Louis Réard

Louis Réard

Louis Réard (1897 – 1984) was a French automobile engineer who invented the bikini in 1946. [cite web |url=http://corporate.britannica.com/press/inventions.html |title=Encyclopædia Britannica's Great Inventions |accessdate=2008-09-17 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica]

Invention of bikini

Although Réard was an engineer, he was running his mother's lingerie boutique near Les Folies Bergères in Paris by 1946. [cite news |first=Adam |last=Sage |title=Happy birthday: the 'shocking and immoral' bikini hits 60 |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article705414.ece |work= |publisher="The Times" |date=2006-04-16 |accessdate=2008-09-17 ] Reard and Jacques Heim, his rival designers, were competing to produce the world's smallest swimsuit. [cite news |title=The Bikini: One Of Man's Greatest Inventions |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/02/sunday/main1773847.shtml |work= |publisher=CBS News |date=July 2, 2006 |accessdate=2008-09-17 ] Heim developed his swimsuit and called it the "atom" and advertised it as "the world's smallest bathing suit."cite web |url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=VideoArticle&id=6949 |title=Bikini Introduced |accessdate=2008-09-17 |publisher=A&E Television Networks]

In 1946 Réard introduced the bikini. His swimsuit was basically a bra top and two inverted triangles of cloth connected by string and it was significantly smaller. Made out of a scant 30 inches of fabric, he promoted his creation as "smaller than the world's smallest bathing suit." He called his creation the bikini, named after the Bikini Atoll.cite news |first=Paula |last=Cocozza |title=A little piece of history |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2006/jun/10/sttropez.filminspiredtravel.france.culturaltrips?gusrc=rss&feed=travel |work= |publisher="The Guardian" |date=2006-06-10 |accessdate=2008-09-17 ] The idea struck him when he saw women rolling up their beachwear to get a better tan.cite news |first=Kathryn |last=Westcott |title=The Bikini: Not a brief affair |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/5130460.stm |work= |publisher=BBC News |date=2006-06-05 |accessdate=2008-09-17 ]

Réard named the bikini after the Bikini Atoll, which was the site of a nuclear weapon test called Operation Crossroads on July 1, 1946 in the Pacific. During those days, words like "atomic" were beginning to be used by the media to describe something sensational and Réard reasoned that the excitement the bikini would cause would equal that of the bomb.

Marketing of bikini

Réard's showmanship outgunned the far more reserved Jacques Heim, and it was Réard's bikini that shook the world at the Paris fashion show. [cite news |title=The bikini passes the half-century mark |url=http://www.cnn.com/STYLE/9607/06/bikini.aniversary/ |publisher=CNN |date=July 6, 1996 |accessdate=2008-09-17 ]

Réard could not find a model who would dare to wear his design. He ended up hiring Micheline Bernardini, a nude dancer from the Casino de Paris as his model. [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 | date = | accessdate=2008-09-17] That bikini, a string bikini with a g-string back made out of convert|30|sqin|cm2|0 of clothes with newspaper type printed across, was "officially" introduced on July 5, 1946 at a fashion event at Piscine Molitor, a popular public pool in Paris. The bikini was a hit, especially among men, and Bernardini received some 50,000 fan letters. Heim's design was the first worn on the beach, but the genre of clothing was given its name by Réard. Reard's business soared, and in advertisements he kept the bikini mystique alive by declaring that a two-piece suit wasn't a genuine bikini "unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring."

Later life

Réard moved with his wife to Lausanne from France in 1980. He died in 1984 at the age of 87. [cite news |title=Louis Reard, Engineer, Dies; Designed the Bikini in 1946 |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01EFD6163BF93BA2575AC0A962948260 |work= |publisher="The New York Times" |date=September 18, 1984 |accessdate=2008-09-17 ]

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