Bikini & Swimwear Selection Guide 

Finding the perfect pair of togs can range somewhere on the emotional spectrum between stressful and downright depressing.  But isn't shopping meant to be what we girls do for fun right? 

Shopping for your next cossie CAN BE just that.  Rest assured, your perfect match in the bathers department is out there, and more so than knowing where to look, it's a matter of knowing what to look for in choosing the style that highlights your best assets. 

Our customers come in all shapes and sizes, so we have pooled our knowledge and collective experience in this guide aimed at helping all of you ladies in deciding what to look for in finding your ideal bikini. 

While ther are a few Universal Rules that we suggest everyone reads, the best advice we can offer it to to identify your body type below and use the corresponding guide.

A tale of Horror:  Where are all the Beautiful Bikinis?

Picture this: you've planned a long weekend get-away at the beach. Accommodation is booked, bags are packed,  minus those hideous togs you picked up on sale at the end of last summer (you still don't know what you were thinking), you're all organised to knock off early on Friday and beat everyone else out of the city, everything is set and there is nothing to worry about, besides buying a new cossie first thing Saturday morning. 

It's Saturday morning and you arise to find the sun is shining, there's a gentle onshore sea breeze, the ocean is a sparkling blue, and the beach is looking very inviting - once you go and pick out that bikini that is going to make you look and feel great.  The shops don't open until nine, so you kick back and have a lazy breakfast. 

When you do get to the shops, you are greeted by one disappointment after the next.  Everywhere has run their stock down now that summer is over.  Anything they do have left you can understand why, no one else wanted to buy it, and neither do you.  You start to think that last seasons bikini you left at home isn't all that hideous looking after all. 

The hardest part of this was meant to be choosing between a cute little patterned bikini or a skimpy pink string bikini.  They are all through the fashion magazines, so aren't they all though the shops too?

You are at the point where you don't even care what you need to pay, "Just let me find something that I can wear, and let me get to the beach!"  Tired of looking, you stop for lunch, determined to make a decision, you comtemplate between bad or worse among the few bikinis that were even worth  trying on.  Admitting defeat, you decide on one that originally caught your eye, because you thought your mum would like it - for herself.

You finally make it to the beach, now the sun has moved west and the beach is shaded by the trees along the coast, but you don't really care anymore.  Your enthusiasm has been dampened.  Instead you decide to focus on tomorrow, and pray it is not raining.

Golden Rules

Finding Your Perfect Bikini Match

When it comes finding that ellusive perfect bikini to suit you, the emphasis shouldn't be on what are the essential characteristics of the "Perfect Bikini", but rather on You and your best assets.

First, you need to decide what you are comfortable with in the modesty department.  No other piece of clothing is so revealing and worn so publicly.

One simple and logical (but sometimes counter intuitive) fact to keep in mind is; the more material you use to cover up the bits you want to hide, the more attention you will draw to exactly what you are trying to cover up. 

In the context of Australian Girls, this is usually the hips, thighs and butt.   So localised and summarised, as we like to say, just remember "A Brazilian Cut will redefine your Butt". 

  • Fabric
    • Colour
      • Bright colours draw attention, cover your best assets with these
      • Dark solid colours are useful for taking the focus away from the bits you are conscious about
    • Pattern
      • Small pattern designs can be used to mask things you want to detract attention from
      • Large pattern designs draw attention and create a visual illusion that something is bigger than it actually is.  They should be used if you want to make something look bigger, and vice versa, avoided if you want to make something look smaller
  • Style
    • Bikini Top- If you have:
      • Smaller Breasts = less material to make them look fuller.
      • Bigger Breasts = you need more material to hold them in.  Avoid string bikinis with triangles unless you are sufficiently firm across the chest.
    • Bikini Bottoms - If you have a:
      • Smaller Bottom = a thong (referred to on this site as an A Cut) or triangle cut (the more typical Brazilian cut, see category B Cut in our store) that cuts higher across the buttocks will give your butt more shape.
      • Larger Bottom = Less Material.  Something cutting across your buttock cheek will appear to cut pounds off your butt.  Again, to reiterate, a Brazilian Cut Redefines your Butt.

Choose According To Your Body

In our experience there are two points worthy of explanation here.  There is your actual body shape, and your own perception of you body shape.  For many women there is a huge inconsistency between how they look and how they think they look.  This can be a good thing or a bad thing.  An example of two countries, both with an ingrained beach culture and some of the world's most beautiful beaches, best illustrates. 

Let's start with the good.  Brazilian women have a reputation the world over for their beauty.  Now anybody that has been to Brazil will tell you that the home of the World's highest paid Supermodel is not turning look alikes, all shaped like Gisele by the millions.  But no one told the women of Brazil you need to look like Gisele Bündchen in order to wear a sexy bikini and strut your stuff along Copacabana.  Brazil's beaches are full of women, with more typical Brazilian figure, i.e. shorter and more curvy with bigger bottoms and hips, all focusing on the good (I am a beautiful woman!) and not the bad (does this make my butt look big?). 

Contrast this to Australia, the country that gave the world Supermodel Elle "The Body" Macpherson.  Aussie girls come in all shapes and sizes, ranging between the more typical curvy Brazilian figure to a more slender and sporty Elle Macpherson like body.  Sadly, Australian beaches are full of beautiful girls covering up, and not all for a fear of UV exposure.  It seems Australia's women are very self conscious, and unnecessarily so,  with minimal coverage swimwear definitely taboo.  Rather than following in the footstep of their sisters in Brazil, and drawing the attention of the world to their beauty and confidence, they would sooner avoid any attention, which inadvertently focuses their own attention on their imperfections and own lack of self confidence.

 

Conscious about your Weight

More to the point, are you conscious about looking overweight, a category that far too many women fall into.

