Bikini variants

The bikini has spawned many stylistic variations. A regular bikini is a two-piece swimsuit that together covers a female's crotch, buttocks, and breasts. Some bikini designs cover larger portions of the wearer's body while other designs provide minimal coverage. Topless variants are still sometimes considered bikinis, although they are technically not a two-piece swimsuit.

Terminology

While the name bikini was applied to the skimpy fashion that first revealed the wearer's navel, the fashion industry considers any two-piece swimsuit a bikini. Modern bikini fashions today are characterized by a simple, brief design: two triangles of fabric that form a bra and cover the woman's breasts and two triangles of fabric on the bottom forming a panty cut below the navel that cover the groin in front and the buttocks in back. The amount of coverage can vary widely, from a string bikini with very little coverage to a full design with maximum coverage. A topless swimsuit may still be considered a bikini, although naturally it is no longer a two-piece swimsuit.