Bikini
The two-piece swimsuit that in 1946 was named after an atoll where atomic bombs were tested.
Two-piece swimsuits already existed, but in the summer of 1946 two Frenchmen, Jacques Heim and Louis Réard, launched very small versions. Réard called his the bikini, after the atoll where the United States had just tested atomic bombs.
The bikini was banned from beaches in several countries for years and became widespread only in the 1960s. It is modern design, so only a drawing is shown.
Materials: Cotton, later nylon and elastane
Manufacture: Originally sewn in small runs; mass-produced in synthetic materials from the 1960s.
Low briefs showing the navel, which set it apart from earlier two-pieces.
Elastic synthetics indicate the 1960s or later.
Ties and knots rather than clasps on many later models.