Happy Bikini Day

The modern bikini was invented by French engineer Louis Réard and introduced on July 5, 1946 at a fashion show at Piscine Molitor in Paris. It was a string bikini with a g-string back. It was named after Bikini Atoll, the Pacific Ocean site of a nuclear weapon test on July 1st, with the reasoning that the burst of excitement it would cause would be like a nuclear explosion. Réard promoted his bathing suit by selling it in a matchbox and declaring, "A bikini is not a bikini unless it can be pulled through a wedding ring". None of Paris's fashion models would wear Réard's creation, so it was introduced by Micheline Bernardini, a nude dancer at the Casino de Paris. Reard's inspiration came from watching young women at the beach rolling down the waists of their two-piece swimsuits and hitching up their tops to catch more sun.

Compare the above photo with the one below of a young Marilyn Monroe modeling what was then considered a risque bikini. Marilyn's bikini covers a little more of her chest, but the bottom covers her belly button, hips, and rear.
Catholic countries like Spain, Portugal and Italy banned the bikini. Decency leagues pressured Hollywood to keep bikinis from being featured in Hollywood movies. One writer described it as a "two piece bathing suit which reveals everything about a girl except for her mother's maiden name." And Modern Girl magazine wrote, "It is hardly necessary to waste words over the so-called bikini since it is inconceivable that any girl with tact and decency would ever wear such a thing."
In 1957, however, Brigitte Bardot's bikini in "And God Created Woman" began to create a market for the swimwear in the US. Brian Hyland's 1960 pop song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" inspired a bikini-buying spree. Ursula Andress emerged from the sea, and into cultural icon status, wearing a white bikini in 1962's "Dr. No". It has been called "the best bikini scene ever", and a "defining moment in the sixties liberalization of screen eroticism In 1964, Sports Illustrated published it's first swimsuit issue, which has been credited with making the bikini a legitimate piece of apparel. That same year even the pure and virtuous Annette Funicello wore a bikini for "Bikini Beach". The bikini was here to stay.

Here's a few pics of models and regular girls showing why the bikini is perhaps the greatest invention of all time. Alright, maybe that's a little over the top, but it's up there ;)