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In 1943 as part of wartime
rationing, the U.S. Government ordered a 10 % reduction
in fabric used in woman's swimwear. The skirt panel was
removed, and out came the bare midriff. At beaches across
the country, men paid special attention to women doing
their patriotic duty. Reard decided to push the envelope.
His suit had shrunk down to 30 inches of fabric.
Bikini
Atoll a tiny coral island
in the Marshall Islands, where Americans conducted several
atomic detonations, has also been credited with the name
of the swimwear. The bikini was introduced a few days
after the explosions, and the thought being its introduction
would have the same explosive effect or that the burst
of excitement would resemble a nuclear detonation. However,
women in Paris were wearing bikinis one year before the
bikini was "invented". This fact is documented
with pictures in the July 16, 1945 issue of Life.
When the bikini was first
introduced in 1946 by Reard and Heim, the fashion models
of Paris refused to wear it, claiming it scandalous and
indecent. It was Micheline
Bernardini who paraded onto a runway at a poolside
fashion show in Paris. She was a nude dancer hired by
Reard.
Americans rejected the fashion
claiming it to risqué and immoral. Even though
many Americans believed the bikini was simply too scandalous
for virtuous American women, the bikini would make an
appearance into American fashion only one year later.
In 1956, the movie, And God
Created Woman features French sex kitten Brigitte
Bardot This film raises the stakes as a 22 year-old
Bardot bares her buns and flashes her breasts. But even
the original bikini girl could not ignite serious interest
in the bikini.
As American morals became
more accepting and lenient of the fashion, film stars
and models soon began emerging everywhere in the bikini.
Many Hollywood bombshells like Jayne
Mansfield, Marilyn
Monroe, Ursula
Andress (the first Bond girl) and Raquel
Welch all began appearing in the new bikini fashion
both on film and off. The bikini, and it's impact, was
about to change forever.
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