A distinctive feature of the bikini, of course, is that it opens up the abdomen. Preceding his female swimwear opened his legs, back and shoulders, but chastely covered torso. Open the abdomen, later appeared in bathing suits women, first appeared in the West in the exotic dances, the most popular of which was the belly dancing.

Belly dance

Mata Hari

Belly dance was formed from different dance styles, which were performed in the Middle East and North Africa.

Belly dancing has gained popularity in the West in the era of Romanticism in the 18th and 19th centuries, when artists and orientalists portrayed the life of the harem of the Ottoman Empire. Around the same time, the dancers and dancers from the Middle East began to speak at various international fairs, often gathering crowds of visitors exceeding the quantity of scientific and technological exhibitions. During this period the first time the notion of "belly dancing". Numerous dancers, including the famous French writer Colette, do belly dance.

In the West, costume most associated with belly dancing - a bedlah (Arabic for "suit"). The origin of it is rather obliged Victorian artists to paint the eastern life and fantasies of vaudeville, burlesque, and Hollywood on the theme of the harem than the true costume of the Middle East.

Bedlah costume consists of a close fitting top, or bra (usually decorated with a fringe of beads or coins), tight sitting on the hips belt (also with fringe of beads or coins), and a skirt or trousers. The bra and belt may abundantly adorned with beads, sequins, embroidery or weaving. The belt can be a separate and sewn to the skirt.

Hip belt - is a piece of cloth that is worn low on the hips. Its edges can be smooth and rounded or curved. Bra was usually the same color as the belt, and in no way resembled underwear. Classic trousers were wide, gathered at the ankle, but the trousers were a lot of options. Sometimes trousers worn with transparent skirt. Skirts could be flying, made of many layers of transparent chiffon one color.

It is believed that the owner of the theater in Cairo, Badia Masabni, brought this suit to Egypt, because it was the image that Western tourists wanted to see. However, in the 1950s, belly dancing in Egypt banned.

Mata Hari

Mata Hari

One of the most famous Western women practicing belly dancing was Mata Hari. Mata Hari - is the stage name of Margaretha Gertrude Selle (1876-1917), a Dutch exotic dancer, courtesan, who was executed in France for espionage during World War II.

From 1894 to 1902 years, Margaret was married to an officer in the Dutch army. They moved to the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies. Margareta diligently studied Indonesian tradition, and joined the local dance community. Her stage name in the local language means "sun". In 1903, Margaretha moved to Paris, where she performed as a circus rider. By 1905, she began to gain fame as an exotic dancer.

Mata Hari was a contemporary of dancers like Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis, who were the leading dancers in the style of early modernism in the early 20th century nahodvshem inspiration in Asia and Egypt. Later critics have written about these dance styles as an oriented to the East.

Promiscuity and openly showing his body, Mata Hari won his audience over night success after winning his debut at the Museum of Oriental Art March 13, 1905. It is many years was the mistress of a millionaire, Lyons industrialist Emile Guimet Etienne, who founded the museum. It seemed like a princess Java Hindu origin that a child learned the art of sacred Indian dance. During this period, it is often photographed almost or completely naked.

In their speeches, Mata Hari openly demonstrated on stage this provocative style that has gained wide popularity. One of the most exciting moments of her performances were gradually undressing, until it does not remain only ornate bra and some jewelry on the hands and head. Although her statements about his origins were fiction, her performances have had success with the public, as she raised her exotic dancing at a respectable level, and thereby contributed to the entertainment life of something new, that later made Paris famous throughout the world.

Paris, however, could also be a city that does not forgive. In 1916, the French military leaders ordered the execution of Mata Hari on charges of spying for Germany. It is believed that Mata Hari made a scapegoat to protect this traitor of the French, who have not been punished.

Fiction and bikinis

Mata Hari

Melodramatic life of Mata Hari and her untimely death have become fertile ground for the creation of many low-brow novels.

As exotic dances, cheap literature has done a lot to popularize costume bare-chested, which eventually turned into a bikini. From 1896 to 1950 it printed a lot of fiction, including low-cost magazines, which were printed on cheap paper with jagged edges.

Covers of magazines printed on smooth paper of higher quality, and were famous images depicting half-dressed ladies, normally expect brave hero. These covers have played an important role in promoting the market of such low-brow journals, and some of the most successful artists who created them, became as popular as the authors of works printed in the magazine.

In addition to magazines, in 1964 we began to be produced cheap novels, the cover of which is also adorned with these pictures. They are often depicted women dressed in something that can only be described as a bikini.

Since both the dancers and the covers of magazines have already submitted bikini society, the emergence of real women on the beach in a bikini was only a matter of time.

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