The Swimsuit That Freed Me From ‘Swimsuit Behavior’
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Sarah Blakley-Cartwright is the author of the novelsAlice Sadie Celine(2023) and the forthcomingHeavy Cream, which is available for preorder and will be out in September.
I have a minimum requirement of a swimsuit: I don’t want to think about it. Once you put it on, it should stay where you left it. This sounds like a low bar until you’ve experienced the opposite: the decorative and fragile bandeaus, triangle bras, and string bikinis that give way after a single dive, conceding to gravity. They all require their wearer to lie prone on a chaise longue, perfectly still, barely risking to turn the page of a paperback. Or else to spend an entire afternoon tugging the suit back into position.
I tried many suits, ones with punishing bodices so heavily engineered that the support felt like punishment, but then I found it: the Andie Malibu, a suit that accepts that its wearer might not just turn a page but lift a 40-pound child, climb ladders at the water parkandhurtle down the 70-foot free-fall slide, sprint after that same child who’s now made a break for open water — or just attempt a cartwheel in the sand.
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My favorite way to swim is with nothing on at all. Short of that, I’d like to forget I’m wearing anything. The Andie Malibu comes close. It feels like the freedom of wearing nothing, but with the reassurance of a hug, everything held in place.Anyone need me to excavate a moat around a sandcastle? Dive off a cliff in Capri? I’m your girl.
The older I get, the less interested I am in clothes that require regulation. I want a swimsuit that can do its own job. This one reports for duty without feeling like it’s squeezing the life out of me. It also happens to be surprisingly elegant.
I still pack those stringy, insubstantial suits that require constant supervision. They’re sexy at the expense of freedom — for which there’s a time and a place. Other days, I want to swim without worrying what’s shifted where. TheMalibu’s greatest trick isn’t how it makes me look. It’s how it completely disappears.
More swimsuits we like
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One of Sari Botton's favorite finds for a stylish suit for 60-somethings.
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A curve-accentuating one-piece that isn't too skimpy.
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Another Andie suit, also great for being active.
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An adjustable-strap swim romper that feels like you've got nothing on.
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A really affordable option with an open back and adjustable string tie.
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The suit one writer takes all over the world and has kept its shape through many years of wear.
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