My Hunt for Flattering Swimsuits for 60-Somethings
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Is there anything more vulnerable thanwearing a swimsuitin public when you’re self-conscious about your body’s shape and size? Or more demoralizing than trying suits on at the beginning of beach season? These are things I’ve dreaded forever — starting when my body developed and expanded during puberty, and even more so since my body began changing progressively fromperimenopauseright on through to post-menopause, where I’m at now: softening even more than usual; filling out in new spots, sometimes lumpily; and wrinkling.
I grew up in beach towns on the south shore of Long Island, and when I visit my family there, I still love swimming, lying on a chaise, and walking along the shore. In Kingston, where I now live, my husband and I are members of a low-frills pool club (it’s actuallya day campthat lets adults use the pool evenings and weekends), and I enjoy cooling off in the water on hot days.
But in both places, when I’m not fully submerged in water, you can count on me to cover up my short, curvy, busty physique. At a hair under five feet tall, with D cups, full hips, and an ample tush, I’ve always had difficulty with body acceptance. Fortunately, my bosom has deflated a bit — down from a DD, E, or F, depending on the brand — sinceI wrote about bra shoppingfor this magazine nearly two decades ago. But gravity is also doing its thing, necessitating stronger support than ever before.
Hiding myself this way doesn’t at all jibe with the perspective shift so many contributors to my Substack,Oldster Magazine, report occurring later in life, in which they stop caring about others’ opinions of them. That’s happened for me on many fronts, but at 60, I haven’t moved on from worrying about people’s harsh judgments of my body.
And so I still hate swimsuit shopping. I have such a strong aversion to it that I’ve been avoiding it for years, wearing the samestretched-out tankinisand one-piece styles since roughly 2015, their Lycra completely shot. Those old suits aren’t doing me any favors. They’re so bad that the prospect of wearing them seems even worse than trying on new ones. Now, I am on the hunt for some new styles that work with my older body, and that will maybe,maybemake me feel okay about being seen in them.
When she assigned this to me, my editor wrote, “Just checking that you’d be comfortable taking photos as you hunt?” I did a little soul searching before responding. I thought about Jamie Lee Curtis’s bravery sharing untouched photos of herself in her underwear with no makeup on; the possibility that doing this could function as some kind of exposure therapy, helping me overcome my resistance to being so fully seen; and, most of all, my goal of destigmatizing and normalizing aging by being honest and real about it. “Yes,” I wrote back. Here are some of the suits I tried — the ones that worked and didn’t. If you’re proportioned differently than I am, your mileage may vary. (Photos by my husband, Brian Macaluso.)
Update July 2, 2026:I added one more swimsuit, by Title Nine, to the mix.
But I wanted to say: Wow — the response to this piece, in the comments here and elsewhere online, has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive. My anxiety about exposing my body in this way has been seriously tempered. Several people suggested I have Quince’s green Italian Plunge One-Piece Swimsuit altered — get the straps lifted — and I think I will, because it otherwise has such a nice silhouette and color. Many people commended me on my “bravery,” but on the flip side, in a few places, others wrote that they wished revealing our regular, un-model-like bodies didn’t qualify as “brave.” They thought that implied a kind of shame we shouldn’t have to bear, and while I agree with that, no matter what your body looks like, it does take a certain amount of chutzpah to pose half-naked inNew YorkMagazine. I’ll take the compliment!
My top picks
Runnersup
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J. Crew sent me the wrong suit. (I’d requested theNia ruched square-neck one-piece in gingham— the same fabric you see here — for $138.) But they must have been reading my mind, because the one they did send isexactlythe kind of suit IwishI could pull off but can’t because I’m just too busty. I’ve been dreaming about being able to wear this style of maillot since I was in my teens, and as you can see in this photo of me, it’s not happening. My boobs just don’t fit in the cups, which not only makes it look bad but also makes it uncomfortable to wear. A shame because it’s darn cute. Another no-no for me here: underwire. I banished that from my life during the pandemic, and I’ll never again subject my poor ribcage to that sort of torture. (Bra-wise, I’ve found a great, wireless minimizer that I love: Soma’sWireless Unlined Full Coverage Bra.)
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I had high hopes for this one. I love the shape and the color. (I’m a green freak.) I had the impression that the cups would better suspend my breasts while the “plunge” aspect would showcase my cleavage. Best of both worlds kind of thing. But no, there’s not enough of that glorious green fabric to cover me up where I need covering, and what fabric there is isn’t supportive enough to “lift and separate,” as they used to say in the Playtex bra commercials that were in constant rotation on my family’s television in the ’70s.
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Sometimes I thinkone-piece stylesaren’t for me, because not all of my parts are the same size. The one-pieces I’ve worn tend to feel confining and tight in some spots, loose in others. I’m entirely too self-conscious to wear a bikini, but tankinis often fit the bill, especially if I can get the tops and bottoms in different sizes. I can move my body more freely in them. I thought that this sort of hybrid “monokini” style might give me the freedom of a tankini, with the simplicity of a one-piece. But the middle part — the part that goes around my comparatively smaller waist — gaps and sags in a way that feels weird. It’s difficult to put on; I tied myself in knots trying to figure out where to put which parts of myself through.
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Even though swim dresses remind me of the matronly styles my mom and grandmother used to wear in the ’70s, I thought I might give a couple more modern ones a try given their added coverage. But this one doesn’t fit me quite as well as I’d like. It’s too loose in the middle and not supportive enough in the bust. I tried adjusting the straps, but my heavy bosom still made it look droopy up top. I also thought I should try and mix it up, color- and pattern-wise. I liked this pattern on the website, but on me it just feels like too much — too “mature” for my Gen-X self-image. Just a matter of taste.
