Retro Bikini

• Retro bikini

Recently, a fashionable item of clothing as the bikini celebrated the anniversary. July 5, 1946, less than a week after the United States detonated an atomic bomb at Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific, a Frenchman named Louis Rare - automotive engineer-turned-designer - introduced the world to lovers the world's smallest swimsuit.

He named his creation the bikini, and, as he himself said later, the name was born from him, when he saw the woman rolled up swimwear to tan more, and called for association - a thin top and bottom of the swimsuit - it is as if what is left the girl after the explosion.

We present you the photos from the archive of Life magazine devoted a bikini. Let's see, what were these bikinis in the early years of their popularity.

Frankly, swimsuit two-piece was invented long before the creation of PEAP. Even on Greek urns and mosaics, which more than 3000 years old, depict women athletes in bathing suits in two parts.

But the genius creations Rare was the fact that he created a swimsuit from a minimum of fabric, which at the same time could be worn in public. He said he can not be called a bikini swimsuit, if both sides do not pass in an engagement ring.

Santa Monica, California, in 1940

A tan with creative "tattoos", 1941

Actress Donna Drake with a rifle on the balcony of his home in Los Angeles, 1942

Rita Hayworth home in Los ANGELS, 1945.

Florida, 1945

Florida, 1945

Florida, 1945

Actress Linda Christian, the first "Bond girl", 1945

Sunbathing in France, 1945

On the beach in France, 1945

On the beach in France, 1945

On the beach in France, 1945

On the beach in France, 1945

French actress Barbara Lange in a makeshift bathing suit, which she cut herself, 1945

beauty contestant Jackie Lee Barnes poses poolside Abukerke, New Mexico, 1949

The model in a bikini, 1950

The model in a bikini, 1950

The French model Christiane Richard in a bikini for a morning coffee, 1950

Model Lynn Jones, 1955.

Jayne Mansfield poses against the backdrop of inflatable dolls, 1957

Diving in Israel, 1960.

Model Pickney June, 1960.

When lit, 1961

Jayne Mansfield and her husband Mickey Hartigeem, 1961

Actress Phil Toulouse with his hand-fox at the Cannes Film Festival 1962.

Cannes, France, 1962

Atlantic City, New Jersey, 1964

The Hungarian model 1965

Model neti Abaskal demonstrates pattern on his chest and stomach, Bahamas, 1968

Somewhere near Malibu, California, in 1970

Southern California, 1970