Louis Réard, the inventor of bikini, with a model in 1946
The idea of a suit “smaller than the world’s smallest bathing suit” struck him when he saw women rolling up their beachwear to get a better tan. He named his creation bikini after the Bikini Atoll, which was the site of nuclear weapon tests. Words like “atomic” were beginning to be used by the media to describe something sensational and indeed, the shock the bikini would eventually cause would equal that of the bomb.