Thealmosts
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I’m trying to incorporate more color into my wardrobe, without falling into that older-woman cliche ofliving out loudin too-bright tones. I found myself drawn to the watermelon color of this tankini set. It’s cute and well-made, but something about the proportioning of it doesn’t work with mine. The shelf bra holds my girls in perfectly without feeling too tight, but the fabric that descends from there feels too loose on me. (I blame my shape and not the suit.) I suspect it would feel strange having the loose fabric flutter around me in the water.
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I really, really like the look of this suit — even the way it looks on me in the photo. And I love the navy color. However, this one doesn’t have a built-in bra, or shelf, and so I feel a little … all over the place. It does come with very thin, removable “falsies,” so there is some kind of intention of boob-wrangling. But this one is not engineered for the kind of suspension my bust requires. If only …
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The mulberry color and shape on this tankini set are great, and thanks to a cross-over back, it has the right support up top. But the front has a funny drape to it, at least on my short-waisted frame. It feels as if there’s just too much fabric and too many elements. Just … too much going on in the front, and it feels as if it would only call more attention to the parts of me I’d rather obscure. Also, it makes my boobs look a little lopsided?? The bottoms do earn their name: “Comfort Core.” They are indeed comfortable and supportive, and more straightfoward than the top.
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This suit has a lot to recommend it. It fits snugly, in a good way. The adjustable halter top allows you to find the level of lift that’s right for you. The ruching on the sides makes the draping flattering to my form. However, I have one unfortunate word for you: uniboob. The straps suspend my bust in a way that mashes my breasts together rather than separating them. Let me be clear here: I am uniformly against uniboob. It’s not ideal visually or in the way it feels. A bummer, because otherwise, I had high hopes for this one.
Thewinners
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This tankini is perfect in every way. With its high racer back, it’s snug and supportive in the spots where it needs to be (you know where) but just loose enough in the area that covers my lower torso. The bottoms are high-waisted in a way that makes my tummy feel securely held-in and high-cut enough in front to make my legs appear longer and slimmer than they are. I love the calming, cool teal color, too. This is a combination I’ll swim laps in but also hang out in, because I don’t feel uncomfortably on display.
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As I said above, I did not figure myself for a swim-dress type, but here I am. I found this one while I was browsing in my local outpost of Old Navy while killing time before a lunch appointment, and it just called to me. I tried it on and fell completely in love. Everything about this silhouette perfectly frames and flatters my curves while providing a welcome amount of coverage for the area I’m most self-conscious about: my upper thighs, hips, and backside. They only had black in stock, and I do naturally gravitate toward that color. But now that I’ve found it online, I might grab it in some of the other cool colorways, likeemerald,loquat, andblack-and-white gingham.
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It was not easy getting this suit on! But I’m glad I persisted, because I think it looks great. The brand’s SPANXSculpt compression technology makes it so that this suit is a bit of a challenge to wiggle into, but once you’re in, itreallyholds you in. The high neck lifts my boobs while also strapping them in place in a way that makes me feel presentable and also kind of chic. I don’t know how easy it might be to actuallyswimin this one, because all of that heavy duty Spandex seems like it would inhibit movement. But I’m willing to try.
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This suit fits as if it were custom made for me. The fabric has a nice, luxurious hand with interesting ruching details along the sides. Best of all, this one supports me where I need support, but not so aggressively that it’s hard to move. It’s got a nice little flap of fabric to discreetly cover my cleavage without blocking it out entirely, so I can still feel a little flirty in it. It’s comfortable and, in my opinion, flattering to my figure. The deep blackberry color is also very appealing — dark but not black, which, even after 21 years out of New York City, I still wear too much of. Sold.
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Somehow this incredible suit from Title Nine got lost in the shuffle as I was putting this piece together. In my defense, I’d been in the midst of a veryOldstersituation: taking care of my 85-year-old mom after she fell ill. What’s more, my office looked like a bathing-suit factory had exploded in it — I tried onmanymore suits than I included here. It wasn’t until a commenter asked why I’d skipped Title Nine that I remembered this one, and it is definitely one of my favorites. It fits me perfectly, in part because it has wide, adjustable straps that allow me to find the perfect level of lift. I wish more suits had this feature — a boon for those of us whose significant busts have succumbed to gravity and time. The Lycra has the perfect level of hold: not too tight, but it stays in place even as you swim, as I learned this weekend at the pool. It also dries pretty quickly, another feature I like. And this figgy color works perfectly with my skin tone.
More swimwear we like
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The one-piece our senior writer always gets compliments on.
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The most-clicked tankini from our roundup of the 32 best ones. It has UPF 50 sun protection.
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Our senior writer's favorite of all of Aerie's (very good) swimsuits.
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One of the many rash guards our senior editor wears on repeat in the summer.
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Hot pant-esque swim shorts for a very affordable price.
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And an expensive-but-worth-it pair that you can wear outside the pool, too.
More From The Strategist Swimsuit Project
- What Swimsuits Are the Cool Moms Wearing Right Now?
- Swimming in Bike Shorts Gave Me a Whole New Lease on Summer
- I Tried Rag & Bone’s Trompe l’Oeil Denim Swimsuit
- Is There Really a Difference Between a $30 and a $300 Swimsuit?
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