A burqini (or burkini; Arabic: بوركيني) swimsuit is a type of swimsuit for women designed by Lebanese Australian Aheda Zanetti under the company name Ahiida.
The suit covers the whole body except the face, the hands and the feet (enough to preserve Muslim modesty), whilst being light enough to enable swimming. It was described as the perfect solution for conservative Muslim women who want to swim but are uncomfortable with revealing bathing suits.
It looks rather like a full-length wetsuit with built-in hood, but somewhat looser and made of swimsuit material instead of rubber.
In August 2009, a woman in France was prevented from swimming in a public pool wearing a burkini. This was due to a long-standing law requiring swimwear in place of street clothing in public pools, for hygienic reasons, rather than the result of any specific political position on the garment, despite controversy in France over Islamic dress.
"Burqini", a portmanteau of burqa and bikini, is a registered trademark.
There are other styles of Islamic swimwear such as the veilkini and mycozzie which was the actual garment worn in the France incident. Aheda Zanetti criticized the mycozzie suit, claiming it used lycra and was unsafe. This was disputed by the designer of the mycozzie swimsuit.
Notable wearers have included Nigella Lawson.