More Bathing Suits are Catering to Our Curves
Today may not be the day to try on a bathing suit after wolfing down a pizza, a pound of wings, and a tub of queso at the football party yesterday. But as we shop this spring, more retailers will be giving us options regardless of body type. And that leads me to a confession.
Sports Illustrated just announced that it's releasing a new line of swimwear that will aim to be sexy and flattering for all sizes - from 2 to 20. Look at that, no zeros allowed. And the upper tier sizes will have cute options, instead of automatically draping us with a baggy tent after size 14. This could be good.
The SI Swimsuit edition has always been interesting to say the least, especially when we glance an issue right before heading to the water park or the lakes and pools. The real people show up around Idaho, and sometimes we bring cellulite and jiggly arms and a thigh gap that is nonexistent, and we look nothing like those models. But things are changing. Over the past few years it seems like SI is one of the brands that's become a little more eager to reflect reality, and these new suits will fall right into that line of thinking. And they will help us all imagine ourselves on the cover of SI. Or not. Still not.
Ok, confession time. I've been afraid of bikinis my whole life, because I've had very little torso confidence. For most of my life I had three rolls of fat around my midsection and no bathing suit ever fit quite right. I've gotten rid of the rolls, but still cover up as much as I can with a tankini, and I would never wear a bathing suit that's too revealing because I have small chest insecurities too. Good grief. I swim three times a week at an indoor athletic center year-round and I'm always at the pools with the kids during the summer and I love the water and have a blast, but the insecurities have never really gone away. We've all got 'em, on some level.
The new swimsuits range in price from $40 to $160, and we don't have to torture ourselves at the gym to fit into them. They'll flatter us no matter what size we are, which helps the insecurities fade a little.
The point is that we feel good in our own skin, whatever size that happens to be, right? That's our pact, and we're sticking to it. And if retailers support us - even better!