 According to Beth Dincuff Charleston , research associate at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art , " The bikini represents a social leap involving body consciousness , moral concerns , and sexual attitudes . " By the early 2000s , bikinis had become a $ 811 million business annually , according to the NPD Group , a consumer and retail information company , and had boosted spin @-@ off services like bikini waxing and the sun tanning industries . 
