Bikini, 80 years old: how an outfit named after a nuclear bomb became a symbol of Brazilianness Getty Images Like a good story of global impact, the bikini has ingredients from various parts of the world. Thinking only about its creation and its initial consolidation we can mention France, where it was born; the Marshall Islands, from which it borrowed its name; the United States, whose pop culture disseminated it; Brazil — the country that ended up becoming the natural habitat for the garment, mainly thanks to the beaches and the image of Rio de Janeiro and Germany, where the woman who pioneered the introduction of the garment in Brazil was born. The idea came from a 50-year-old French mechanical engineer who had just made an unusual career change — he left the automobile industry to take over his mother's lingerie company. This is Louis Réard (1896-1984). In July 1946, he launched an item that would be revolutionary for world fashion: a two-piece women's beachwear, more similar to panties and a bra than the modest swimsuits that were worn at the time. "At launch, it was presented as the smallest swimsuit in the world", says fashion designer and historian Simone Ferreira de Albuquerque, professor at the Federal University of Piauí (UFPI). Although two-piece swimsuits already existed, Réard further reduced the amount of fabric, leaving the navel exposed for the first time. Fourteen years before its launch, French designer Jacques Heim (1899-1967) had tried to create a similar two-piece swimsuit, which he called an atom, alluding to its tiny dimensions, but it was not popular with customers, who were resistant to showing off their bellies and navels in public. Author of the book Marketing de Luxo Contemporâneo and professor of fashion at the Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM), consultant Maya Mattiazzo also says that there are similar records since Antiquity, with women "wearing pieces similar to a top and panties", but different from modern bikinis. But it was really Réard's model that managed to "break with the moral standards of the time", explains fashion journalist Andreia Meneguete, professor and academic coordinator of the ESPM fashion hub. Louis Réard was a French mechanical engineer who left the automobile industry to take over his mother's lingerie company Getty Images And, if the news at the time were about nuclear tests that the United States was carrying out at Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands — in the middle of the Pacific Ocean —, Réard decided that the invention, bombastic as it was, would take on the same name. No professional model agreed to wear the new look and appear half-naked in public. Réard then hired dancer Micheline Bernardini, who performed erotic shows at the Casino de Paris, in France, and was aged 18 to 19. She would go down in history after showing off wearing the bikini created by Réard at the Molitor public Paris swimming pool. But this story is not that simple and does not end there. Micheline Bernardini made history when she showed off wearing the bikini created by Réard Getty Images A bomb in society "The bikini was born carrying a discourse of rupture", comments professor Meneguete, from ESPM. "It wasn't just a new swimsuit. It was a provocation to customs, codes of morality and the way the female body was socially regulated." The new piece was soon considered scandalous by religious sectors, public authorities and part of the press. "In several European countries, its use was restricted or prohibited on public beaches, and for several years it remained associated with boldness and transgression", explains Nadja Pimentel, educator and technician at the fashion center atelier at Anhembi Morumbi University. Even the Pope was upset. In 1951, Swedish model Kerstin Håkansson (1929-2024) won the Miss World contest in its first edition. She was crowned wearing the tiny swimsuit. The supreme pontiff of the time, Pius XII (1876-1958), condemned it: he called the bikini "sinful" and contrary to Christian standards of modesty. There are also records of police fining girls who wore bikinis on Italian beaches until the end of the 1950s. Despite resistance, Réard managed to cause a boom in fashion, driven by marketing and a favorable revolutionary context in the post-Second World War. Shocking conservatives, the bikini gradually fell into favor with celebrities. In the 1950s, actresses such as Brigitte Bardot (1935-2025) began to be seen and photographed in bikinis on beaches on the French Riviera. The actress marked the history of cinema when she appeared in a bikini in the film And God Created a Woman, a 1956 production that suffered from censorship in several countries. Swiss actress Ursula Andress, with her white bikini in the film 007 Dr. No, from 1962, is another important point in this story. "In the 1960s, with the sexual revolution, cinema and pop culture, the bikini stopped being seen just as a scandal and became a symbol of freedom", says Meneguete. Pius 12 called the bikini worn by Swedish model Kerstin Håkansson — the first Miss World — "sinful" Getty Images Arrival in Brazil When it arrived in Brazil, the bikini found the most suitable ground to put down roots on the local beaches and soon became a national symbol. From the 1950s and 1960s, actresses, stars from revue theaters, models and muses from Rio's beaches helped to popularize the play, explains historian Marcos Valer. Among them were actresses such as Carmem Verônica and Angelita Martinez (1931-1980), who caused a stir and competed for attention on the sands of Copacabana when they appeared in bikinis. "Frequently photographed on the beaches of Copacabana, they gave great visibility to the bikini and contributed to its popularization among Brazilian women. From then on, the costume stopped being an isolated curiosity to become an increasingly present element in the country's beach culture", says the designer of