From Micheline Bernardini to Inès Mélia, Réard has not finished with the bikini
Do you know how old the bikini is? 71 years old precisely. Presented to the world for the very first time on July 5, 1946 during an unprecedented fashion show at the Molitor swimming pool, the two-piece swimsuit so common today arrived like a bomb in post-war conservative France. A revolution that we owe to a man, Louis Réard, visionary determined to give women all their independence by freeing their bodies. This July 5, 1946, we discovered this new sulphurous bathing suit on Micheline Bernardini, naked dancer of the Casino of Paris become first ambassadress of the house Réard. The impact is resounding and heralds a major upheaval in the image of women in our society. The phenomenon even extends to cinema: one remembers Ursula Andress coming out of the water in her white bikini in the very first “James Bond”, scene classified as one of the most iconic of the cinema of the Sixties and beyond. Sleeping in the 80s, the Réard house underwent a makeover last May under the impetus of its new president Richard Emanuel. Entrusted to Céline Adler, the artistic direction of the brand takes a contemporary turn faithful to its 50’s influences and its sense of innovation, and it is today Inès Mélia who assumes the role of ambassador. 71 years to the day after the launch of this revolution, she celebrated with Réard’s team and friends the World Bikini Day. Behind the turntables, she even dared to wear an indoor swimsuit – a reinterpretation of the iconic newspaper bikini worn 71 years earlier by Micheline Bernardini.
