The modern bikini was created in Paris by French engineer Louis Reard in July of 1946.
It took about fifteen years for the bikini to catch on in the United States. In 1957, Brigitte Bardot's bikini in a popular movie created a market for the new swimwear in the U.S. and in 1960, the pop song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" by Brian Hyland inspired a bikini-buying spree. In 1963, the movie "Beach Party", starring Annette Funicello (who ironically did not wear a bikini) and Frankie Avalon, led a series of movies that made the bikini extremely popular and accepted in America.
