| Louis Réard | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1897 |
| Died | 16 September 1984 |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | automobile engineer, fashion designer |
| Known for | inventing bikini |
Louis Réard (1897 – 16 September 1984) was a French automobile engineer who invented the bikini in 1946.[1]
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Although Réard was an engineer, he was running his mother's shoe shop Les Folies Bergères in Paris by 1946.[2] Réard and Jacques Heim, his rival designer, were competing to produce the world's smallest swimsuit.[3] Heim developed his swimsuit and called it the "atom" and advertised it as "the world's smallest bathing suit."[4]
In 1946 Réard introduced the bikini. His swimsuit was basically a bra top and two inverted triangles of cloth connected by string and it was significantly smaller. Made out of a scant 30 inches of fabric, he promoted his creation as "smaller than the world's smallest bathing suit." He called his creation the bikini, named after the Bikini Atoll.[4][5] The idea struck him when he saw women rolling up their beachwear to get a better tan.[6]
Réard could not find a model who would dare to wear his design. He ended up hiring Micheline Bernardini, a nude dancer from the Casino de Paris as his model.[7] That bikini, a string bikini with a g-string back made out of 30 square inches (194 cm2) of cloth with newspaper type printed across, was "officially" introduced on 5 July 1946 at a fashion event at Piscine Molitor, a popular public pool in Paris. The bikini was a hit, especially among men, and Bernardini received some 50,000 fan letters.[4] Heim's design was the first worn on the beach, but the genre of clothing was given its name by Réard.[6] Réard's business soared, and in advertisements he kept the bikini mystique alive by declaring that a two-piece suit wasn't a genuine bikini "unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring."[4]
Réard moved with his wife to Lausanne from France in 1980. He died in 1984 at the age of 88.[8]