Elsewhere in Europe, local politicians were telling women to cover up. In the holiday island of Majorca, the local council recently brought in a "Good Citizen Plan" that will see holidaymakers hit with fines of almost $1000 if they wear a bikini or other beachwear around the town's streets.
The New Zealand Herald reported that the plan decrees that anyone "devoid of superior parts of clothing" in streets not immediately adjacent to the beach will be fined. Alvaro Gijon, the Mayor of Palma, was reported to have said that the aim of the new laws was to regulate "good behaviour" for tourists and residents, with the goal of preserving "harmony and civility".
The Majorcan mayor might approve of a new trend that emerged recently, the face-kini. BBC online reported that fashion enthusiasts were embracing a trend for a Mexican wrestler-style mask, which is thought to have been originally crafted by Chinese women to protect them from the sun.
New York-based magazine CR Fashion Book recently featured models lounging poolside wearing the mask, reported the Herald.
Face-kinis are causing much debate - and mirth - on social media. One Facebook poster, Grant O'Donnell, had this to say: "Ha be able to stroll in the sun and rob a bank at the same time."
Another, Russell Oliver: "This is a new age of fashion ... Dressing up as angry bandits."
Females were more welcoming, with poster Rachel Priebee commenting: "If I had one of those, I wouldn't mind being seen in public in a swimsuit, since nobody would recognise me."
This poster encapsulates most women's feelings towards swimwear.
Many of us stay away from bikinis, not just for religious or cultural reasons like the burka-wearing woman on the French beach, or for health reasons like the sun-shy face-kini wearers, but simply because they don't feel they have the figure to show so much flesh.
In a backlash against this lack of confidence, the hash tag Fatkini is trending online.
Women worldwide are proudly posting photos of their curvy bodies in bikinis in a two-fingered salute to the concept that only the young and skinny should dare to bare.
While on the one hand the "fatkini" trend is inspiring for women to move away from social and media pressure to be "perfect", obesity is nothing to be celebrated. Especially in New Zealand, where we are ranked fourth fattest in the OECD, behind the United States, Mexico and Hungary.
According to a recent Ministry of Health report, poor nutrition and obesity combined account for 11 per cent of health loss, death and disability in New Zealand.
Our obesity rate has more than doubled in the past 20 years. It now stands at 31 per cent of adults and 11 per cent of children.
These are shocking figures. While body confidence is a great thing, as is a backlash against the impossibly picture perfect concept of skinny, a celebration of "fat" on social media, while it may feel liberating, is really just kidding ourselves.
But the redeeming features of the fatkini trend are the fact it liberates women to be proud of their bodies, not skinny, nor obese, just in the scale of "real".
The sun aside, what is wrong with bikinis? If you have got it, or think you have, or just want to for the hell of it, then flaunt it.
And that is the point of the fatkini trend. The obese women who post may not necessarily think it's that great to be obese. But they feel they need to be extreme to redress the status quo that favours the skinny.
And so it is with Miley Cyrus. The pop star is often criticised for her outlandish behaviour and show of flesh. But Miley for me is as much a two-fingered salute to the stereotypes of women as the fatkini trend.
The former Hannah Montana sweetie is coming to twerk on our shores in October, prompting Family First leader Bob McCroskie to put out a warning that: "Pop porn is coming - lock up your kids."
I hadn't really thought about taking my daughters to Miley Cyrus but, after reading Bob's scaremongering release, I thought I should take them. I would rather they took inspiration from Miley than Bob.
While I totally disagree that it is a woman's "duty" to wear a bikini, it certainly is a woman's right to present her body how she likes.
Whether that means wearing a burkini, face-kini, fatkini or plain old-fashioned bikini.
Annemarie Quill is a journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times.
