I have been wanting to write about this for sometime now and I read the article earlier this summer in June, in the Financial Times Weekend that the Parisian pool “where the bikini was unveiled – and tarzan was a lifeguard” has been relaunched as a luxury hotel.
So what have Tarzan, Bikinis and Life of Pi got in common?
If you have read the book “Life of Pi” you will know that Pi or Piscine was actually named after the famous Molitor swimming pool in Paris that his uncle so loved. But there is a lot more to the Molitor swimming pool than just a pool. When I read the book I actually did not know that this swimming pool really exists, so you can imagine my surprise when I found out that is all for real and there is so much more to it.
The swimming pool itself was launched by Riggin Soule (The Olympic swimming champion) and Johnny Weissmuller (the star of several Tarzan movies) at the time back in 1929.
Now for the final part, “The Bikini”. In July 1946 a car engineer turned lingerie designer called Luis Reard, decided to present his latest swim wear design in the Molitor swimming pool. Unable to find a model who was willing to wear such a revealing swim suit, he had to hire Michele Bernardini, a 19 year old nude dancer and Voila, the Bikini was born.
The pool’s high time ended in 1989 when it was closed and allowed to slowly go to a ruin until its revival earlier this year.