Micheline Bernardini (born 1 December 1927) is a French former nude dancer at the Casino de Paris who agreed to model, on 5 July 1946, Louis Réard's two-piece swimsuit, which he called the bikini, named four days after the first test of an American nuclear weapon at the Bikini Atoll.[1]
Micheline Bernardini | |
|---|---|
 Modeling the first bikini on 5 July 1946 at the Piscine Molitor in Paris. | |
| Born | 1 December 1927 |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Model |
Réard's bikini
editDesigner Louis Réard could not find a runway model willing to showcase his revealing design for a two-piece swimsuit. Risqué for its time, it exposed the wearer's navel and much of her buttocks. He hired Bernardini, an 18-year-old nude dancer from the Casino de Paris, as his model.[2][3] He introduced his design, a two-piece swimsuit with a g-string back made out of 30 square inches (194 cm2) of cloth with newspaper type pattern, which he called a bikini, at a press conference at the Piscine Molitor, a popular public pool in Paris in July 1946.[4]
Photographs of Bernardini and articles about the event were widely carried by the press. The International Herald Tribune alone ran nine stories on the event.[5] The bikini was a hit, especially among men, and Bernardini received over 50,000 fan letters.[6]
Later life
editBernardini later moved to Australia. She appeared from 1948 to 1958 in a number of revues at the Tivoli Theatre, Melbourne.[7][8] Footage of her 1946 modeling appearance was featured in an episode of the reality television series Love Lust titled The Bikini, in 2011.[9]
Bernardini posed at age 58 in a bikini for photographer Peter Turnley, in 1986.[10]
References
edit- Notes
- ^ Rosebush, Judson. "Michele Bernadini: The First Bikini". Bikini Science. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 17 September 2008.
- ^ "The History of the Bikini". TeenyB. 10 August 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
- ^ "Bikini introduced – Jul 05, 1946". History.com. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
- ^ Mitchell, Claudia A.; Reid-Walsh, Jacqueline (2008). Girl Culture an Encyclopedia. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-313-08444-7.
- ^ "Bikini Introduced". A&E Television Networks. Retrieved 17 September 2008.
- ^ McLeod, Alan Lindsey. R. G. Howarth, Australian Man of Letters, Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd, 2005, ISBN 1-932705-53-8. p.81
- ^ Tivoli Theatres Performing Arts Programs and Ephemera
- ^ The Bikini at IMDb
- ^ Photo by Peter Turnley/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images