the modern bikini was introduced by french engineer louis réard and fashion designer jacques heim in paris in 1946. réard was a car engineer but by 1946 he was running his mother's lingerie boutique near les folies bergères in paris. heim was working on a new kind of beach costume. it comprised two pieces, the bottom large enough to cover its wearer's navel. réard named his swimsuit the "bikini", taking the name from the bikini atoll, one of a series of islands in the south pacific where testing on the new atomic bomb was occurring that summer. he promoted it with the slogan "le bikini, la première bombe an-atomique". this is a play on words: "anatomique" means "relating to anatomy". réard could not find a model to wear his design. he ended up hiring micheline bernardini, a nude dancer from the "casino de paris". that bikini, with a g-string back, had of cloth with newspaper type printed across. it introduced on july 5 at piscine molitor, a public pool in paris. heim's design was the first worn on the beach, but the clothing was given its name by réard. the bikini became increasingly popular throughout the 1960s and 70s.