Editing Bikini (section)

=== Modern bikini ===
{{stack|[[File:MichelineBernardini.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Micheline Bernardini]] on 5 July 1946 at the [[Piscine Molitor]] modeling Réard's bikini, which was small enough to fit into the {{convert|5|by|5|by|5|cm|adj=on|spell=us}} box she is holding.]]}}
In the summer of 1946, Western Europeans enjoyed their first war-free summer in many years. French designers sought to deliver fashions that matched the liberated mood of the people.<ref name=history/> Fabric was still in short supply,<ref name=Gunn>Tim Gunn, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=pWG9AAAAQBAJ Tim Gunn's Fashion Bible: The Fascinating History of Everything in Your Closet]'', page 25, Simon & Schuster, 2013, {{ISBN|978-1-4516-4386-2}}</ref> and in an endeavor to resurrect swimwear sales, two French designers&nbsp;– [[Jacques Heim]] and [[Louis Réard]]&nbsp;– almost simultaneously launched new two-piece swimsuit designs in 1946.<ref>Patrik Alac, ''Bikini Story'', page 31, Parkstone International, 2012, {{ISBN|978-1-78042-951-9}}</ref><ref>Claudia Mitchell and Jacqueline Reid-Walsh, ''Girl Culture: An Encyclopedia'' (vol. 1), page 182, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007, {{ISBN|978-0-313-08444-7}}</ref> Heim launched a two-piece swimsuit design in Paris that he called the ''atome'', after the smallest known particle of matter. He announced that it was the "world's smallest bathing suit."<ref name=history>{{cite web|title=Bikini introduced - Jul 05, 1946|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bikini-introduced|website=HISTORY.com|access-date=16 May 2018}}</ref><ref>Rod E. Keays, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=NLszBcSEdLYC&pg=PA109 The Naturally Good Man] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221125233959/https://books.google.com/books?id=NLszBcSEdLYC&pg=PA109 |date=November 25, 2022 }}'', page 109, Trafford Publishing, 2012, {{ISBN|978-1-4669-1924-2}}</ref> Although briefer than the two-piece swimsuits of the 1930s, the bottom of Heim's new two-piece beach costume still covered the wearer's navel.<ref name=Gunn /><ref>James Gilbert Ryan and Leonard C. Schlup, ''Historical Dictionary of the 1940s'', page 50, M.E. Sharpe, 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-7656-2107-8}}</ref><ref>Bobby Mercer, ''ManVentions'', page 194, Adams Media, 2011, {{ISBN|978-1-4405-1074-8}}</ref><ref>Kelly Killoren Bensimon, ''The Bikini Book'', page 18, Thames & Hudson, 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-500-51316-3}}</ref>

