 Increasingly common glamour shots of popular actresses and models on either side of the Atlantic played a large part in bringing the bikini into the mainstream . During the 1950s , Hollywood stars such as Ava Gardner , Rita Hayworth , Lana Turner , Elizabeth Taylor , Tina Louise , Marilyn Monroe , Esther Williams , and Betty Grable took advantage of the risqué publicity associated with the bikini by posing for photographs wearing them — pin @-@ ups of Hayworth and Williams in costume were especially widely distributed in the United States . In 1950 , Elvira Pagã walked at the Rio Carnival , Brazil in a golden bikini , starting the bikini tradition of the carnival . 
