Top Swim for Summer 2022.

I have received a number of questions about swimsuits for summer 2022. I want to answer this in four parts. The first part aims at morale. I was telling my best friend a few weeks ago while visiting her in New York that when I reached the age of 30, I regretted my squeamishness around swimsuits throughout my 20s. I had looked fantastic, but I had been self-conscious owing to body image baggage from my teens. Why hadn’t I embraced my figure? my thirty-year-old self asked. After my first baby (at the age of 32), I looked back and thought, “Now why was I whining at 30, before my body had been stretched by pregnancy and scarred by caesarean? I should have been wearing my bathing suit then.” After my second baby (at the age of 34), I looked back and thought, “Now why was I whining at 32, before my body had been stretched by a second pregnancy and further scarred by a second caesarean?” My point is this: I know with certainty that when I am 45, or 65, or 85, I will look back and think: “Now why ON EARTH was I whining at 37?” (And 45, and 65…). So I told my friend, as we navigated 7th Avenue on the walk back from dinner at La Contenta Oeste to her apartment in Chelsea, that I was not going to let another year of self-conscious bathing-suit-wearing materialize.

At this moment, I am speaking candidly, though I feel a simultaneous compulsion to acknowledge that having a body “stretched by pregnancy and scarred by caesarean” — not to mention marked by the imprints of having lived 37 full years on this earth — is an outrageous blessing. Even the scar down the middle of my forehead, earned while waddling around my first apartment in Manhattan pregnant with my second child: I now think back on that experience and think only of my angel neighbor, a pediatric E.R. doctor, who squeezed my hand as I wept to her (“I tripped and split my head open!”) and then stitched me up on my own couch. That injury launched a thousand self-inquiries. Why had it happened? I asked myself for weeks on end, groping for meaning, wringing my hands. Now I know two things: sometimes, accidents just happen, and often, bad experiences beckon angels. My neighbor was one such and any bad juju leftover from the injury itself has all but evaporated beneath her halo.

But we can hold multiple thoughts at once here, too — and say that even if we are grateful, we can also occasionally look at our bodies in the mirror and think “Well, that looks different.” At least I think those things. And yet I intend to dispel those latter observations this summer and try to just enjoy living in my body at 37, knowing that one day, I will look back and think, “Damn, girl! You looked good! And I’m so glad you aimed to enjoy it!” Hot girl summer indeed.

The next three parts of this post are actually about swimsuits.

Five Swimsuits I Own and Love.

I’m going to first share five swimsuits I own and personally adore. These are suits that I find flattering.

MARYSIA VENICE IN BLACK — THE COLOR AND CUT ARE SLIMMING AND THE NECKLINE IS UNUSUAL AND CHIC; I USUALLY FIND MARYSIA RUNS A TAD SMALL BUT THIS RUNS TTS

SOLID AND STRIPED ANNE-MARIE — THE BACK IS SAUCY AND IT HAS A FLATTERINGLY LOW NECKLINE BUT STILL FEELS SECURE AND FULL COVERAGE…CHECK OUT THEIR SALE SECTION, AS THERE ARE SOME ANNE-MARIE STYLES ON SALE

SOLID AND STRIPED SPENCER — THE NECKLINE ON THIS IS SUPER FLATTERING FOR ME; IT HIGHLIGHTS THE CLAVICLE; AGAIN, SOME SPENCERS ON SALE

MAYGEL CORONEL ROSA — A LOUD STYLE BUT VERY FLATTERING (!). I AM PETITE BUT I TOOK THE REGULAR SIZE IN THIS AND IT FITS ME FINE AND HAVE HEARD THE SAME FROM A LOT OF WOMEN OF DIFFERENT SIZES AND HEIGHTS — SEEMS VERY STRETCHY AND ACCOMMODATING…IF WHITE IS TOO SCARY, TRY IN BLACK! THERE ARE A FEW ROSAS IN WHITE LEFT HERE, 20% OFF WITH CODE YOUROCK

Six Statement Swimsuits I’m Obsessed With.

Next up: five absolutely fabulous swimsuits that I would love to purchase. I make no claims as to the fit or pragmatism of any of these suits, having not tried them on myself. They are just beautiful pieces I would love to wear and that may or may not be sitting in my digital cart as we speak…

AGUA BENDITA — ON SALE!

