RAGZ DRESSWARE NEWS: Summer Suit Styles!

With spring / summer burgeoning for many a fashioniser, we’re all eager to hit the beach. But whether you’re soaking up the sun in Majorca or on the Venice Lido, the most important decision won’t be the SPF of your sun tan lotion, but which swimwear pieces you’ll be wearing.

This year Fashionising.com is taking a look at the ‘in’ styles and the ‘out’ styles of swimwear, helping you choose the piece of swimwear that is perfectly inline with 2011’s and 2012’s fashion trends.

• Vintage-inspired swimwear
• Ruffled bikinis
• Crochet bikinis
• One-shoulder bikinis and monokinis
• Swimwear with statement strapping
• Digital print swimwear
• Cut-away bikinis
• Swimwear to flatter your figure

Swimwear trends don’t move in quite the same cycles as other fashion trends. That’s because it’s hard to reinvent the bikini or the monokini: in the need to balance functionality and sex appeal, designers are limited to what they can actually do. Despite this, one piece and bikini trends are certainly still influenced by other fashion trends. For example, bikinis in 2009 and 2010 were heavily inspired by some of the key fashion trends for those years: cutaway clothing, one-shouldered pieces, fetish fashion, high-end sportswear and rock-chic garments. These are largely styles of the past, however.

So what swimsuit trends can we expect for 2011 and into 2012? You’d be right if you guessed swimsuit styles influenced by other key fashion trends for the year. So when it comes to choosing a bikini for 2011 and 2012, these are the styles should you be looking out for.

Vintage-inspired swimwear

There’s a scene in 1956’s High Society where Grace Kelly kneels poolside and pushes a model boat, the True Love, across the still water. She’s wearing a white halterneck swimsuit that ends in a small, ruffled skirt; her chin-length hair is neatly curled, her feet are bare. Never has a swimsuit looked so elegant.

Of course it’s the bombshells, the pin-ups, of the same era we’re more inclined to think of when it comes to 1950s swimsuits in particular – the Marilyn Monroes and the Jayne Mansfields. They’re playful, curvaceous, steeped in sex appeal. And so the reason we refer to the former is to balance out the latter: vintage-style swimwear has a huge place in 2011 and onwards, but it doesn’t have to be all strawberry cheesecake cliches. And the right piece can be whatever you want it to be, as bombshell as Monroe or as sophisticated as Kelly.

Nor does a vintage bikini or swimsuit have to be like a pin-up girl costume. In 2011 many designers are infusing vintage-inspired details into modern pieces – a high-waist here, a vintage print there – and the results can be perfect for the zeitgeist.

Some features to look out for:

• one-pieces with cinched-in waists, sweetheart necklines and halters
• high-waist bottoms
• playful prints – gingham checks, hawaiian prints, nautical themes
• shirred sides that accentuate the waist and hips
• fuller-cupped tops
• boy-legged bottoms

A modern style in a vintage cut, with a waist height of just below the navel.

High waisted bottoms in a vintage-inspired colour palette.

A strapless bikini top can be perfectly classic when structured and shaped with a vintage feel.

The vintage high waist gets a very modern make-over in digital prints.

Ruffled bikini / ruffled swimsuit

Perhaps it’s the inspiration of vintage swimwear on 2011 and 2012, or it’s just the need for women to find a distinct, feminine way for their swimsuits standout by the pool and at the beach, either way: ruffled bikinis and ruffled swimsuits are one of the swimwear trends for the coming season.

And the fact that ruffled swimwear is an on-trend style at the moment is just about where the rules for the trend end. Unlike vintage swimwear or even one-shouldered bikinis, ruffled swimwear has no distinct style ‘rules’. Instead we’ve seen it styled and cut in a lot of different ways for spring / summer 2011 and 2012, often working alongside other one piece and bikini trends for the year.

Ruffles as a subtle accent to a print one-piece swimsuit or a bikini.

When ruffles and crochet come together, they shouldn’t compete for attention. Here the ruffles dominate over the crochet texture.

Ruffles as the secondary feature on a crochet monokini where the crochet dominates.

Ruffles as the dominant feature on an otherwise plain bikini or swimsuit.

Cut-away swimwear

For a long time cutout swimwear, whether it was cutout detailing on bikinis or monokinis, was the style. That time has passed. Cutaway swimwear has instead become something of an ever-green, still fashionable something for the masses and a style definitely not on trend.

On-trend swimwear for your figure type

The reality is that when it comes to swimwear, not every cut is going to flatter every figure. But between all of the trending 2011/2012 styles there’s certainly something for everyone. It will certainly always come down to what you’re most comfortable with, but if you’re after a starting point here are some shape-based suggestions:

Fuller figure

Embrace the vintage trend and use it to accentuate rather than try and hide your curves. Try halternecks or cupped styles, and anything that brings in the waist to play to an hourglass shape.

Pear shape / small bust

Use ruffles to your advantage by adding volume at the top half. Ruffles around the bust can make it seem visually larger. You can also use vintage cupped styles with padding to create curves.

Top heavy

Use ruffles to your advantage by conversely adding them to the bottom to balance your hips with your bust. Avoid unstructured crochets or string bikinis if they don’t offer any support; instead stick to strucutred styles and halternecks.

Short legs

To lengthen the body pair a printed bikini top with a block-coloured bottom, drawing the attention upwards. Avoid boy-legs and go for high cut thighs instead so as to not shorten the legs further.

Athletic figures

If you’re not big on the curves make the most of styles like statement strapping, backless styles and crochet that instead show off a toned physique.

articlesource:fashioning.com

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