The summertime of 1946 saw a mickle of scandalous aspect . There were the nuclear bomb exam that tore up the waters off the Marshall Islands , leaving parts of the regionmore radioactivethanChernobyl . There were the bombs themselves , great hunk of metallic element that would demonstrate , for the first time , what this horrific technology could do to war vessel . And then there was the bikini . How could we forget the two-piece ?

Yes , that skimpy swimming costume ’s name all begin with nuclear bombs . Maybe it ’s fitting that the clothing that ’s contributed to the satellite being in a toxic stranglehold of “ two-piece - body - ready ” diet refinement should have such destructive descent .

The design was the product of French engineer Louis Réard ’s imagination , a Modern take on the two - composition that send shockwaves of outrage cockle across the earth . fit in toSmithsonian , the “ four Triangle of nothing ” even reached the center of the Vatican who “ officially decreed the design ungodly ” .

When the design was debuted at a mantrap pageant on July 5 , 1946 , the name “ Bikini ” first go public as a hat - pourboire to the atoll where the United States begin Operation Crossroads solar day before . It involved a pair of atomic weapon system tests , the first since Trinity that shook the world a year to begin with .

The key aim of Operation Crossroads was to found the effect of these artillery on warships , so a fleet of doom vessels were gathered in the Marshall Islands , specifically at theBikini Atoll . It was a region that would take a unvoiced hit , eventually being on the receiving death of 23 atomic warhead trial over a menstruum between 1946 and 1958 .

The atomic branch race had been won to withering effect , but a young race was on . Three calendar week prior to the pealing out of the advanced bikini , another French designer called Jacques Heim had gifted the planet “ the reality ’s small bathing suit ” . It was call the Atome , and it would soon be blown out of the water by the scantily - clad - ness of the bikini that was the first design to put omphalus out there for all to see . The trial for a on-key two-piece ? To be capable to pull all the fabric through the loop of awedding ringing .

It just goes to show that the human creativity knows no bounds . From bomb that can rase full city , to a swimsuit the size of your finger , we ’ve proven sentence and time again that we love to ask if wecando something , even if we never question whether we should .