I pulled this old post out of the archives, since it goes so perfectly with what we have been talking about lately: style personality and modest swimwear. Incidentally, this style personality type (functional, practical, and sporty) is the one I haven’t gotten any feedback on.
This is my daughter with the purely functional style personality, dressed in her everyday clothes. Actually, this solid color t-shirt would be one of her dressier ones. A true everyday ensemble might include a thrift store tee from some old vacation Bible school. Just call her “sporty”.
The shorts are reversible, purchased half-price in the boy’s department at Old Navy. Two shorts for (half the) price of one. An additional benefit is the elastic waist, eliminating the precise fitting necessary with some juniors board shorts.
Don’t the knee-length shorts look elegant? Especially with the shapely swooooosh down the side.
Functional? Yes. But elegant? There is nothing about cheap looking board shorts that I would begin to call elegant. Very modest, age appropriate, and practical for someone who is sporty and does not waste energy on dressing nicely… but certainly not elegant by any stretch. Unless very tall and very lean, knee length shorts (especially these baggy ones) tend to make one look rather… dumpy.
Hi JB. Welcome to the blog!
Just in case a few of you were wondering, this JB is not acquainted with me or the lovely girl in the picture in any way other than … well, we just met, through the blog. 🙂
I’ve seen some very stylish women wear long board shorts over their swimsuits, and I really like the look. For me…It’s a beach (or pool) look, not everyday. But I think it’s a great way to be stylish and modest while enjoying the water!
Elegant isn’t the word I would have used either, but I also would have chosen to use something rather than dumpy (them’s fightin’ words if you ask me!). The swoosh (and the teen legs) keeps them from looking dumpy. This is hard for me, because I am *not* sporty. Nor am I a teen! ;]
One other thing I learned last night from my other daughter is that the girls board shorts, the ones that have the fitted waist and all that, aren’t as comfortable as these boys’ ones with the elastic waist, because they don’t move with you.
Trust me, people, this picture may not be the greatest (I was the photographer!) but if you saw this young lady in person, you’d wish you were sporty. 😉
Hmm… As far as the “sporty” board shorts go, I think it is too masculine to really be suitable for a woman. However, I cannot come up with any better alternative, without looking like we are wearing sacks into the water! The only “modest” swimwear I have found on the web has been terribly ugly looking. *sigh* I pretty much gave up swimming. Maybe one day I will run into something that is modest, feminine, and fully functional, without looking like some freaky teal blob.
My two cents, not worth even that likely.
Mrs. Meg Logan
You may find a similar comment to this one in the archives, Rebecca. 🙂
I think the board shorts are cute. But heaven knows I couldn’t swim in them!
I could probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of suits I’ve had in my life that qualify as “cute”.
I’m a Speedo wearer. They’re practical for my purposes. When I swim, I train. Well, sometimes I compete. And on rare occasions I go to a leisure swim with a young friend or two.
Actually, Wendy, you make a good distinction. Alot of times when we talk about swimming what we really mean is hanging around the beach, wading, jumping, or sliding in to the water. If I were a serious swimmer like you, no doubt I’d do the same thing – wear a functional Speedo. The longer it lasts, the better.
But, as I consider the possibility of a family excursion to a water park coming up, I’m thinking I really like the idea of board shorts for a day at the water slides. 🙂
Years ago a friend who was buxom introduced me to the idea of wearing a solid color longsleeve surplice wrap danskin leotard as a swimsuit. I think it looked great. To cover the top of the thighs, I think there could be a matching mini-sarong. This would be like those skirted swimsuits but a little longer. Not for swimming competitions, maybe, but she was a strong ocean swimmer and the suit held up fine. Cute, no, but it was kind of casually elegant, as I remember.
Thanks Rebecca! 🙂
I’ll just put in a plug for the Speedo Endurance fabric (and other variants by other firms). These s poly fabric have a great deal more chlorine resistance than others, and do have some mechanical stretch.
Yes, and if I got seriously into swimming I was going to ask you again about the fabric. 🙂
Which reminds me of another benefit of wearing shorts over a suit, for us toe-dibblers (how’s that for a made up word?) – sitting on the edge of the pool is the worst on cheap swimsuit fabric!
i swam competitively in high school, and i still have my TYR suit– and it’s still wearable! a “real swimming” suit is made to hold up to all the chlorine. it’s like this one: http://www.tyr.com/shop/solid-lycrar-maxback-p-109-c-30_31_39_40.html but in a very ugly red and black pattern (our team colors)
oh and i think your daughter looks cute and she’ll be able to do all kinds of summer things in that outfit, unlike wearing a skirt.
And that suit is only $56! The kelly green (don’t ask why our family calls that color ‘oobleck’, we really do like it!) and the purple and some of the other colors aren’t bad.
Cute for a teenager. But I love the LandsEnd tankinis for a modest mom swimsuit. Particularly the faille fabric. I always get the skirted one. Can’t beat ’em.
Which makes me wonder: which neckline do you get? 😉
Our family’s (minor) frustration is that, while tankinis are undoubtedly one of the more modest options on the market, they are not allowed at Awana camp or youth group events; only one-piece suits are allowed.
I know you said “modest mom swimsuit”, but I go to camp too! 🙂
I’m a Land’s End loving tankini girl too! I bought the “Batik floral square neck swim top” (I’d post the link but it’s really long) and I like it. It’s a little lower than I thought, and kind of dips in at the middle. But I still think it’s great. My Land’s End swimsuits have lasted forever! I still have a swimsuit from them that is in great shape, no fading, etc that I’ve had for 5+ years.
As far as the one-piece suits at camp…I kind of struggled with that too (when I was counseling at our church’s youth camp) because the girls would come with these one-piece suits that were way less modest than a nice tankini! But…oh well…