The unveiling of the newly named bikini was a spectacle that almost
The unveiling of the newly named bikini was a spectacle that almost didn’t happen. It seemed designer Louis Réard had a hard time finding a woman willing to model the skimpy suit. Luckily for him — and millions of beachgoers to come — a 19-year-old French showgirl by the name of Micheline Bernardini rose to the challenge. Introducing the small suit to the world on July 5, 1946, Bernardini strutted in the newspaper-printed, G-string bikini for a fashion event at the Piscine Molitor, a popular swimming pool in Paris. Unsurprisingly, the suit was a headline-making success and Bernardini received over 50,000 fan letters.
How can we forget the famous Phoebe Cates’ Bikini in Fast Times at Ridgemont High?
Phoebe is Russian, Jewish, Filipino and Chinese descent.
A generation of boys know this scene because it was their ultimate fantasy. The hot girl in school Linda Barrett (Phoebe Cates) emerges from a swimming pool in a tiny red bikini. No one is expecting her to take it off, but that’s exactly what she does, right after telling the uber-awkward Brad Hamilton (Judge Reinhold), “You know how cute I always thought you were,” and giving him a kiss. The only problem is, for Brad, it’s just a dream. And when Linda and her bikini go into the house for a towel, she finds Brad in the bathroom doing the No. 3.