 The bikini was banned on the French Atlantic coastline , Spain , Italy , Portugal and Australia , and was prohibited or discouraged in a number of US states . The United States Motion Picture Production Code , also known as the Hays Code , enforced from 1934 , allowed two @-@ piece gowns but prohibited the display of navels in Hollywood films . The National Legion of Decency , a Roman Catholic body guarding over American media content , also pressured Hollywood and foreign film producers to keep bikinis from being featured in Hollywood movies . As late as 1959 , Anne Cole , one of the United States ' largest swimsuit designers , said , " It 's nothing more than a G @-@ string . It 's at the razor 's edge of decency . " The Hays Code was abandoned by the mid @-@ 1960s , and with it the prohibition of female navel exposure , as well as other restrictions . The influence of the National Legion of Decency also waned by the 1960s . 
