Woo hoo - celebrating 70 years of the bikini!

Wow!!  Seventy years eh!  The bikini looks great for it!

Invented back in 1946 by Louis Reard, a mechanical engineer turned clothes designer after taking over his others lingerie business in Paris.

While visiting the gorgeous beaches of St Tropez, Louis noticed women rolling the edges of their swimsuits to get maximum tanning (we hear ya ladies!) This inspired him to design the now named 'Bikini' a swimsuit with the midriff exposed.

Reads invention was a string bikini consisting of four triangles made from 30 square inches of fabric printed with a newspaper pattern.

The bikini made her first appearance on the 5th July 1946 at the Fete de l'eau beauty pageant on the stunning Micheline Bernardini.  Most of the models taking part in the pageant refused to wear the bikini, fearing it would expose too much, but Micheline - an exotic dancer at the Casino de Paris was the lady for the job!

Little did Reard and Bernardini know, but they had just made fashion history!!