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Swimwear Fashion Trends – What Factors Dictate Swimwear Fashion Trends Year After Year

When it comes to swimwear fashion, there are many factors that designers use to decide what will be popular in the coming season. In some cases it can be a famous poster or photo of a popular actress or model in a swimsuit style that goes viral or it could be an advertisement. In many cases however, unknown to the public, fashion scouts are on the beaches all summer watching what women are wearing, and more importantly how they are wearing it.

Take for example the famous poster of Farrah Fawcett in her red one piece swimsuit. Back in 1976, this poster had the most sales of any poster and caused a fashion swing in the swimwear industry. The sheer red one piece swimsuit was selling by the thousands, retailers could not keep it in stock and consumers could not get enough of them.

The Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue has become an international success. Each and every year you can count on the bikini or one piece swimsuit that the cover girl is wearing will be a big seller and 1998 was no exception. The German born Heidi Klum rocked the world in her stunning black and white elegant one piece swimsuit.

In 2003 Demi Moore shocked the world in her 40’s by showing up on the set in the perfectly toned bikini body. Her bikini photos instantly spread through the internet and tabloids. Her stunning shaping bikini started a wave of inspired consumers all looking to get the low cut, scoop front shaping bikini.

2008 spawned a wave of inspired beach goes when Cameron Diaz was photographed in a sexy cut out one piece swimsuit. This photo inspired a wave of cut-out one piece swimsuit designs. The photo of the 35 year old beauty is now infamous and is still inspiring swimsuit designs today.

Now that we have explored how the Hollywood celebrity and media has a direct effect on swimwear fashion, let’s take a look at how the underground or fashion spy’s generate their input into the swimwear fashion design industry.

Most leading swimwear design companies and leading manufactures actually have trained fashion scouts strategically placed on beaches throughout the swimwear season.

What these scouts are looking for is how women are wearing their swimwear. It could be as simple as folding down a waist band, wearing their string bikini tops in a certain fashion or where they place the strings on their hips of a string bikini.

This all starts by one woman changing the way she wears her bikini, as other woman see this, they will start to do the same thing and thus we have a new fashion trend.

Let’s take for example cut-off jeans. It was not that long ago that a fashion trend was initiated by a woman pulling on a pair of short cut-off jeans over her bikini bottom, then pulling the zipper up half way and not closing the clasp. Suddenly there were woman everywhere wearing their cut off denims in the same manner. And yes as you guested, when January of the next swimwear season rolled around, bikinis were being manufactured with low cut fronts and tiny zippers in the front.

The thong bikini and g string bikini were originally spawned in the late 70’s and early 80’s when women were wearing string bikinis but pulling the strings up over their hips. This caused the back side of the bikini to become extremely narrow. From there the cheeky bikini was born, then the next step was the tonga and finally we have our thong and g string bikinis that are so popular especially in the Southern States and throughout the Caribbean.

Another fashion statement was made when fashion scouts noticed that women were wearing their string bikini tops in a different manner. Because the front triangles of the tops were adjustable, they were sliding then in from the sides and in from the center, leaving most of the bust exposed except for the center. Yes you guessed it the teardrop bikini top was out in full bloom come January.

In conclusion we intentionally left the last key fashion statement until last. In 1979 Bo Derek caused a fashion explosion that is still popular to this day. She ran down a beach wearing a sheer see through skin tone one piece swimsuit. This scene not only got her a Golden Globe nomination for her performance, but she was instantly labeled the sex symbol du jour and went on to pose in Playboy a number of times. This scene however lit the fire under the sheer swimsuit industry that is still booming today. Sheer swimsuits with their stunning silhouette elegance are still rocking beaches around the world today.

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