 In 1951 , Eric Morley organized the Festival Bikini Contest , a beauty contest and swimwear advertising opportunity at that year 's Festival of Britain . The press , welcoming the spectacle , referred to it as Miss World , a name Morley registered as a trademark . The winner was Kiki Håkansson of Sweden , who was crowned in a bikini . After the crowning , Håkansson was condemned by the Pope , while Spain and Ireland threatened to withdraw from the pageant . In 1952 , bikinis were banned from the pageant and replaced by evening gowns . As a result of the controversy , the bikini was explicitly banned from many other beauty pageants worldwide . Though some regarded the bikini and beauty contests as bringing freedom to women , they were opposed by some feminists as well as religious and cultural groups who objected to the degree of exposure of the female body . 
