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7 Cool Facts About Your Sizzling Hot Bikini
The Itsy-Bitsy Thing That Shocked the World
You wouldn’t think that such a tiny little thing could make a lasting impression on the world. But 74 years after it was introduced, the bikini is still the chosen wardrobe for water-worshippers.
Here are 7 cool facts that you may not know about that “itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny” bikini.
ONE: The guy who designed it was an automotive engineer
Yep. A guy who worked in the CAR industry streamlined beachwear.
Louis Réard, a Frenchman, left his job designing cars to go work in his mother’s lingerie business. A competitive businessman, Réard got into a fashion feud with another designer. Jacques Heim had done a two-piece suit, named it “The Atom,” and called it “the world’s smallest swimsuit.”
Réard used his competitor’s slogan to his advantage. What did he say about his newly designed two-piece? Réard’s design would best Heim’s because it was
“Smaller than the world’s smallest swimsuit.”
TWO: The bikini is connected to the Atom Bomb
How did the bikini get its name?