ABSTRACT
The topless bathing suit had its genesis in a casual prediction made by fashion designer Rudi Gernreich. In a 1963 interview he noted that, “in five years every American woman will be wearing a bathing suit that is bare above the waist.” While deliberating as to whether or not to produce such a suit, the Hess brothers department store in Allentown, Pennsylvania ordered a shipment. When other retailers across the United States also expressed an interest, Gernreich began making the suit in early 1964.
