Bikini Bikini

The Bikini bikini is a bikini sporting a pattern derived from footage of the Operation Crossroads Baker nuclear test at Bikini Atoll. The design was created using the nuke scan approach, combining strips from multiple frames of the test footage into a new image that captures the evolution of the explosion over time.

The outfit is double sided. One side features darker, more oceany samples, while the other is mostly white and generally sampled from the blast wave itself.

Both sides use vertical samples, which means that as you move left to right you are progressing forward in time. Here’s an approximation of where each piece came from in the whole scan:

This was my first attempt at designing any piece of clothing, and—while nothing revolutionary—the blue side top looks half decent in my humble opinion. I’m less certain about the black on the bottom piece, and the seam on the white side is pretty obvious because I had no clue what I was doing. A nuke scan hat or t-shirt probably would have been easier and more practical, but the bikini connection just was to perfect to pass up.

The more I considered it though, the stranger this connection seemed. Why is it that we have women’s swimwear named after a nuclear explosion while the comparably skimpy piece of male aquatic attire is called the “speedo”? Couldn’t we at least have retconned speedo to “Trinity” or perhaps “Trinies” if we want to keep the Austrian flair? Because, after all, everyone deserves clothing that implies: your body is a dangerous weapon capable of incinerating hundreds of thousands with a flash. (This site is a quite fascinating read on the history of the bikini)

If you want this year’s most explosive piece of swimwear, you can purchase the Bikini bikini for $30 over on etsy. I have no intention of making another so it really is one of a kind. What’s more, I’ll even send it to you for free if you can promise to wear the Bikini bikini to Bikini Atoll, thereby properly closing the loop once and for all.