modern-day Bond Girl, Jinx.

Blue Crush, 2002

Perhaps Jolie and Berry are to be credited with ushering in the era of buff beach bods in bikinis on the big screen, but Kate Bosworth and costars Michelle Rodriguez and Sanoe Lake took it to the next level in this beloved surfer-girl flick. "I was weight training and learning to surf seven hours a day, seven days a week for four months," Bosworth told Cosmopolitan about her preparations for nailing the look. "I gained 15 pounds of muscle."

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, 2003

At 41, Demi Moore in a black crocheted design made a case for wearing a barely-there bikini at almost any age, stealing the screen from fellow Charlie's Angel Cameron Diaz.All images and information courtesy of Elle Magazine