In less than a week, we will finally get to say school is officially out for the summer. Students will go their separate ways to study abroad, begin new jobs, participate in internships or maybe just spend time at home. Summer means a lot of different things to us; it means ice cream on the porch, family vacations, hanging out at the pool and getting a tan.
Throughout the summer, there is one clothing item that consistently makes an appearance and is possibly one of the most important things you can own during warm weather season: the bathing suit. Recently, like many other styles, modesty seems to have become a major trend when it comes to swimwear. For several years, it seemed that the most popular swimsuit style was the skimpy string bikini that only covered the bare minimum.
There was a period of time in my younger years that I could not even buy new bathing suits because I was (and always would be) much too shy to be wearing something that covered so little. I call this time “the dark age,” not only because of my shy innocence, but because of the headgear inside of my mouth and the inexplicable attraction I had to Hollister tops. Anyway, the new trends in swimwear are a breath of fresh air and make it easier to buy bathing suits without worrying about people seeing something they should not.
The first popular bathing suit that is once again back in high demand is the high-waisted bathing suit. First becoming popular around the 1940s, the high-waisted bikini was the first type of swimwear that woman wore when they truly became liberated from the strict regulations that had previously been enforced on women’s bathing suits. Yes, what used to be rebelliously skimpy for women is now rebelliously modest. I like this style not only for its coverage, but for its flattering fit.
The other style of bathing suit making a surprising comeback is the one-piece suit. While it is surprising that women are once again becoming fond of the one-piece, it is possibly the best thing to happen to pool-side women since the invention of prescription reading sunglasses. It is much too often that I see people wearing skimpy bathing suits who would really be much more flattered in a one-piece.
There are many companies that have hopped on the high-waisted and one-piece train. One of the companies that sells some of my favorite styles is ModCloth. While their products tend to be a bit pricey, the high quality and unique style makes it worth splurging on one bathing suit. If you want to start simple, one of my favorite basic suits is the “Gather by the Poolside” set. My favorite adventurous suit is the “You’ve Got Chemistry” set.
Another company that has some of my favorite bathing suits, particularly one-pieces, is Anthropologie. However, many of their suits are slightly out of my price range, so I also like to look to Target for more reasonably-priced suits. My favorite suit from Target is the “Red Iris Print” by Peter Pilotto for Target. Another low-priced favorite of mine is the “Arizona Floral Print” one-piece from JC Penney.
