Best Bathing Suits for Each Body Type

In order to choose the right bathing suits for your body type, you need to understand the strength and weakness for your body shape.

In today’s post, I will be using the 5 most common horizontal body types, I.e, hourglass, pear, Apple, inverted triangle and rectangle.

Before we dive into what works best for each body type, I suggest you watch my video on what swimsuits do not look good on your shape.

Bathing Suits for the Hourglass Shape

What to look for

• For an hourglass-shaped lady, there’s nothing you need to hide about your nearly perfect curves. 
• The biggest part of finding the right bathing suit for the hourglass figure is to make sure the swimsuit top can provide enough support for your full chest.
• The same applies to swimsuit bottoms.

Best

• Swim tops with numbered cups like the bras, instead of those with just small, medium and large. I have found several brands with numbered cups such as Coco Reef, Bleu by Rod Beattie.
• Swimsuits with wider straps, provide more steady support for your girls than tiny strings.
• Belted swimsuit. With your pronounced curves, you probably don’t need to do anything else to draw more attention to your best assets. If you do want to highlight your waist, then choose a belted swimsuit to make your tiny waist the focal point of your swimsuit outfit.
• A swimsuit made with structured fabrics of enough weight is critical to hold everything in the right place.

• Halter neck is heaven-sent to give you the desired support for your chest. However, don’t feel limited by this because you can choose any neckline.

• With your round hips, your better choice is a swim bottom that can hold the nice shape of your bum.  
• With your slender waist, you will look gorgeous in either one piece or separates. 

Avoid

• For hourglass-shaped ladies, any cheap and thin fabrics would just look even cheaper on you, thanks to your luscious curves.
• Any style that looks like it can’t handle your well-endowed curves just won’t do you any good. For instance, a flatted-chested girl might look totally chic in a tube bikini top, but that’s likely going to make your breasts look like they are not getting enough support.

Pear Body Shape

What to look for

• The pear body type (sometimes known as the spoon shape) could have very killer abs, and many pear shaped ladies have small waist as well. 
• It is quite possible the pear-shaped ladies also have full chest (Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian). So, with a carefully selected swimsuit, the pear shape can totally achieve the hourglass illusion.
• When choosing bathing suits for the pear-shaped body, the key is to create a balanced upper and lower body, because pear-shaped ladies come across as bottom heavy.

Best

• Swim tops that can expand your shoulders to balance out your wider bottom. 
• Swim bottom that do not add more volume to your lower body.
• Any swimsuit top that can form a horizontal line at your neckline and shoulders will work wonderfully.  Off shoulder neckline is one of my top recommendations that can effectively expand your shoulders.

• Wear a lighter color swim top to bring the focus to your upper body, and wear a darker color to make your butt less noticeable (if you wish). You can easily do so by getting swimsuit separates, or you can find a one-piece bathing suit with color blocking to hard looking for.
• Use some smart designs in the bottom to distract attention from your thighs. A skirt bottom is a wonderful option, and you want to make sure the skirt is long enough to cover the widest part of your thighs and avoid the length that is right on the widest part of your bottom.
• Swim dresses work wonderfully on you. One piece is a heaven sent for the pear shaped ladies because they are literally a swimdress with a fit and flare silhouette!

Avoid

Boy-short style bikini bottom. It may sound like the extra fabrics is trying to hide your prominent thighs, but in reality it might end up drawing more attention to that area.

Apple Shape

What to look for

• Being an apple means you need to always watch out for your stomach area because that’s where the apple shape carry out extra weight.
• Your goal is to look for swimsuits that minimize your midsection and emphasize your assets, i.e. your full chest and slender legs.

Best

• High-waisted swim bottoms that provide full coverage for your tummy.

• A peplum-style one-piece swimsuit that covers up your belly strategically.

• Swim tops with bold color that draws attention to your face and shoes off your nice arms and firm legs.

• Bathing suits with rushing design. This is one of the most talented designs ever invented in fashion. Ruching looks like wrinkles when the garment is on the hanger, but once you put in on, that’s when the magic happens. You will notice the wrinkles immediately smooth out your midriffs!
• Color blocking one piece.  When you wear a dark color bottom, it can effectively shrink your midsection or make it much less noticeable.

Avoid

Belted swimsuit. The reason is your stomach becomes the focus of your entire swimsuit when you have a belt on the suit.

Since the goal for the Apple-shaped ladies is the camouflage the midriff, then it sounds obvious we should be drawing attention away from the belly area, not towards it.

Rectangle Body Type

What to look for

• The rectangle shaped (sometimes known as banana shape) women are meant to be able to pull off any clothes, because majority of fashion industry make clothing according to the rectangle body shape. 
• If you are a rectangle with boyish like figure, your focus is to find swimsuits that can create curves and look feminine.

Best

• Sweetheart neckline or scallop shaped swim top will are also flattering because they add volume to your chest.
• A plunging neckline one piece works great on you, if you happen to be a rectangle with small chest, even though it might sound intimidating.
• This is actually the design you can pull off much better than the curvy friends, because it will look sexy and still tasteful.
• As seen on the famous Kate Moss, a rectangle body shape lady!

• Swim tops with designs that can create some curves in your chest area such as flounce, bold prints and smocking.
• Bathingsuits with tussles can add some volume in your chest will help create the illusion of more curves of your shape.
• A wrap swimsuit is a wonderful option for the rectangle shaped ladies.  Since you don’t have much natural curves, the wrap will make your body look more feminine.   This could be separates with a wrap top, or a one piece with a wrap top. 
• You can also try a crop top like swimsuit with an off the shoulder neckline.  Because it covers a bigger area than the string bikinis, it creates volume for your upper body thus the illusion of curves.
• Bandeau top or tube top also look a lot better on you than women with fuller chest. 

Inverted Triangle Shape

What to look for

• Most women with inverted triangle shape have narrow or flat hips.  That will be even more noticeable when you are wearing swimsuits. 
• The inverted triangle shape overall comes across as top heavy, the opposite of the pear shape.
• With your strong broad shoulders and narrow hips, your focus should be to add volume to your bottom, while avoid adding any volume to your top especially the shoulders.

Best

• A peplum-style one-piece or a bikini bottom with flared skirt will help make your hips fuller.
• A halter neck works wonderfully to balance your broad shoulders
• An asymmetrical neckline breaks up your wide shoulders and make them less of the focus for your body
• Swim bottom with ruffles can add volume to your narrow hips. 
• A wrap swimsuit can also create the curves and balance out your athletic body.

Avoid

Swimsuits with thin spaghetti straps. They will only draw more attention to your shoulders.  Because they are so thin, the contrast with your shoulders will make them even more noticeable.

Conclusion