Today I've decided to post a bit of history.
On this day in 1946 the bikini hit the world scene designed by Frenchman Louis Reard. He was a car mechanic in the 1940s but also spent time looking after his mother's lingere boutiqe in Paris. It was there that he designed the bikini which was unveiled on this day.
Réard thought women should be more daring. A spirit of “doing your own thing” was taking hold across Europe after the chains of war had been broken and people were beginning to enjoy a new taste of freedom.
There was a drive by clothing manufacturers and designers to produce new ranges that would reflect the free-spirited mood of the times.
Reards bathing costume used no more than 30 inches of fabric, the bottom half made from two triangles of cloth held together with string and the top half no more than a skimpy bra.
He thought the design would be “highly explosive." American atomic bomb tests had started to take place off the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, so he cheekily called his swimwear “the bikini”.
Finding a model prepared to appear in public wearing his scandalously skimpy creation proved to be quite a challenge. He finally recruited 19-year-old exotic dancer Micheline Bernardini who had no qualms at all about parading semi-naked for all to see.
Here she is holding the box in which it could be packaged.
He expected big headlines after the launch at a Paris swimming pool, so he designed a bikini for Micheline that was printed appropriately with newspaper type.
Another French designer produced a competing swimsuit. He called it the “atom” and described it as “the world’s smallest bathing suit.” Réard’s creation was considerably smaller so he advertised it as “smaller than the world’s smallest bathing suit.”
Shockingly it was the first time that a
wearer’s navel had been exposed. In his advertisements he declared that a two-piece suit wasn’t a genuine bikini “unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring.”
There was a lot of initial resistance. It was banned on beaches in Spain and Italy for a time and was considered unacceptable in the United States. But more and more women wanted one and they appeared in increasing numbers on Europe’s beaches as each summer passed.
A breakthrough came in 1958 when Brigitte Bardot, the so-called “sex kitten” of the age, exploded onto cinema screens flaunting a bikini in her film, And God Created Woman.
In the US, barriers were broken in 1960 when pop star Bryan Hyland scored a major worldwide hit with a number which sang of a girl dressed only in an “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini.”
And the rest my friends is history.
By the way, in the 60s and 70s in Southern California I often sported a "bikini" but I never wore one even close to this tiny.
Reards bathing costume used no more than 30 inches of fabric, the bottom half made from two triangles of cloth held together with string and the top half no more than a skimpy bra.
He thought the design would be “highly explosive." American atomic bomb tests had started to take place off the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, so he cheekily called his swimwear “the bikini”.
Finding a model prepared to appear in public wearing his scandalously skimpy creation proved to be quite a challenge. He finally recruited 19-year-old exotic dancer Micheline Bernardini who had no qualms at all about parading semi-naked for all to see.
He expected big headlines after the launch at a Paris swimming pool, so he designed a bikini for Micheline that was printed appropriately with newspaper type.
Another French designer produced a competing swimsuit. He called it the “atom” and described it as “the world’s smallest bathing suit.” Réard’s creation was considerably smaller so he advertised it as “smaller than the world’s smallest bathing suit.”
Shockingly it was the first time that a
wearer’s navel had been exposed. In his advertisements he declared that a two-piece suit wasn’t a genuine bikini “unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring.”
There was a lot of initial resistance. It was banned on beaches in Spain and Italy for a time and was considered unacceptable in the United States. But more and more women wanted one and they appeared in increasing numbers on Europe’s beaches as each summer passed.
A breakthrough came in 1958 when Brigitte Bardot, the so-called “sex kitten” of the age, exploded onto cinema screens flaunting a bikini in her film, And God Created Woman.
In the US, barriers were broken in 1960 when pop star Bryan Hyland scored a major worldwide hit with a number which sang of a girl dressed only in an “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini.”
And the rest my friends is history.
By the way, in the 60s and 70s in Southern California I often sported a "bikini" but I never wore one even close to this tiny.
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