Quick Fact: How The Bikini Got Its Name

Who doesn't adore a bikini? We sure so! The racy outfit has had its fair share of lovers and haters (mostly lovers) since its birth in 1946 by Parisian engineer Louis Réard, the inventor of the bikini. He was one brave man to have introduced the dare-to-bare costume when women still lacked significant rights.

The bikini, as we know it, is roughly made of four triangles of fabric. Two covering the breasts and two covering the groin and buttocks. This seductive swimsuit caused much uproar when it was introduced, but the french are known to surprise one and all with their crazy innovations!

Coming to its name, the bikini was named after Bikini Atoll. Bikini Atoll is an island in the North Pacific Ocean. Between 1946 and 1958, 23 nuclear devices were detonated by the United States at seven test sites located on the reef, it was a long and gruelling period for the residents of the islands. There was a lot of controversy surrounding the nuclear weapons' testing in that area and that's what caught Louis Réard's attention.

He named his new swimsuit 'bikini' because he thought that this little lingerie-inspired costume would be like an atom bomb - small but deadly. And it sure was. He hoped that its revealing style would create an "explosive commercial and cultural reaction" similar to the 1946 nuclear explosion at Bikini Atoll. Hats off to you, Réard! You were a genius way before your time!

Even today the bikini is a hot favourite. Its sales are known to cross a whopping $8 billion a year in the United States of America alone! To think that a clever Parisian invented this is no surprise, they're known to be fashion forward in every sense.

We raise a toast to this minuscule bathing suit that's had people panting for more since its birth in the 1940s. Long live the bikini!