Title: Bikini Content: thumb|325x325px|Woman in bikini A bikini is a type of swimsuit for women. It consists of two parts; pants and a bra top, leaving an uncovered area between the two. The bikini is an ancient invention, reinvented after the Second World War. The bikini is perhaps the most popular female beachwear around the globe. By the mid 2000s bikinis had become a US$811 million business annually, according to the NPD Group, a consumer and retail information company.Sylvia Rubin: Fashion shocker of '46: the naked belly button San Francisco Chronicle, 2006-07-02 The bikini has boosted spin-off services like bikini waxing and the sun tanning industries.Lorna Edwards, "You've still got it, babe, The Age, 2006-06-03 == History == Predecessors of the bikini date back to antiquity, in ÇatalhöyükPrithvi Kumar Agrawala 1984. Goddessess in Ancient India, page 12, Abhinav Publications. and the Greco-Roman world.Peter J. James, I.J. Thorpe & Nick Thorpe 1994. Ancient Inventions, page 279, Ballantine Books. Artwork dating back to the Diocletian period (286-305 AD) in Villa Romana del Casale, Sicily depicts women in garments resembling bikinis in mosaics on the floor.Kathryn Westcott: The Bikini: Not a brief affair BBC News, 2006-06-05Villa Romana del Casale, Val di Noto The images of ten women, dubbed the "Bikini Girls",Allen Guttmann 1991. Women's Sports: A History, page 38, Columbia University Press. exercising in clothing that would pass as bikinis today, are the most replicated mosaic among the 37 million colored tiles at the site.Villa Romana del Casale, World Heritage Sites Archeological finds, especially in Pompeii, show the Roman goddess Venus wearing a bikini. A statue of Venus in a bikini was found in a cupboard in the southwest corner in Casa della Venere; others were found in the front hall.Pompeian Households , Stoa Image Gallery , The Stoa Consortium By the early 1940s two-piece swimsuits were frequent on American beaches. Hollywood stars like Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth and Lana Turner tried similar swimwear or beachwear.James Kitchling, Short history of bikinis and swimsuits , 3X24 News Magazine 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.Adam Sage, "Happy birthday: the 'shocking and immoral' bikini hits 60", The Times, 2006-04-16 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.Random history: Tiny Swimsuit That Rocked the World: A History of the Bikini Paula Cocozza: A little piece of history", The Guardian, 2006-06-10The Bikini Turns 60 , 1946 to 2006: 60 Years of Bikini Bathing Beauties, Lilith E-Zine 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.History Channel: Bikini Introduced, This Day in History, History Channel 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. == Images == File:Nikki Beach Bar Dancer (261387510).jpg|The microskirt; a bikini bottom variation File:Floé Kühnert cropped.jpg|Sports bikinis give extra support and protection for the breasts. German pole vaulter Floé Kühnert File:Abril Alonso.jpg|A bandeau; a bikini top variation