The daze of history marches onward…

Good morning, Netizens…

 

Holy cow, how did I miss this important calendar date in history?

 

On July 7, 1946, just six days after the test of a nuclear explosion in a South Pacific atoll named Bikini, French fashion designer Louis Reard introduced a swimsuit of the same name, hoping that the new outfit would cause a similarly explosive reaction. It's fair to say that he succeeded. “The new 'Bikini' swimming costume (in a newsprint-patterned fabric) … caused a sensation at a beauty contest at the Molitor swimming pool in Paris,” the caption reads. “… Reard was unable to find a 'respectable' model for his costume and the job of displaying it went to 19-year-old Micheline Bernardini, a nude dancer from the Casino de Paris. She is holding a small box into which the entire costume can be packed.”

 

While he was at it, he completely changed the face of fashion design at the beaches of the world. Of course after the worldwide acceptance of the bikini came the appearance of the thong for men, which only further complicated life on the beach.

 

Of course, your 90 year-old Aunt Tillie probably would not dare to don such scanty pieces of cloth, even in her prime, but then again, perhaps she would. Beach riots have started for less things, you know.

 

Have you ever stopped to consider how the bikini has forever altered American beaches and through that, American mores? There are some bodies that are made for bikinis and thongs, and then there are some bodies that at least should not wear them in public, my aging fat-body included.

 

Dave