Casino de Paris dancer Micheline Bernardini holds a small box into which the entire Bikini swimsuit could be packed, 5 July 1946, (Photo AFP/Getty Images)
“Aboard the USS Fall River (CA-131), Bikini Atoll, 5 Jul 1946 – Given the serious nature of Test Able on 1 July, there were no Fourth of July fireworks at Bikini.
However, the radio room was abuzz with news about a different type of explosion.
“On 5 July in Paris, the two-piece bikini swimsuit was worn for the first time in public. Micheline Bernardini, a 19-year-old dancer from the Casino de Paris, wore the bikini at the Molitor pool in public for the first time. The swimsuit was designed by Louis Réard, an automotive engineer-turned-textile manufacturer. Réard named the swimsuit after the Bikini atomic bomb tests because the swimsuit was causing a cultural explosion.”
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Excerpt from Operation Crossroads, Lest We Forget! An Eyewitness Account, Bikini Atomic Bomb Tests 1946
William L. McGee with Sandra V. McGee.
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Love the connection you’ve pointed out between a momentous moment in history and the beginning of a dramatic and enduring “fashion statement”!