In 1946, a French teenager stood in front of the world's press in Paris, wearing a bathing suit that looked more like... underwear! Although she might have known that this was indeed a newsworthy event, she probably didn't know just how a big a deal this tiny garment was going to become...
When we're off on our hols, one of the items that's almost guaranteed to be in our suitcase, is a bikini. Unless of course you're going to a ski resort. Or you're a fella! But yes, beach holidays, more often than not, equal bikini. So it's astounding to think that there was a time when our favourite style of beachwear didn't exist. In actual fact the bikini is only seventy five years young and celebrated this milestone birthday this month. Since it's launch, there has never been an item of clothing (OK two items of clothing) that has been quite so controversial. Apart from the shellsuit, that is!
It's believed that bikini-style clothing had existed for thousands of years. For instance, women during the Roman era used to wear bikini-style garments during competitive sporting events. However this wasn't necessarily beachwear and certainly not the bikini as we know it today. So while a similar style of clothing has existed throughout the ages, the two-piece bathing suit that we now refer to as the 'bikini' has only been around since 1946.
No one bats an eyelid at a woman in a bikini nowadays (unless she's travelling on the Tube!) so it’s hard to believe that there was once a time when people found this bathing suit shocking. Even the fashion models who were approached to wear it for the launch refused to do so, fearing the scandal that might ensue. Thank goodness times have changed! We take a look at the swimwear that was no overnight sensation but has now become a holiday fashion staple.
So the bikini recently turned seventy five?
Yes it did. The bikini was launched on 5th July 1946.
Bikini? It sounds very Italian. Was it created in Italy?
Funnily enough, no! The bikini actually has origins in that other great fashion capital of the world - Paris! So the bikini is as as French as a Citroën.
Where did the bikini get it's name from then?
The bikini was named after the Pacific Ocean coral reef in the Marshall Islands -Bikini Atoll - where nuclear tests were carried out after the Second World War. In fact the first test was conducted just four days before the launch of the bikini.
So before the bikini came along what did women wear to the beach?
Well before the creation of the modern-day bikini, modesty and decency were always key with regards to swimwear. In the 1900s, for instance, beachwear typically consisted of long bloomers and a tunic-style top - which meant that the wearer was very covered up. Not exactly fun beach attire, is it? And not the easiest thing to swim in either.
Fast forward to the 1930s, and swimsuits were starting to resemble what we know and wear today. Swimsuits had lower backs, thinner straps, and were cut to show off more leg. And while two-piece bathing suits were becoming popular and showed off some of the midriff, the bottom part was high-waisted and came well over the belly button. Complete with a brassiere style top, the overall look was fairly structured - but definitely more comfortable than the beachwear of previous decades.
There is of course another reason for why swimwear was decreasing in size and that was due to fabric shortages during the war. So designers and manufacturers had to cut back on material wherever they could - but they still wanted to preserve that sense of modesty.
But it wasn't until the forties that things took a very dramatic turn which would change the course of swimwear forever - meaning that a return to bloomers and tunics was not likely. And thank goodness for that!
Who do we have to thank for creating the bikini?
That honour goes to French engineer-turned lingerie business owner-turned costume designer, Louis Reard.
What inspired him to design the bikini?
Two things really. One of them is Jacques Heim - and we'll come on to him in a moment - and the other being a trip to St. Tropez, where Reard noticed that a lot of the sun worshippers on the beach were having to roll up the hems of their swimsuits in order to avoid those dreaded visible tan lines.
So Louis Reard is the first person ever to create the bikini. Who's Jacques Heim then?
Jacques Heim was a successful French fashion and costume designer, and owner of a chain of sportswear boutiques who is often regarded as the 'co-creator' of the bikini even though he did not work on the design with Reard and neither did he come up with the name. Instead he set the wheels in motion in creating the design that became the inspiration for the modern day bikini - the atome.
In the early 1930s, Heim brought out a range of swimwear aimed at young women, and one of these were two piece sets which consisted of a ruffled bra top and shorts-style bloomers. The overall look of the atome was very pretty and feminine. But perhaps because it closely resembled lingerie, many women were reluctant to publicly wear something so risque and opted for the more conservative styles of beachwear.
But then in 1946, Heim decided to revamp the atome. Despite women's concerns about wearing something so skimpy out in public, Heim decided that going small was the only way to go and advertised the new look atome as 'The world's smallest bathing suit.' It was launched in May 1946 - just two months before the launch of Reard's bikini.
Atome... Bikini... I see a bit of a nuclear theme going on here...
True. It would seem as though both creators were anticipating a very explosive reaction from the launch of such risque beachwear. Heim even declared that he was calling his swimwear set the atome because it was small and devastating - just like a nuclear atom.
