On July 5, 1946, four days after the first nuclear weapons test on the
Bikini atoll during
Operation Crossroads, french engineer
Louis Réard introduced a two-piece swimsuit for women at the
Piscine Molitor public swimming pool in
Paris. The revealing design was considered daring
(1) at the time and shocked the world - not unlike the recent atomic blasts, the news of which still reverberated in public consciousness. Somehow the two ideas became entangled and the name
Bikini stuck.
Footnotes
(1) So daring, in fact, that Réard had to engage nude dancer
Micheline Bernardini from the Casino de Paris to present the Bikini as no respectable woman would even consider wearing it in public.