Whatever the uncertainty of our times, some things can always be relied upon. And one of those things is that: whenever a coming starlet finds herself with a career to launch, she will do so by means of a bikini. For, despite celebrating its 70th birthday today, 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, to model Kate Upton’s progression from busty unknown to celebrity du jour after appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated spilling out of a micro-bikini, for a miniscule garment, the two-piece has considerable impact.