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7 Cool Facts About Your Sizzling Hot Bikini

The Itsy-Bitsy Thing That Shocked the World

Melissa Gouty
4 min readJul 22, 2020
Photo by Elia Clerici on Unsplash

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?

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Melissa Gouty
Melissa Gouty

Written by Melissa Gouty

Writer, teacher, speaker, and observer of human nature. Content for HVAC & Plumbing Businesses. Author of The Magic of Ordinary. LiteratureLust and GardenGlory.

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