Spotted by Fashion Police officers in China.
We really hope this catches on.
[Image: Fame]
| | Category Archives: SwimwearStrange Swimwear: The DIY Swimsuit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Yoox.com describe this as a “beach dress”, and while we’re not really seeing where the “dress” bit comes in, it is made by a company called VDP Beach, which would seem to support the idea that it is, in fact, beachwear, and not, say, some “sexy” clubwear.
It comes as a two-piece set, so yes, you ARE supposed to wear the legwarmers with the skirt. To the beach. We were going to assume the high wedges were optional, given that they’re not exactly practical for walking in the sand, but then, legwarmers and a mini skirt aren’t exactly practical for the beach either, so stranger things have happened.
Oh, and did we mention the full outfit is £140?
WHY would you want to dress like this to go to the beach, readers?
We don’t know about you, but when we go to the beach we’re there to have fun and relax, maybe take a dip in the sea. We can’t really imagine packing our beach bag and thinking, “OK, have I got everything? Sunscreen? Book? Leg warmers?” Can you? Is this what the cool kids are all wearing to the beach these days? Where ARE these beaches?
This is currently only available in a UK size 6, all the other sizes apparently having sold out. If that’s your size, though, you’re in luck: you can click here to part with your £140.
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Earlier today we showed you the dress that is not really a dress. Now we’d like to follow that up with the sad tale of the Bikini That Is Not Really a Bikini.
Warning: Although Aubrey O’Day apparently thought this outfit was safe for the beach, it’s possibly not safe for work, so proceed with caution:
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The Fashion Police have long been fans of retro-style swimwear, of the kind shown above: cut low on the hips, with a bit of ruching over the stomach, this shape is super-flattering, and surprisingly sexy – perfect for those of us who don’t really fancy the itsy-witsy, teeny-weeny bikini (yellow polka dot or otherwise).
Of course, the drawback with this kind of swimswuit is that they tend to be on the expensive side, which is why we were so pleased to come across Target’s current collection. These suits retail for just $34.99, and are available in a wide range of prints, colours and shapes, with the ones shown above being just a small selection.
For those of us outside of the UK, the bad news is that Target don’t ship to us, unfortunately: boo! If you’re in the US, however, you can click here to make your selection: lucky you!
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Last year it was Primark. This year it’s Abercrombie & Fitch’s turn in the firing line over their push-up padded bikini tops for girls as young as 8 years old.
But while Primark backed down and removed their controversial bikinis from sale, Abercrombie & Fitch have defended their range, only agreeing to remove the term “push up” from the title in favour of the less incendiary “striped triangle”, but leaving the padded bikinis on sale.
Abercrombie & Fitch have a reputation for risque behaviour – whether provoked by their highly sexualised Back to School ad campaign in 2007 or their 2002 range of tweenage thongs bearing slogans including “wink wink” and “eye candy”, the company are no strangers to public outrage.
But is the public right to be outraged by such provocative garments? Or, as Abercrombie & Fitch argued in response to criticism in 2002, are the items in question simply cheeky and cute, placing the blame from any misrepresentation firmly in the eye of the beholder?
What do you think?
(Photos of the offending “push-up” triangle bras can be found here.)
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That Geri Halliwell. She has a lot to answer for. For when she wore that Union Flag (it’s only a Union Jack when it’s at sea, apparently) dress, she spawned a thousand other garments bearing the motif. Over fifteen years later designers are still producing items such as these leggings.
If you want to show your allegiance to the crown at the pool or the beach, Red Carter are selling this delightful one-piece at Shopbop. (We have to admit that we are slightly baffled by this as Shopbop isn’t a British site…)
Will you be wearing Union Flag fashion to show your patriotism for the Royal Wedding this April? (Just please don’t style the leggings as pants as ASOS have done here.) If you will, the leggings are by Religion and cost £35 at ASOS, and the once piece is by Red Carter and is $150 at Shopbop.
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Swimsuits like this one by Red Carter probably cover just as much flesh – or maybe more – than a bikini would.
So why do they always look like they’re verging on the obscene to us?
After all, it’s not anything like as bad as this one by Jersey Moda:
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So you’re languishing on the beach, and a girl walks past in her underwear. Only she’s not in her underwear, she’s wearing a bikini by Norma Kamali that looks like underwear, but isn’t.
We like the overall style of the bikini – the shape is so lovely and retro and we’d wear this as underwear in a flash. Or as swimwear were it a solid fabric. We’re just not sure we can get on board with the lace swimwear.
What do you think of this concept (there’s a one piece costume available too)? Would you wear swimwear that looks like you accidentally wore your lacy undies to the pool? Or do you prefer your swimwear to look more like, well, swimwear?
You can buy the briefs (£95) and top (£200) from Net-a-Porter.
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