Summer 2011: top swimwear picks (for now…)

Posted on April 12, 2011 by busts4justice

It might be April but, with the sun shining and the days getting longer, it’s definitely about time to start narrowing down our favourite swimwear picks for the summer.  We’ve been keeping our eyes peeled for a few months now and found an inordinate amount of beautiful suits to choose from, but (for now at least), here are our top five…

First up, we have Miss Mandalay’s Harbour Club stripe bikini. Available from Bravissimo at around £64 for a complete set it’s not cheap, but I (and British Vogue) love the simple, breton elegance; and in sizes 28D-38HH it will cater for a wide spectrum of figures too.

Finding this-season DD+ swimwear on a budget is virtually impossible, but ASOS’s range of DD+ swimwear is pretty and colourful, and at under £30 for a full set it’s very affordable too. This pretty blossom print halter is available in a 30D-34F, and a great option for the limited few who will fit it. More sizes next swim season please, ASOS, but well done for making a start…

We wrote about Figleaves’ Midnight Grace range a while ago, and I still think this floral number is great. Frilly, silly and fun, it’s a great buy from a great range.  It’s about £46 for a set, in sizes from 30D-38G. We’re not the only ones to love it though and sizes are selling out fast, so get in quick before they all go!

Another review revisited is this lovely Lucille, the only bandeau bikini on my wish list. Its structured shape makes it more secure than your average strapless swimwear, and the red stripes are perfect for the beach.  Available in sizes 30D-38G from a number of stockists, for around £46 a set.

And finally…? I can’t do it.  Freya’s swimwear this season has been so brilliant, and I’d be very happy with any of it (even happier with all of it…).  But my top two have to be (l-r) the Flamingo and the Mirage for their vibrant prints and their lovely shapes.  Both are available in a wide range of sizes (up to a GG in Flamingo and HH in Mirage), with different style options for top and bottom.  At £50-£55 a set they are a bit more expensive than some of the other swimwear options available, but from my experience they stand up well to wear and are worth the investment.

We’ll restrain ourselves and stop at 5ish, though really we could go on. And, with new arrivals and with 2wenty8 launching Slinky Dip swimwear for 28-32 DD-H cups in May, who knows how the top 5 will shape up as season progresses? It feels as if our boobs have never been so well catered for. All there is now is to find some sea and dive in…

What would your top picks be?

 

P.S: for tips about how to help your swimwear last longer, visit our care guide x

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Because they’re worth it: caring for your swimwear

Posted on April 12, 2011 by busts4justice

When you’ve spent £40, £50, £60+ on swimwear, you don’t want it to fall apart after a couple of months. To get the most out of your costume, follow our easy guide to caring for your delicious new purchase…

1: Make sure it’s in the right size.

It sounds like a no-brainer, but do make sure your swimwear fits as perfectly as your underwear. Badly fitting bras deteriorate faster because they end up taking weight and strain in the wrong places. It’s important to get fitted regularly anyway: why not use swimwear shopping as an excuse to squeeze in a proper fit?

2: Always rinse your costume

After swimming, even if you’re not planning a full wash or even to take it off, try to rinse your costume as soon as possible. Chlorine especially, and salt water, degrade the fabric and can ruin the shape and elasticity of your costume: rinsing will help minimise that damage while you’re out. It won’t remove all of the chlorine and salt though, so do remember to wash with gentle soap when you get home.

3: Hand wash only…

Mechanical washing is tough enough on clothes, but on something as structural as a bra it’s brutal.  Hand washing is the best way to protect your bikinis – and your bras – from damage.  No time to hand wash? B4J’s top tip is to take them in the bath and wash them with gentle shampoo while you soak, or take them in the shower and gently lather them while your conditioner is setting. If you absolutely have to machine wash them, make sure you protect them in a laundry bag or – better – in something like this Bra Ball. If an underwire goes rogue mid-cycle it could be more than a balconette you’re replacing…

4: Let it dry

To help protect the fabric from degrading and to keep its shape, remember to let your costume air dry naturally. The heat of tumble drying will damage the fabric, and just like a washing machine of the drum can destroy the shape and structure of the cups.