Soon after, Louis Réard created a competing two-piece swimsuit design, which he called the ''bikini''.<ref name=TimA>Adam Sage, "[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article705414.ece Happy birthday: the 'shocking and immoral' bikini hits 60]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}", ''[[The Times]]'', April 16, 2006</ref> He noticed that women at the beach rolled up the edges of their swimsuit bottoms and tops to improve their tan.<ref name=femmes>{{cite web|title=Le Bikini souffle ses 60 bougies !|url=http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/mode/0606-bikini/anniversaire.shtml|website=www.journaldesfemmes.com|access-date=17 May 2018|language=fr}}</ref> On 5 July, Réard introduced his design at a swimsuit review held at a popular Paris public pool, [[Piscine Molitor]], four days after the first test of a US nuclear weapon at the [[Bikini Atoll]]. The newspapers were full of news about it and Réard hoped for the same with his design.<ref name=navy>{{cite web|title=Operation Crossroads: Fact Sheet|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq76-1.htm|publisher=Department of the Navy—Naval History and Heritage Command|access-date=13 August 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024121304/http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq76-1.htm|archive-date=24 October 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Wiesner|first1=Maria|title=70 Jahre Bikini: Vier Dreiecke und etwas Schnur|url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/stil/mode-design/der-bikini-feiert-70-jubilaeum-nach-erfindung-in-st-tropez-14323637.html|newspaper=FAZ.NET|access-date=17 May 2018|language=de|date=5 July 2016}}</ref> Réard's ''bikini'' undercut Heim's ''atome'' in its brevity. His design consisted of two side-by-side triangles of fabric forming a bra, and two front-and-back triangular pieces of fabric covering the [[mons pubis]] and the [[buttocks]], respectively, connected by string. When he was unable to find a fashion model willing to showcase his revealing design,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Alac|first1=Patrik|title=Bikini Story|date=2012|publisher=Parkstone International|location=New York|isbn=978-1-78042-951-9|page=72}}</ref> Réard hired [[Micheline Bernardini]], an 18-year old [[Striptease|nude dancer]] from the [[Casino de Paris]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.bikiniscience.com/chronology/1945-1950_SS/LR4601_S/LR4601.html |title = Michele Bernadini: The First Bikini | first = Judson | last = Rosebush | work = Bikini Science | access-date = September 19, 2007 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927084552/http://www.bikiniscience.com/chronology/1945-1950_SS/LR4601_S/LR4601.html | archive-date = September 27, 2007 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> He announced that his swimsuit, was "smaller than the world's smallest bathing suit".<ref name=Guard>Paula Cocozza, "[https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2006/jun/10/sttropez.filminspiredtravel.france.culturaltrips A little piece of history] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080927104351/http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2006/jun/10/sttropez.filminspiredtravel.france.culturaltrips?gusrc=rss&feed=travel |date=September 27, 2008 }}", ''[[The Guardian]]'', June 10, 2006</ref><ref name=Lil>[http://www.lilith-ezine.com/articles/2006/The-Bikini.html The Bikini Turns 60] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160909175233/http://www.lilith-ezine.com/articles/2006/The-Bikini.html |date=September 9, 2016}}, 1946 to 2006: 60 Years of Bikini Bathing Beauties, ''Lilith E-Zine''</ref> Réard said that "like the [atom] bomb, the bikini is small and devastating".<ref name="The Very First Bikini">Judson Rosebush, {{cite web|url = http://www.bikiniscience.com//chronology/1945-1950_SS/1945-1950.html |title=1945–1950: The Very First Bikini |work=Bikini Science |access-date=November 25, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120627214541/http://bikiniscience.com/chronology/1945-1950_SS/1945-1950.html|archive-date = June 27, 2012 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> Fashion writer [[Diana Vreeland]] described the bikini as the "atom bomb of fashion".<ref name="The Very First Bikini" /> Bernardini received 50,000 fan letters, many of them from men.<ref name=HistC /><ref name=heritage />

Photographs of Bernardini and articles about the event were widely carried by the press. The ''[[International Herald Tribune]]'' alone ran nine stories on the event.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mitchell|first1=Claudia A.|last2=Reid-Walsh|first2=Jacqueline|title=Girl Culture an Encyclopedia|date=2008|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Connecticut|isbn=978-0-313-08444-7|page=82}}</ref> French newspaper ''[[Le Figaro]]'' wrote, "People were craving the simple pleasures of the sea and the sun. For women, wearing a bikini signaled a kind of second liberation. There was really nothing sexual about this. It was instead a celebration of freedom and a return to the joys in life."<ref name=heritage />

Heim's ''atome'' was more in keeping with the sense of propriety of the 1940s, but Réard's design won the public's attention.<ref name=Gunn /> Although Heim's design was the first worn on the beach and initially sold more swimsuits, it was Réard's description of the two-piece swimsuit as a ''bikini'' that stuck.<ref name=BBCW /><ref>Weisgall, Jonathan (1994), ''Operation Crossroads: The Atomic Tests at Bikini Atoll'', pages 264–265, Naval Institute Press, {{ISBN|978-1-55750-919-2}}</ref> As competing designs emerged, he declared in advertisements that a swimsuit could not be a genuine bikini "unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring."<ref name=HistC /> Modern bikinis were first made of [[cotton]] and [[Jersey (fabric)|jersey]].<ref>Valerie Steele, ''Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion'', page 253, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005, {{ISBN|0-684-31397-9}}</ref>