NPD Group

The NPD Group, Inc. (formerly National Purchase Diary) is a market research company. The NPD group operates in 20 countries, interviews 12 million consumers a year, and monitors consumer purchase data from over 165,000 stores. It ranks among the top 25 market research companies in the independent Honomichl Top 50 report. In 2013, NPD ranked as the 9th largest market research company in the world, according to this report.

NPD was founded in 1966. Its services include providing market information and advisory services to companies. In 1984 the company launched its first retail tracking service for toys and has launched similar services in other industries and product categories since then. NPD uses sales data, such as checkout tracking from retailers and distributors as well as consumer-reported purchasing behavior, and offers consumer panel and retail sales tracking services, special reports, analytic solutions, and advisory services. Covered industries include automotive, beauty, consumer electronics, entertainment, fashion, food/foodservice, housewares, luxury, mobile, office supplies, sports equipment, technology (commercial technology, information technology, displays, solar), toys, and video games.

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Fresh Faces

Fresh Faces is an annual international modeling contest launched in 2010 by ModelManagement.com, an online social networking website for models, photographers, modeling agencies and other fashion industry professionals. The contest showcases young fashion model entrants from over 50 countries in order to discover new talent for the fashion industry. Each year, thousands of contestants, typically between the ages of 15 and 25, compete in local contests for a chance to represent their country in the world final. Finalists are selected according to voting by the general public through social media and ModelManagement.com with the winners selected by a jury of fashion professionals.

The male and female winners of the final event, held in Barcelona, Spain, receive a modeling contract with an international modeling agency. The contest is sponsored by FashionTV, model agencies, and fashion and beauty brands that have included Revlon, Calvin Klein, Levi Strauss, Diesel and Lacoste.

Female Titleholders

Louis Réard

Louis Réard (1897 – 16 September 1984) was a French automobile engineer and clothes designer. He is best known for launching a two-piece swimsuit in 1946, which he called the bikini.

Launching the bikini

Réard was a mechanical engineer who had taken over his mother's lingerie business in about 1940 near Les Folies Bergères in Paris and became a clothes designer. While on St. Tropez beaches, he noticed women rolling up the edges of their swimsuits to get a better tan, which inspired him to design a swimsuit with the midriff exposed.

In May 1946, Jacques Heim produced a two-piece swimsuit that he named the "Atome," which he advertised as the world's "smallest bathing suit". The bottom of Heim's swimsuit was just large enough to cover the wearer's navel. To promote his new design, Heim hired skywriters to fly above the Mediterranean resort advertising the Atome as "the world’s smallest bathing suit."

Réard quickly produced his own swimsuit design which was a string bikini consisting of four triangles made from only 30 square inches (194 cm²) of fabric printed with a newspaper pattern. When Réard sought a model to wear his design at its debut presentation, none of the usual models would wear the suit, so he hired 19-year-old nude dancer Micheline Bernardini from the Casino de Paris to model it. He introduced his new swimsuit, which he named the bikini, to the media and public in Paris on 5 July 1946 at Piscine Molitor, a popular public pool in Paris at the time. Not to be outdone by Heim, Réard hired his own skywriters to fly over the French Riviera advertising his design as "smaller than the smallest bathing suit in the world."

Bikini Atoll

Bikini Atoll (pronounced /ˈbɪkᵻˌniː/ or /bᵻˈkiːni/; Marshallese: Pikinni, [pʲi͡ɯɡɯ͡inʲːii̯], meaning coconut place) is an atoll in the Marshall Islands. The atoll consists of 23 islands totaling 3.4 square miles (8.8 km²) surrounding a deep 229.4-square-mile (594.1 km²) central lagoon at the northern end of the Ralik Chain (approximately 87 kilometres (54 mi) northwest of Ailinginae Atoll and 850 kilometres (530 mi) northwest of Majuro). Within Bikini Atoll, Bikini, Eneu, Nam and Enidrik islands comprise just over 70% of the land area. Bikini and Eneu are the only islands of the atoll that hosted a permanent population. Bikini Island is the northeastern most and largest islet. Before World War II, the atoll was known by its Baltic German name as Escholtz Atoll.

Between 1946 and 1958, 23 nuclear devices were detonated by the United States at seven test sites located on the reef, inside the atoll, in the air, or underwater. They had a combined fission yield of 42.2 Mt. The testing began with the Operation Crossroads series in July 1946. Prior to nuclear testing, the residents initially accepted resettlement voluntarily to Rongerik Atoll, believing they would be able to return home within a short time. Rongerik Atoll could not produce enough food and the islanders starved for lack of food. When they could not return home, they were relocated to Kwajalein Atoll for six months before choosing to live on Kili Island, a small island one-sixth the size of their home island. Some were able to return to the Bikini Island in 1970 until further testing revealed dangerous levels of strontium-90. The islanders have been the beneficiary of several trust funds created by the United States government which as of 2013 covered medical treatment and other costs and paid about $550 annually to each individual.