ANDRES OTALORA — ALSO ON SALE AND WOWWW LOVE THE DRAMA

ERES — THESE ARE STUPIDLY EXPENSIVE BUT SORT OF LIKE THE LAMBORGHINI OF EUROPEAN SWIMWEAR…TRES CHIC CA! I THINK THEIR ESSENTIELS STYLE IS ONE OF THOSE “ICONIC” PIECES THAT CHIC FRENCH WOMEN BUY AT 20 AND WEAR UNTIL 80

ALEXANDRA MIRO — I ACTUALLY OWN THIS ONE IN A DIFFERENT COLOR AND THE ONLY REASON WHY I’M PUTTING IT HERE VERSUS THE CATEGORY ABOVE IS THAT THIS STYLE/BRAND RUNS REALLY SMALL AND I WISH I’D SIZED UP FROM AN XS TO A S (I USUALLY WEAR AN XS IN EVERYTHING)…IT IS JUST THE TINIEST BIT TOO SNUG TO BE COMFORTABLE BUT IT IS EPIC!!!

JUAN DE DIOS POLKA DOTS — JUST THE CUTEST THING I EVER DID SEE

MARYSIA — THE PERFECT COLOR AND CUT

THIS WAVY EPHEMERA — GORGEOUS

Flattering Swimsuits People Rave About.

The final part of this post is sharing a suite of swimsuits that have gotten a ton of rave reviews from Magpies, women in my life, and/or other chic peas I’ve crossed paths with on the web….

TORY BURCH LIPSI — SOOO MANY MAGPIES HAVE RAVED ABOUT THIS SUIT, ESPECIALLY IN ALL BLACK

COSSIE + CO — IT’S HARD TO SEE IN THE PHOTOS BUT THESE SUITS HAVE A THICK, ALMOST JACQUARD TEXTURE THAT IS FIGURE-SMOOTHING AND THAT PEOPLE LOVE…I LOVE THIS GINGHAM STYLE, THIS V-NECK, AND THIS TWO-PIECE! I FIRST SAW THIS BRAND ON THE ADORABLE BRIDGET

HERMOZA’S GENEVIEVE HAS SOLD OUT 17 TIMES! I LIKE IT IN THE BLUE AND WHITE FLORAL PATTERN

BRADLEY AGATHER AND JULIA AMORY HAVE TALKED ENTHUSIASTICALLY ABOUT J. CREW SWIM — THIS AND THIS RESPECTIVELY! I TRIED THEIR SWIM YEARS AGO AND IT NEVER QUITE FIT ME FOR SOME REASON BUT MAYBE I WILL GO BACK TO TRY THESE TWO…WELL-PRICED AND LOVE THE DETAIL

HUNZA G — THIS STRETCHY AND TEXTURED OSFA HAS A UNIVERSE OF FANS…SO MANY MAGPIES LOVE THIS AND MANY CLAIM IT NOT ONLY WORKS THROUGHOUT PREGNANCY BUT LOOKS AS CHIC WHEN YOU ARE 20 AS IT DOES WHEN YOU ARE 70!…I HEAR THIS SIMILAR $55 STEAL IS A PRETTY GOOD “INSPIRED-BY” PIECE IF YOU WANT THE LOOK FOR LESS

FOR BIKINI-WEARERS: MY SISTER WORE THIS ARAKS TWO-PIECE IN A FIRE ENGINE RED ON A TRIP A FEW YEAR AGO AND IT WAS ALL MY COUSIN AND I TALKED ABOUT FOR LIKE AN HOUR…SOOOO CHIC! LOVE IN THE PINK! GREAT FOR SMALLER BUSTED WOMEN LIKE MY SIS AND I

THERE IS ONLY ONE OF THESE LEFT ATM BUT I’VE HEARD SUCH GOOD THINGS ABOUT THIS $100 MINKPINK SUIT!!! IT KEEPS SELLING OUT

I’VE LOST COUNT OF THE NUMBER OF MAGPIES WHO HAVE WRITTEN TO RECOMMEND SUMMERSALT! I LIKE THIS STYLE

P.S. Chic cover ups and more swimsuits, this time focused on coverage (whether for modesty or sun protection).

P.P.S. Chic sun hats.

P.P.P.S. Are you a mirror or a candle?