Dos:
  • Wear floral prints with small designs.  These tend to minimise and flatter (pun intended).
  • Consider a solid black bikini.  Black swimwear is very slimming and sophisticated.
  • Choose a bikini bottom with high-cut legs.  This will lengthen the legs and slim your general appearance.
  • Always opt for a tight fit, but in a forgiving fabric.  Lycra is ideal.  If your swimwear looks baggy, so will you.  The correct fit is taut without cutting into your skin or causing belly or thigh bulges.
  • Find a balance between the right amount of coverage to satisfy your modesty, but not so much coverage that you are completely swaddled in fabric.
Don'ts

  • Wear straps that are too wide or sit too low on the legs.  This is a sure fire way to make your hips appear wider.  

  • Wear a belt or other accessories aimed at hiding (or worse still, pulling in) the bits you feel are too big.  These draw attention, usually to precisely where you want to draw attention away. 

  • Say No to the Bow.  Like the belt, hiding behind a bow doesn't work. 

  • Wear tiny skirt style bikinis.  If you are quite hippy it can be tempting to cover them up. These cut your body at your widest and over emphasise your hips and thighs.

Bigger Bottoms 

We have the magical answer you are been looking for and it doesn't involve the stepper or treadmill.  Read on below for the secret, but we could just as easily summarise this section in three words; The Brazilian Cut. 

This is the secret that tens of millions of voluptuous women right across South America understand, most of Europe has cottoned on to, all the celebrities know about, but still it is not ubiquitous general knowledge.

Dos
  • Wear swimwear that cuts across your buttocks, rather than under it.   When you have a bigger bottom, swimwear that sits under your buttock cheeks requires more material.  More material means the swimwear is a lot larger and looks a lot wider, and guess what, so does your butt.
  • Wear darker neutral colours.
  • Go for a bikini if you consider your bust one of your better assets.  The beauty of a two piece is you can choose a brighter colour top.  If you want to draw attention away from your lower half this is a great trick.  Seperates are a great way to mix and match for your unique taste and requirements
  • Get the right size.  If it is a forgiving fabric (like Lycra) then nice and tight is alright, but you should make sure the bikini bottoms do not cut into your skin or cause belly or thigh bulges. 
Don'ts
  • Go for full coverage bottoms.  Trying to cover your entire backside with fabric just emphasises how much material it takes to hide it.  And more to the point, it doesn't hide it very effectively.  If you are on the beach or by the pool in swimwear, whether your flesh is on the inside or outside of your cossie, a little (of even a big) strip of fabric isn't enough to hide behind.
  • Choose a bikini bottom in a fabric with large patterns. Larger pattern prints draw the eye.
  • Remember to Say No to the Bow, or any other features on the bikini bottoms like beading, embroidery, sequins or any other attention drawing additions
  • Mistake "smaller cut bikini" with "smaller sized bikini", there is a distinction. Minimal coverage swimwear isn't achieved by wearing a bikini undersized by a size or two.  Swimwear, especially a bikini, can be a smaller cut, without necessarily being intended to fit a smaller woman. Our advice is not to go for a smaller size than fits you but rather a minimal coverage cut in your size. 

Ample Bosom

Your bust has long been the envy of all your friends, but they have never had to take your breasts shopping for swimwear.  There are generally two things for you to consider. Firstly and always, support, and secondly whether, and to what degree, you want to downplay your breasts.

Dos
  • More coverage will hold you in better.
  • The top should completely encase your breasts.  The elastic of the bikini top should not be touching any breast tissue.
  • The top should rest comfortably on your shoulders. 
  • A sturdy (fabric band, not strings) halter top will offer the best support.
  • A hook or clip at the back, rather than a tie, will lift you "in and up".
  • Dark solid colours will take the focus off your breasts.  Alternatively a pattern across the breast can work in your favour if it is not too large. 
  • If you have a smaller lower half and want to achieve a more hourglass figure then consider brighter bikini bottoms, perhaps with sequins, bead or other accessories to draw attention away from your top half.  Bikin bottoms with side ties achieves this too. 
  • Consider a bikini with under-wire for added support.
Don'ts
  • Wear a string bikini swimming unless you want to draw the attention of all the lifeguards!
  • Write off triangle-shaped tops.  These can work for bustier women, depending on your firmness 

No Bust

Congratulations!  Finally, your barely there boobs are something to sing about.  When it comes to buying swimwear you are one of the lucky ones as your options are limitless. 

Dos

  • Be brave.  A minimal coverage bikini top, i.e. tiny triangles, was just made for you.

  • If you ignore the above, then go for something with added padding will boost up what you do have.

  • Try something with embroidery, sequins of ruffles.  Decorations will give the illusion of more bulk upstairs.

  • A bandeau style top with scrunched fabric or frills can also bulk up your breasts

Don'ts

  • Fear Teeny-tiny triangles.  The tinier the better.  You get the gist.  Enough said. 

  • Bandeau style tops without some sort of scrunched fabric or other means of giving it volume.  You need something to fill these for them to work.

  • Loud pattern tops.  These draw attention to your chest.

No Bum

There are women across the globe on treadmills right this very minute wishing they had your problem.

Dos

  • Go for a G-sting bikini or if a thong just isn't you, then at-least a more triangular style, typical of a Brazilian cut.  This will give some definition and shape to your booty.

  • Bright colours and/or large designs are your friends. 

  • Beading and ruffles can also add volume.

Don'ts
  • Go for the briefs style bikini bottoms.  This will have too much fabric covering something that isn't there.  Since you don't have much to fill this out it will just emphasise what is not there.

Keep in mind that a String Bikinis will emphases your slender shape.  You should consider whether Thin Is In, or if you would prefer to create an illusion of a more curvy figure.

 

  

 
 
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