Not sure that the poor inhabitants of the Marshall Islands where nuclear testing was being carried out, wanted reminding of that.
Then Reard decided to have a go?
Yes. Hot on the heels of the launch of the atome, Reard decided to come to come up with a design that was even smaller than Heim's. Reard's was a string bikini that consisted of four small triangle. And knowing that this bathing suit was going to make headlines, Reard cleverly went for a newspaper print fabric.
Tell us about the bikini's launch
The bikini was modelled in front of the press at the Piscine Molitor, a well-known public pool in Paris. Whereas Heim had skywriters advertise the atome as 'the world’s smallest bathing suit,' Reard also hired skywriters to do something similar - except he promoted the bikini as "smaller than the smallest bathing suit in the world."
So what was the difference between the atom and the bikini?
They're both two-piece bathing suits but the bikini is a lot smaller and the midriff section is a lot more exposed with the wearer's naval on display - something the atome never did. Furthermore the bottoms of Reard's bikini design were thong style which no doubt caused a major stir.
Who was the young lady who modelled the bikini on launch day?
That would be Micheline Bernardini. Reard had been looking for a fashion model to wear the bikini but all the professional models he approached were reluctant to do so (probably wish they had now!)
So thinking outside the box, he approached nineteen year old striptease artist Bernardini from the Casino de Paris to model the two-piece... and the rest is history!
Why is she holding a tiny box in the photo?
Bernardini held a box - a little bigger than a ring box - as she modelled the bikini because the entire two piece could fit neatly into it! Further proof to Heim and the rest of the world, that Reard had indeed created the world's smallest bathing suit. He is also believed to have declared that a bikini is only a real bikini if "it could be pulled through a wedding ring."
So did fame and fortune beckon for the Micheline Bernardini?
Bernardini has gone down in history as the first woman to do a photoshoot in a bikini. After the launch, a much photographed Bernardini received more than fifty thousand letters from fans. She later moved to Australia and then America, where she had worked as an actress.
Although she has lived most of her life out of the spotlight, Bernardini did don the bikini again forty years after that launch to pose for more photos. She also appeared in an episode of TV documentary series Love Lust, entitled The Bikini in 2011.
Having married an American soldier, Bernardini is now in her nineties and is believed to be living in the United States.
Was the bikini an instant success?
It was an instant talking point! But sales weren't exactly sky-rocketing at that point. You have to remember that this was the 1940s and many women were used to a more modest style of dress. Even countries such as Italy and Spain had banned people from wearing them in public.
But the bikini was slowly finding it's way around the world. And when celebrities and glamour icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot and Raquel Welch started wearing them - both on and off-set - the general public decided to give them a go too. Though it's believed that it's Ursula Andress's 1962 role in Dr. No as Honey Ryder where sales of bikinis are said to have soared.
What were some of the controversies regarding the bikini?
Boy, where do we start! Reard knew that there would be a certain degree of shock factor involved when he designed the controversial two-piece. By the time the bikini was launched, women were no longer covered up on the beach the way they were in the Victorian or Edwardian times. But a bathing suit that showed so much more flesh was bound to cause a stir.
That said, Reard probably wasn't expecting the Vatican to condemn the bathing suit, or for various countries around the world to ban them from being worn in public. In 1951, the winner of The Miss World beauty contest was crowned while wearing a bikini. There was outrage and calls for the swimsuit round to be scrapped - something that has continued throughout the years as it is complained that such garments objectify women.
But the bikini also brought some good stuff too, right?
Oh of course! Aside from the fact that bikini sales have contributed to a global swimwear industry that is worth over $19 billion today, it's also significant in providing choice for women and giving them that sense of liberation. It boosted the careers of many actresses in the fifties and sixties actress careers with the swimsuit’s soaring popularity reinforced by its use in contemporary films such as Girl in the Bikini; Lolita; Bedazzled, and One Million Years B.C. Furthermore, in 1964, The Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue debuted featuring a cover girl clad in a white bikini.
And while there were many who took offence at the swimwear section of beauty contests, there were plenty more who disagreed with that view, deeming it old-fashioned and patronizing to women, and instead saw it as a celebration of female beauty and liberation. And that is one debate that will continue to rage on!
Reard was right - his bikini design absolutely did create shock-waves around the world and was very much a headline-grabber. But the two-piece bathing suit turned out to be so much more than a flash in the pan phenomenon. Today, if you walk along the beaches of St. Tropez, California, Skegness... and beyond, you'll find ladies wearing the variations of the same skimpy two-piece outfit that caused such a stir... proving that the bikini really is here to stay.
Here's to the next seventy five years...
Check out our post for what we think are the five most iconic bikinis ever!
Photos: As stated
Word Cloud: Angel Noire