5: Love it!

The best way to get value from your swimwear is to truly love it, and truly love being in it. Seize every opportunity for fun and play, and enjoy the confidence truly supportive activewear can give you. We’ll see you in the sea…

Happy summer! x

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M&S: if it’s broke, don’t fix it…

Posted on April 10, 2011 by busts4justice


Marks & Spencer have dramatically proved what many of us have known for so long – that fit is definitely not their strong point – with the launch of their new, 50’s and Mad Men inspired ‘Flatter Me’ bra.

A Daily Mail article said “In focus groups, women commonly complained they hated the bra ‘muffin top’, or the bulge that appears around the back and sides of some traditional underwear.

“So the Flatter Me bra, which will cost £25 when it goes on sale next month, uses traditional boning and deep wings to remove the overspill – and boost cleavage.”

It is baffling. Surely everyone in lingerie – especially the high street’s biggest lingerie retailer – should know that boobs bulging out of bras are a clear signpost that the bra is not properly fitted, not that all modern bras uniformly cause lumps and bulges.  If Marks & Spencer’s customers – if their models – are bulging out of their bras at the top, it is a clear sign that the people responsible for putting them in to those bras are ill-equipped to fit properly.

But instead of addressing the problem at its root cause, M&S have simply taken women’s too small bras and added new bits, giving them an equally poor fit (so perfectly demonstrated by the model pictured) and charging them £25 for the pleasure.  In a time where our wallets are increasingly stretched, that’s hardly representative of the ‘value for money’ M&S claimed steadied their sales last quarter.

Yes, there is certainly a trend for 50s inspired lingerie and a Mad Men silhouette, and no doubt M&S will make a killing cashing in on it with these bras.  But if M&S truly cared about their customers, they would invest less in headline-grabbing fads and more in addressing the fit problem endemic throughout their company. Charging £25 to solve a problem you probably had a hand in creating shows an appalling lack of respect for your customers. In this climate, is that something M&S can really afford to do?

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Pool Party Perfection

Posted on April 8, 2011 by busts4justice

How could we let such a beautiful day go by and resist a cheeky swimwear shop? Lovely Lembrassa popped up on the blog to let us know that the Panache Loren, above left, is in stock in lots of sizes and is the exact same shape, cut and fit as the divine Monroe from last year.  The bold print is gorgeous – it’s like the spandex equivalent of a summer tea dress – and perfect for a beach barbecue, pool party or a freezing cold April toe dip in the English Channel.

Though perhaps if you are going to a pool party and have a streak of the Sam “Sex and the City” in you, how amazing would it be to be able to confidently pull off this new cutaway Freya Siren Silver Swimsuit?  And full points to Freya for bringing asymmetrical swimwear to the full chested.  It might be more Brazil than Brighton, but it looks like the lucky wearer would have a whole lot of fun. And some interesting tan lines too…

 

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M&S results boosted (by bangers, not bras)

Posted on April 6, 2011 by busts4justice

Today our old rivals M&S posted a low but much better than expected 0.1% growth in spite of expected losses. Though like-for-like sales had dropped by about 4% this was lower than predicted, and counterbalanced by a similar increase in food sales. Percy Pigs save the day again.

In recognition of the 5% jump to my solitary share value (I still hold on to it, just in case…) I decided to see if their new season lingerie was as uplifting as their figures.  I approached the size finder with trepidation.  I need a 28 back in M&S, but at my last visit even their 30 backs had been sized out most of G cup ranges: I was not optimistic.

To my great surprise 28 backs now have seven options at M&S.  And they’re not the chastity bras of my M&S teenagedom either: there are a couple of cute vintage style balconettes, a few plunge options, and a non-padded white lacy number.  All from £14 to £18.  That’s a massive improvement.

It’s not a wide selection and I can’t say what I found had me rushing to the the checkout, but it was encouraging: the very fact that 28 backed bras are in the most mainstream of mainstream shops is a massive step in the right direction for small-backed-big-cup bras.  And with their announcement that they’re going to be branching out in to France and beyond, it could be a step in the right direction for our much neglected European bosoms too. If they could just get the fitting right…

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