Talk:monokini

swimsuit

Can this also mean a one piece swimsuit like this? --Mglovesfun (talk) 12:18, 23 May 2011 (UTC)

I think so. In fact, I have never encountered the sense of "just a bikini bottom". Type in "monokini" on google images and you'll only see one-pieces, often with the sides cut out.75.118.1.6 17:40, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

Google images do not prove a thing. I'm old enough to remember when the monokini came about, and I'd say Wikipedia has it right: "The monokini, designed by Rudi Gernreich in 1964, consisting of only a brief, close-fitting bottom and two thin straps, was the first women's topless swimsuit." Gernreich called his one-piece swimsuit design mono-kini as a reference to the two-piece bi-kini, although the "bi" in bikini has originally nothing to do with the number two. --Hekaheka (talk) 08:58, 9 April 2017 (UTC)

It seems that the term has developed a second sense, though, as I can find some citations that clearly refer to a garment with a top. I've added one that actually uses the term; here are two mentions that make clearer what is meant:

• 1998, Constance C. R. White, StyleNoir:

  There are two basic types of swimsuit: two-piece and one-piece, also called maillots (pronounced my-ohs). There is also something called a monokini, which is a one-piece swimsuit with thin bands of fabric joining its bra to its brief portion.

- -sche (discuss) 19:58, 9 April 2017 (UTC)