FRENCH women on the beaches where Brigitte Bardot first introduced topless sunbathing have taken to covering themselves up.

Forty years after their mothers and grandmothers first claimed the right to flaunt their femininity, today’s young women have discovered what has been named la nouvelle pudeur: new modesty.

The cultural shift has been attributed to a backlash against the liberal ideas of previous generations. French commentators have declared that the days of the monokini and the no-strap tan could be over.

“It’s the most eye-catching summer trend: female holidaymakers who go in for topless sunbathing on our beaches are fewer and fewer in number,” noted Le Parisien newspaper. “Some have decided to put their tops back on. Others — especially the younger generation — have never dreamed for a minute of trying out the monokini experience.”

At one private beach at Bormes-les-Mimosas on the Mediterranean coast, fewer than 2 per cent of women were topless this week. “It used to be about half,” said one sunbather in her 40s.

Source: theage.com.au