Tankini - History

History

Tankini and the concept of mix-and-match swimwears were the two major innovations in that genre in late 1990s. Designer Anne Cole, the US swimwear mogul, was the originator of this style. She as the woman behind the California swimwear label bearing her name and launched as an offshoot of her family's pioneering swimsuit company. Hailed as the first major innovation in women's swimsuit design in several decades, the tankini, Cole's clever two- piece, which blended the freedom of a bikini with the more modest coverage of a one-piece bathing suit, quickly captured nearly a third of the swimwear market. Her biggest hit, the tankini, came in 1998 when her label introduced the innovation. This two-piece suit with a top half that covered more of a woman's torso than a standard bikini top was first devised by Cole for herself as a young girl. Aimed at closing a gap in the swimwear market, the popularity of tankini largely came from Cole's tapping into women's anxieties about swimwear. In the six seasons following its introduction tankinis diversified in style and range, adding other big name designers like Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, Nautica, and Calvin Klein. In 2005, a controversy broke out when Buddhists complained against swimwear manufacturer Ondade Mar and lingerie giant Victoria's Secret started marketing tankinis featuring Buddhist iconography. In the same year Nike's breast cancer awareness swimwear collection featured four different cuts of tankini.