80 years of bikini, between marketing strategies and revolution

The first version of a bikini it was decidedly bolder than those that followed. He broke a golden rule: thebelly button it could be uncovered, the line was very low cut and the upper band left little to the imagination. To the point that to wear it Louis Réarda French automotive engineer who improvised as an innovative stylist, found only a stripper from the Casino de Paris.

No professional model had the courage to take part in the catwalk and in the photo that would go down in history as the exact moment in which the bikini. It was the 5 July 1946 and after 80 years what is the quintessential swimsuit is much more than a garment.

A symbol beyond the costume

It is even a unit of measurement, a psychological obstacle and a case of marketing. Because, precisely, the name contains within itself principles of commercial strategy that are based on the consumer’s ability to psychologically condition and a highly evocative message.

Origin of the name bikini

Four days before launch, exactly on July 1, 1946the United States had conducted nuclear tests inBikini Atollin the Marshall Islands. Réard, in a stroke of marketing genius, sensed that his new costume would have an equally explosive cultural impact. Here the nuclear fear known just a year earlier with Hiroshima turns into a positive and seductive message.

80 years have passed and the bikini is still in the collective imagination as that garment that underlines sculpted physiques and measures theself-esteem of a woman. But 80 years have not passed smoothly. Although the scandals have increased the fame.

Diffusion in Italy

In the first year of life it becomes an ‘official uniform’. She’s the very young one Lucia Bosè who decides to wear it to parade in the competition Miss Italia. And from that moment the aspiring Misses abandon the one-piece swimsuit and over the heels wear the two-piece which since the first version has acquired a few centimeters of fabric to cover the navel, hide a bit of thigh and breast.

Bans and scandals

And at first it’s not even enough. In the 50s Italia, Spain, Portugal and several American beaches declare it illegal. The police and traffic police go around armed with centimeters to control the most daring young people.

But in 1956 Brigitte Bardot she wears a bikini in “And God Created Woman” and the world goes crazy. To abolish the prohibitions and put the centimeters in a drawer we will have to wait until 1962 with the statuary Ursula Andress which emerges from the sea and even upsets 007.

A conquest of freedom

The day of July 5th thus remains a reminder of how a small piece of fabric represented a milestone in the fight for freedom of the female body.