Swimwear Trends to Suit your Style and Personality
By Krystle Wright

Love it or hate it, it is back: swim season. With all of the flattering styles out right now, you’re sure to come across a suit that looks and feels good on you. Finding swimwear might not be a vacation, but it doesn’t have to be an ordeal either. You might even have a little fun with the new styles this year.

This swim season, get a little ruffled – your suit, that is.
Ruffles and tiers have been in style in a big way this year, and the beach and water park scene will be no exception. Whether you go for a sweet, sexy or sporty look, the extra flutters of fabric will give your bathing suit a more feminine touch. On one-piece suits, expect to find ruffles around the neckline. Tiers down the midsection can have the same slimming, shape-streamlining effect as ruching and shirring.

Bikinis are also sporting the trend with layers of ruffles on top. Forget the coconut bra, ladies. Ruffled bikini tops offer a visual appeal that’s both softer and sassier. Look for ruffles and tiers on bottoms, too, from thin bands that add a slight flirty flare to girly skirts that cover the whole swimsuit bottom.

A one-piece doesn’t have to be a granny swimsuit.
If you just don’t feel comfortable baring your skin in a bikini, there’s good news. One-piece swimsuits come in some adorable, glamorous styles this year. Who said you have to wear an itsy-bitsy bikini to pull off polka dots, anyway?

A great trend for one-piece swimwear this season is the sweetheart neckline. This style emphasizes your figure without showing a lot of cleavage, which is perfect for the modest type. Look for swim dresses, too – one-piece swimsuits that fit and flatter your figure like a short dress.

The season’s best and worst styles
All in all, I’m feeling pretty positive about the swimwear style outlook for summer 2012. I think there are a lot of great styles that will flatter a lot of different body types. One fashion trend has me shaking my head, though: the crochet swimsuit. Ordinarily, I’m all for crochet details to add interest to a neckline or sleeves. One of my favorite personal wardrobe pieces is a black crochet jacket that I wear frequently with tank tops. But when I see the crochet swimsuit style – typically, a bikini with crocheted fabric covering parts of the stomach – I can’t help thinking that it would look more at home in a lingerie ad than on the beach. Let’s face it, when you wear holey fabric like that in the ocean, you know you’re taking stray strands of seaweed with you when you get out. If you’re bold enough to wear it, well, more power to you – but this is one trend I’ll be avoiding.

That said, plenty of other swimsuit trends have attitude and class, and as usual, it’s the details that make the outfit. For added flare, look for swimsuits with bows, decorative embellishments or embroidery and beaded halter straps. Prints and bold colors are both in this year, so it’s a great time to experiment with shades and patterns. Try a larger floral print for a breezy summer look, or a geometric pattern to accentuate your figure. Stripes are in, too: thin stripes and wide stripes, vertical stripes and horizontal stripes, straight stripes, curvy stripes and even wavy stripes.

Another trend that’s sure to catch attention is the asymmetrical look. Some bathing suits have ties, fringe or other embellishments on only one side. Other asymmetrical styles include tankini tops that sport intentionally uneven hems.  My favorite is the one-shouldered look, found on one- and two-piece suits, with the effect ranging from dramatic and toga-esque to strappy and contemporary.

This season is really anything-goes for swimsuits. From string bikinis with narrow bandeau tops to tankinis with full skirts to one-pieces, any style is fair game as long as it flatters your figure and is comfortable to wear. After all, you want your swimsuit to do more than just look good, you want it to feel good while you swim, play volleyball, glide down water slides and do whatever else excites you this summer.

Krystle L. Wright graduated
from Rowan University in May 2011
with her M.A. in Writing
and her B.A. in Writing Arts.

Krystle just took on her first client as a freelance public relations writer. She loves all kinds of writing but especially fiction, and she’s working on her first novel. When she’s not writing (and even when she is), she’s probably listening to music or shopping.