SPRING & SUMMER FASHION : SWIMWEAR
Of all the glamorous, Hollywood-style swimsuits unveiled this spring, nothing takes the cake like Lynda Progosh’s wedding suit.
When Progosh introduced her spring collection of suits for Bodacious Bodies of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., she topped off her fashion show with a bride wearing a veil, train and a frothy white swimsuit that had 20 yards of narrow ribbon appliqued all over the front like swirls of frosting.
“I thought, ‘Why not be egotistical? All of the other designers always have a wedding scene at the end of their shows,’ ” Progosh recalls.
The suit, which came in different colors to accommodate prospective bridesmaids, has become one of Bodacious Bodies’ hottest numbers. Although most women don’t buy it to wear up the altar, Progosh has received photographs of real-life brides wearing the suit, including snapshots from nuptials held underwater.
This season, Progosh and other designers have created swimsuits so elegant they can be worn to the beach, to a cocktail party and even to a poolside wedding.
To create glamour on the sand, designers have borrowed heavily from evening gowns. They’ve stretched the limits of conventional swimwear by adorning suits with sequins, embroidery work, shirred bodices, built-in bras, gold and silver lycra fabrics and the filmiest of cover-ups.
Progosh, for instance, searched everywhere until she found a manufacturer in New York who could applique ribbon onto stretchy lycra so the thread wouldn’t pop.
Designer Brenda Welch of Los Angeles had to hunt for someone to embroider patterns on her lycra suits, a technique so new she’s had it copyrighted.
“I wanted something different,” Welch says. “I got so bored with the solid or print lycras. I wanted to develop my own image.”
The result of her experiment: a shiny gold tank-style suit with a fleur-de-lis pattern embroidered in black thread, available for $71 at Everything But Water in South Coast Plaza’s Crystal Court, Costa Mesa. The suit comes with a matching scalloped wrap skirt for $50.
Welch also designed brightly colored tanks and bikinis covered with embroidered squiggles, or what she calls “vermicelli.” The purple tank with lime-green vermicelli also sells for $71.
“I find it’s hard to sell, but it’s definitely eye-catching,” Welch says. “It’s for that certain customer who wants to make a fashion statement.”
She might have an even harder time finding buyers for her other innovative suit, a tank with small chunks of quartz crystals dangling from the front that sells for $261.
Many suits look more fit for dining by candlelight than for swimming laps at the Y.
A collection of shimmering lycra suits by Gottex that feature shirred fabric over built-in bra cups and wide gathered straps stirs memories of ‘40s Hollywood pin-ups.
“They’re doing great. They’re flying out the door,” says Miriam Ruzow, a designer for Gottex in New York City.
Extra foam and fabric across the bust may account for at least some of the suits’ popularity.
“The suits are constructed in a very sexy way,” Ruzow says. Gottex made several variations of the suits, including a two-piece bikini with a wrap-style bottom, in rich hues such as solid gold, deep orange and nautical-looking navy-and-white polka dots.
Such elegant suits, designers realized, could not be covered with terry cloth. Instead, the suits are part of an ensemble, to be worn with the sheerest of blouses, harem pants or a sarong skirt.
“A customer doesn’t just buy one item from a collection. It’s more of a story,” Ruzow says.
Gottex has several cover-ups that could be worn to a fancy dinner party, including a loose, floor-length jacket made from a net that looks spun from pure gold, gauzy black harem pants and sheer blouses in royal colors. A brilliant emerald blouse, for instance, complements a green, square-necked suit embellished with wide gold trim.
The suits and cover-ups can be blended in with the rest of the wardrobe and worn on the street.
“Women can go from the beach to the disco” without changing clothes, Progosh says. “They can wear the tops with a beautiful skirt or with a jacket and pair of pants.”
Her floor-length skirt, made of sheer black rayon and decorated with gold coins, can be transformed from beachwear to evening wear.
“I’m wearing it to a cocktail party tomorrow night,” Progosh says.
In selling swimwear as street wear, designers are following the lead of the lingerie industry. Thanks in part to Madonna, lacy undergarments such as the bustier can now be worn without shame in public.
Progosh and other swimwear designers have sought to “bridge the gap” between swimwear and lingerie.
“We’re making swimwear tops into real bras,” Progosh says.
In one effort to achieve this, designers are offering updated versions of the constructed suit, complete with foam cups, underwire, push-up padding and shoulder straps.
“Underwire isn’t just an old-lady thing anymore,” says Adri Hirschi, manager of Splash and Flash in Fashion Island’s Atrium Court, Newport Beach. She carries a contemporary one-piece by Too Hot Brazil in neon coral and black polka dots with underwire for $56.
“Women in their 30s are trying (underwire suits) on and saying they’re the most feminine things they’ve ever seen,” she says.
Younger women are discovering something their grandmothers already know: The constructed suits flatter the figure, adding inches where they’re wanted, while lower-cut legs can shrink a thigh.
“The more construction, the better,” says Sue Kaufold of Laguna Niguel, a slender, “thirtysomething” woman shopping for suits at Everything But Water. “They give you more shape.”
Styled by: Cindy Kassebaum
Shot on location at Dana Point Resort.
