On July 5, 1946 Micheline Bernardini weared Louis Reard's two-piece swimsuit, which he called the bikini, named days after the first above ground atomic test in the Bikini Atoll. Louis Reard could not find a fashion model willing to showcase his revealing design for a two-piece swimsuit, so he hired Bernardini, an 18-year-old nude dancer from the Casino de Paris, as his model. A look back at 70 years of revolutionary swimwear — in this gallery by TASS.
The bikini's birthday: a look back at 70 years of revolutionary swimwear
71 years ago, the bikini made a sensational debut at a Paris swimming pool on July 5, 1946
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Marilyn Monroe wearing bikini, 1951
© flickr.com/John Irving Comedian Ken Murray selecting young women for his television program at CBS studio in New York, 1952
© AP Photo/Robert Kradin French actress Brigitte Bardot steps into a milk bath while filming the comedy "Nero's Big Weekend," in Rome, 1956
© AP Photo Singer Eddie Fisher and actress Elizabeth Taylor wearing bikini as they walk on Croisette Boulevard, 1959, Cannes, France
© AP Photo Therese Baldwin and Carol Merrill model California’s new bathing suit styles, 1964
© AP Photo/Ed Widdis Six bikini-clad members of Norway's gymnastic team and one lucky male soak up the sun in the Olympic Village in Mexico City, 1968
© AP Photo Crimean girls on the shore of the Black Sea, Ukrainian SSR, 1970
© Valery Gende-Rote/TASS Models wearing bikinis walking in a subway station in Hamburg, Germany, 2009
© AP Photo/Fabian Bimmer Skiers and snowboarders in bathing suits take part in a mass downhill run at the Sheregesh ski resort as part of Grelka Fest-2016
© Kiril Kukhmar/TASS Participants at the final of Miss Moscow beauty pageant, 2016
© Artyom Geodakyan/TASS