In 1946, the bikini made its debut at a Paris fashion show.

Two years after the French had enjoyed liberation from the Nazi Occupation, they experienced another kind of liberation that took place along the sunny beaches of the Mediterranean. A few daring women decided to wear a new type of bathing suit that showed more than ever had been seen before in public! The tiny two-piece suit was named the bikini, in honor of the tiny Pacific island where the United States was testing the atom bomb. The skimpy new suit caused its own “explosions,” which are still being felt today.

Initially, Americans rejected the bikini outright, preferring the one-piece bathing suit popularized in movies of the early 1950s. But gradually the suit became more accepted by the American culture, and it became popular in the 1960s as a series of “beach movies” made it standard attire. Songs like “Itsy-Bitsy Teeny-Weeny Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini” no doubt helped the skimpy suits become more acceptable. Today the bikini is as popular as ever, but that doesn’t mean that the debate about its appropriateness has ended. (Perhaps it goes on in your house as well!)

While such matters are often a matter of personal taste, Paul had a few things to say about what we should think about when it comes to what we wear and how we look. Rather than letting the latest fads dictate what we wear, Paul said we should be more concerned about our inner character. We are more attractive showing kindness, gentleness, and self-control than when we’re showing off our bodies with revealing clothing.

Clothes styles come and go. A beautiful character lasts forever.

And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes (1 Timothy 2:9, NLT).

To Do

Take a look at your closet. What clothes do you have that you might not wear when considering Paul’s words?

Also on this day . . .

1865—William Booth founded the Salvation Army in London.

1916—Adelina and August Van Buren started on the first successful transcontinental motorcycle tour to be attempted by two women.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005).