Buying swimwear has always been a drama for me. First you go to the store: you don’t like any of the bikinis they have, either because of the pattern, the shape of because they are just very expensive. You finally find a cute one, but there are none for your size. After half an hour, you decide to try some in the fitting room. You don’t care about if you really like them or not, you are just fed up. The fitting room is either dark or very bright. In either case it is too warm to be comfortable, and the floor is full of dirt. After undressing, you try to put on the first bikini. The top is too big for you, but there were no smaller sizes. The matching panties are OK, but you find them too revealing as your only body part that is feeling some breeze right now is your booty. So far, it overcomes all the expectations, so you leave it on the ‘maybe’ pile. You decide to try another one: the panties are too tight, to the point that you are half immobilized. You try the matching top and, of course, get completely tangled with the straps. There you are, sweating, standing on grime, paralyzed and helpless. When you finally finish in the fitting room, after expending all morning there, your self-confidence has dropped, and you are leaving the shop with an expensive bikini that doesn’t even fit you. Isn’t this the definition of success?
After so many summers going through this nightmare, I have come to learn that my problem is that I don’t know what I am looking for. Mostly I have pinpointed three reasons:
I get easily distracted by cute prints, even if they are kind of tacky when I put them on.
I don’t know what options do I have: what types of panties are there? What tops are comfortable, and which are for modelling?
What bathsuits actually make me look good?
The first problem could be solved if I had a clearer idea of what I am looking for… I guess. Regarding the second problem, I have come to realize this:
Panties can be average, very revealing or really reeeeaaaally revealing. I prefer not too revealing underwear, as I don’t feel comfortable being that nude especially in environments were I feel judged. Fold over, or high waist, are a good option to hide some belly but I don’t think it really suits me, as it turns out as a big diaper… Maybe for other people it is not the case.
Tops are similar to T-shirt necklines: there are asymmetrical, halter, with thick or spaghetti stripes, round or triangular cups. There are some that even look like a cropped top and show no cleavage at all.
And regarding the third issue, the answer I found is somehow tedious: to try on as many bikinis as I can to see what really makes me shine. In an exercise of mindfulness and body positivity, you have to go to the store and try them on, even as the traumatizing nightmare it is. One tip to make it less painful is the following: don’t go with your mother, or your judg-y friend. Go with your boyfriend/girlfriend. It is not like you want to avoid the harsh truth of your mother, the point is that a people that admires you (or is turned on by you), will teach you that your body is beautiful. That you don’t need to hide your tummy, that it is okay to have orange-peel skin, that your love-handles are lovable. This experience was what made my fitting room trauma less of a trauma and more of an empowering moment.
But talking about body types, the classic style theories aim to balance the shapes into an hourglass. Regarding bikinis, it is a path worth trying, in particular if you have no clue about what suits you. At the end I advocate that you should wear what makes you happy, but when there is no joy at all in the search of a bathsuit, a tip or two about what to try on is more than welcome. So here is a compilation of advice I found in several shop blogs and web sites.
For triangle shaped bodies, also known as pear, or spoon, you should try to highlight the upper part of the body. An option is a printed or colorful pattern, or you can as well use a strapless bra to show your shoulders. To distract the attention from your booty (in case you would ever want to do that) you can use solid colors.
For inverted triangle bodies, the body shape can be balanced drawing the focus into the bottom part of the body, using bright-colored panties and ruffles or fringes. You can also se asymmetrical tops to break your shoulder line.
For rectangle body types, you are invited to wear excentric patterns and prints to give shape to your body. You can look for printed tops with ruffles to give volume to your bust. You can also wear triangle cups. To make your hips look curvier, you can try low waist panties with adjustable straps or fringes.
For hourglass shapes, most sources just say, ‘anything will look good on you’, and give none to little advise further than that. This statement is deeply based in the conception that all the other women should try to achieve this shape and that is it. One reached, there is nothing else to do. But I do think that there are many hourglass queens that have no clue about what bikini to choose, and they also deserve some tips. The best advice I’ve read comes from Hunkermöller, a Dutch lingerie shop, that addresses that though you can wear whatever, you should really try a halter top and ensure that you have enough bra support by choosing the correct size. You may need an underwired bra. It also advise to go for solid colors, so there are no distractions from your natural gorgeous body shape.
I must disclaim that many of the websites also consider a fifth body type, round or apple. I do not include this because I don’t think this shape can actually happen in a woman body, unless the pregnant women, that for obvious reasons will have a waist wider that the hips and bust, or very old ladies that tend to have very skinny legs. In general I have the feeling (totally subjective opinion) that most shops and websites tend to ignore the plus-size women bodies: it is not just that there are no sizes higher than XL, it just feels as if they categorize all plus-size in the same bag and don’t attend to their specific needs. Anyhow, if you feel I should also include the round shape in consideration please let me know.
I’d like to add that if you want to improve your wardrobe you can also rely on color theory, which is an issue that I will further explore. In summary it tries to explain what colors suit you better based on your undertone and color intensity of your features. For example, it is not new that pale green won’t ever suit me, as it will make me look sick. I hope you liked this post. Summertime may be a difficult time for some of us, and if this helped you in some way to be more confident or learn something, I am more than happy.
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Fallon Fox is an American retired mixed martial artist, and the first who is openly transgender. Fox was born in Toledo, Ohio, where she was assigned male at birth. She recalls struggling with her gender as early as age five or six. As a teenager, Fox believed she may have been a gay man, but learned the term "transgender" at the age of 17. Fox continued living as a heterosexual man and married her then-girlfriend at the age of 19, when the latter became pregnant with their daughter. Fox then joined the US Navy to support her new family and served as an operations specialist on the USS Enterprise.
