Life Is Better In a Bikini

“Life’s better in a bikini.”

Why do women wear bikinis?

“Bikinis, as being comforting and empowering, they are just so darn comfortable and practical — at the beach or for fighting dinosaurs.

Raquel Welch

Last October I went on a three-week-long Book Tour on my home island Réunion with plenty of opportunities to wear my favourite item of clothing. The evolution of the bikini’s design traces the emancipation of women, as a symbol of liberty and confidence, with iconic images of stars like Ursula Andress and Raquel Welch helping to stoke its myth.

“Oh, how I regret not having worn a bikini for the entire year I was twenty-six. If anyone young is reading this, go, right this minute, put on a bikini, and don’t take it off until you’re thirty-four.”

Nora Ephron, I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman

A History of Sex Appeal

When the bikini was invented by Louis Réard, a French automobile engineer — in a rather atypical career move, no fashion model was willing to wear his revealing design. After some negotiations, he hired 18-year-old nude dancer Micheline Bernardini from the Casino de Paris to present his first bikini to the press at the Piscine Molitor, a popular public pool in Paris.