While two-piece swimwear had been around since the early 20th Century, the bikini was officially introduced July 5, 1946. The world? Never the same after that. We can all thank a Frenchman named Louis Reard, whose idea was to fashion a garment, using as little fabric as possible, that could still be legally worn in public. As our gallery of celebrity bikini photos shows, his dream lives on to this day.
A French sunbather tries on the bik...