Whatever the uncertainty of our times, some things can always be relied upon. And one of those things is that: whenever a starlet finds herself with a career to launch, she will do so by means of a bikini.For, despite celebrating its 70th birthday this week, the bikini remains eternally young in the matter of strategic flaunting of assets, as it does in putting the fear of God into the rest of us.From Brigitte Bardot's decision to storm Cannes in one in 1957, via Carrie Fisher becoming every schoolboy's fantasy in a metal number in 1983's Return of the Jedi, for a minuscule garment the two-piece has considerable impact.FIRSTY: The July 1946 prototype on Micheline Bernardini Picture: KEYSTONE/GETTY IMAGESAnyone who has admired the athletic "bikini girls" at Sicily's Villa Romana del Casale will know that it is not entirely a new phenomenon. But Christianity ushered in a focus on hiding the shameful female form, swimming or otherwise.By the 18th century, an all-encompassing chemise built of sturdy wool was required to take the waters, while the Victorians advocated bloomers and long-sleeved tunics.SWINGING: Brigitte Bardot Picture: HERZOG/ ULLSTEIN BILD VIA GETTY IMAGESBy the turn of the 20th century, swimsuit shapes, however, were beginning to replicate changes in underwear design. As suntans became popular, midriffs became increasingly exposed, while still considered fit only for private consumption.It was not until July 1946 that this was taken to its logical conclusion and the bikini - as we know it - took shape, its creator a Parisian named Louis Réard. Fellow designer Jacques Heim had released a similar design, called the "atome", earlier that year, but it proved less winningly skimpy than his rival's 194cm² of material.WHITE HOT: Supermodel Candice SwanepoelFashion historian Amber Butchart, whose forthcoming book, The Fashion of Film, looks at cinema's impact on style, says: "The modern bikini was invented the same year Churchill first referenced the 'iron curtain', and the year after the destruction of Hiroshima. It was named after Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands - site of US nuclear tests - as its creator claimed it would make an impact of atomic proportions.""Indeed, the bikini was so scandalous when it premiered that Réard had difficulties finding a model to wear it, so had to hire the nude dancer Micheline Bernardini. Still, as the post-war economy boomed and the jet age began, as the bikini offered more tanning options than a one-piece it quickly caught on."The French perceived it as a symbol of youth, freedom, and a rebellion against a more moralising past, le Figaro opining: "People were craving the simple pleasures of the sea and the sun . It was a celebration of freedom and a return to the joys in life."It no less spelt sex. In the early 1950s, beaches across Europe endeavoured to ban bikinis, the Vatican declared it sinful - even the Miss World competition turned up its nose; all of which made it the obvious weapon for self-publicists.A 17-year-old Brigitte Bardot sported a two-piece on every beach in the south of France for her debut in 1957. Five years later, Ursula Andress emerged from the sea sporting a belted incarnation as Honey Ryder in Dr No (a move replicated by Halle Berry in Die Another Day).While in 1966, Raquel Welch was unveiled in a fur bikini in One Million Years BC, propelling her to the status of Playboy's "Most Desired Woman" of the 1970s.By this stage, the bikini had gone from scandalous to ubiquitous. The 1970s saw it championed by taut-bodied types such as Cheryl Tiegs, the 1980s by fitness fanatics.Despite Baywatch beauties being consigned to straining one-pieces in their capacity as health and safety professionals, by the end of the century, the bikini had become the world's most popular beachwear: an $811-million annual earner, and the power behind subsidiary industries such as tanning and waxing.Today, it flourishes in a thousand forms: tankinis, monokinis, camikinis, hipkinis, trikinis, skirtinis, pubikinis and schlong thongs (don't ask). As Amber Butchart notes: "The bikini has become synonymous with a certain kind of paparazzi-tinged lifestyle, heralded by Princess Diana in the 1990s."Still, if even a goddess of Helena Christensen's proportions can lament: "It's really intimidating to go on the beach in a bikini," many of us feel, if not body shame then a distinct reticence about the exposure said outfit affords.For those who wish to give it a go, the advice of how to look good in a bikini is as lunatic as it is legion: from Margot Robbie's three days' surviving on carrot sticks, via the Victoria's Secret models' masochistic pre-show regimes, to my favourite women's magazine tip to build a trench around one's body in the sand to "cunningly conceal those extra curves".More sensible and less extreme advice comes from swimsuit entrepreneur and bathing belle Melissa Odabash who suggests avoiding overhead lighting and applying copious fake tan before going anywhere near a two-piece. She insists that to look your bikini best always opt for a snug fit rather than a concealing yet unflattering larger size, and to pick out a colour to suit one's skin tone - offering navy as a trusty stylish failsafe.Busts should be supported (lifting the breasts also makes waists seem smaller), or can be simulated via halternecks and frills. If still in doubt, one can always solve the beach body issue by refusing to ever stray near one. - ©The Daily Telegraph..