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Bikini


A bikini is a women's two-piece swimsuit with a bra top and separate bottom part, which ranges from full pelvic coverage to a thong or G-string.

The name was coined in 1946 by French engineer and clothing designer Louis Réard, after the recent nuclear tests at Bikini atoll -- often better known than its namesake -- and with the slogan "an anatomic bomb". Fashion designer Jacques Heim, also from France, re-released a similar design earlier that same year, with a name along the same lines, the Atome.

More revealing than a one-piece swimsuit, the bikini was slow to be adopted, and in many countries it was banned from beaches and public places. The Vatican declared it sinful. While still considered risqué, the bikini gradually became a part of popular culture when film starsBrigitte Bardot, Raquel Welch, Ursula Andress, and others—began wearing them on public beaches and in film.

The bikini design had become common in Western countries by the mid-1960s as beachwear, swimwear, and underwear. By the late 20th century it had also become common as sportswear, particularly in sports such as beach volleyball and bodybuilding. By the early 2000s, bikinis had become a US$811 million business annually, and boosted spin-off services such as bikini waxing and sun tanning.

While the two-piece swimsuit as a design existed in classical antiquity, the modern design first attracted public notice in Paris on July 5, 1946. French mechanical engineer Louis Réard introduced a design he named the "bikini", taking the name from the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, which was the colonial name the Germans gave to the atoll, transliterated from the Marshallese name for the island, Pikinni. Four days earlier, the United States had initiated its first peace-time nuclear weapons test at Bikini Atoll as part of Operation Crossroads. Réard hoped his swimsuit's revealing style would create an "explosive commercial and cultural reaction" similar to the explosion at Bikini Atoll.


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