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Brazilian Bikini Sizes |
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Sizing ChartUpdated March 2009
By following the size chart below you should be able to find your perfect size. Rest assured that thousands of clients from all over the world have purchased our bikinis and one piece swimsuits online.
Keep in mind that bikinis are forgiving because they stretch and most designs have adjustable straps.
Tip : Most of our tops have adjustable back and shoulder straps so if you’re in between sizes, you can still get that perfect fit. Please contact us if you have any questions.
You can’t generalize with sizes but it’s fair to note that: XS - is ideal for petite women. Perhaps young teenagers or Asian women. Small and Medium - fit well for most women between the ages of 18-35 years. By far the most popular sizes. Large - larger women but not necessarily overweight.
Brazilian Bikini Articles
Brazilian Bikinis are in fashion! ---------------------------------- If you've passed a swimsuit hanging on a rack, or touched on a swimwear website, you've probably noticed that Brazil is leaving no stone unturned on the beach scene.
Why the focus on Brazil? You'll find the answer in a bikini-sized history lesson. In short, Brazil is urbane: almost every Brazilian lives in the fast-paced city. Tack on Brazil's legacy from Europe -- a love for high fashion that borders on religion. Now top it all off with Brazil's 5000 miles of beach, each and every one of them filled with fashion-forward women who insist on clothes to sizzle at the scene. We've done and redone the triangle-top and string bottom. We've pretty much exhausted the thong -- de minimis can only go so far before there's nowhere left to go. But there's one thing we haven't exhausted: high glamour.
The Colors
The Shapes
Instead of vying for minimal coverage, Brazil uses high-tech savvy to weave water-friendly crochet and macramé into swim tops and bottoms. We love the macramé-strung bikini bottoms -- sometimes adorned by brassy buttons or shells. And we love the giant embroidered flowers (touched up with crystals), the French knots, and the hand-painted fabrics that show up on tops. But our favorite is the lycra-touched crochet pullover that goes from day to night. Wear it on the beach, then wear it again at the lounge. A feminine, crocheted top over a bikini bottom is the kind of look that hits the Richter scale. Best of all, these styles can be dressed to the nines with a smoky shade of eye shadow and big, clunky jewelry.
STYLE: Brazilian Swimwear reigns supreme ------------------------------------------------ When the time comes for women to strip down to bikinis, their swimwear choice has a lot to do with geography. So, for instance, if you go to Rio de Janeiro, women will be likely to show off their rears in barely-there, high-cut bikinis. In Bondi, sleek one-piece bathers rule - they are ideal for tanning both ocean and poolside and for doing laps. In St Barths, women prefer tiny Italian knitted bikinis for lazing on a yacht, and in the Hamptons it's all about bold, sporty designs for volleyball on the beach.
But in spite of this, summer swimwear does have a common design thread. The Brazilian bikini, or as it is often known, "the dental floss" of swimwear, reigns supreme. The style was first made popular in the Nineties when Brazilian bombshell supermodels like Gisele catapulted the country's fashion into headlines, but it has since traversed all cultures, and it can be spotted on beaches from Sydney to St Tropez.
Even in spite of more restrictive beach-attire rules in the US - skimpier styles and topless bathing on the wrong beach can lead to arrest - the Brazilian bikini has become popular with many American women, according to leading stylists and retail buyers.
Even British women, perhaps once more readily associated with pear-shaped figures and Fifties one-pieces, have fallen prey to the flimsy style that requires not only a lithe body and plenty of bravado but also a devotion to that other Brazilian export, the bikini wax.
According to Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of fashion at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, women's choice of swimwear can tell you more than grid references; it can often reflect that country's culture.
In Brazil, for instance, a "physically positive society", women play sport, rollerblade and take the city bus wearing bikinis and high-heeled sandals. "Brazilian women are beautiful, but some have butts that are three-feet wide. They wear skimpy bikinis because men in Brazil are very interested in rears," she says.
So are American and British women also fulfilling the same interest in buttocks? Steele thinks not. That, she believes, is more of a fashion trend than a fetish. "America is still a very puritanical country. It's not quite ready for the complete waist-down exposure that Brazil has."
So what many American women are actually opting for is the "export" version of the Brazilian bikini, which has a fuller back and is definitely not thong-style. They do, however, still expose plenty of one's derrière, so be prepared.
Colleen Sherin, fashion market director for Saks Fifth Avenue, says their top selling Brazilian swimwear brands are Salinas, and Rosa Cha by Sao Paulo-based Amir Slama. Both offer designs that range from barely-there bottoms to boy-cut, hipster styles, and one-pieces. As women know well, one style does not fit all.
Sherin believes that tiny swimwear really can have a slimming effect, even though there is obviously less fabric on offer to cover one's behind. "You can look good in these, even if you are not stick thin, " she insists. "The best string bikinis, triangle-style are Pucci. Some of these are better-suited for lounging." But can you swim in them? "Sure, but maybe not go water-skiing."
Americans also favour sporty swimwear that can take them easily from the Hamptons, the playground for the rich in summer, to sporting events. So this summer, take a cue from the Hamptons lifeguards who will wear sporty, preppy swimwear by Nautica, or from the staff at Hotel Gansevoort's rooftop pool in New York's Meatpacking District who will also wear that label. And it is worth noting that designer Diane Von Furstenberg's first swimwear collection that launches this summer offers women both Brazilian and the wider American cut bottoms.
On the other side of the pond, British swimwear culture is conservative, but changing, according to Heidi Gosman, co-owner of Heidi Klein in London and St Tropez. For example, unlike the Italians and Spanish who take two bikinis for each day on holiday, British women tend to take only one or two and wash them each evening. It's that "making do" mentality.
Klein says British ladies also favour "sexy" two pieces, with smaller bottoms, but not "nothing there" bottoms - so some Brazilian styles can still work. "British women like good support on the bust. We like hidden boning and halter neck styles which really enhance your boobs without looking too underwired and supported." But small changes in swimwear preferences are beginning to show through. Women are buying different swimwear for holidays and at home: a sexy bikini for St Tropez and a fuller, more practical one-piece for a diving holiday. Black, brown, and white are popular and so are "mix and match" bikinis, and the shop has even sold a lot of red-sequined bikinis by Capucine.
In terms of pattern, it seems swimwear is following the important Indian and African fashion trends for summer, with strong ethnic prints and embellishments such as sequins and beads featuring strongly.
As for Europe, Nicola Romano, an Italian designer based in New York, recently returned from the Amalfi Coast where she found plenty of inspiration for her spring/summer 2005 collection. "The rears there were smaller but not the teeny Brazilian cut," she says. And women accessorized their bikinis with short-shorts and big, chunky arm bracelets. And heels.
Further afield, Elizabeth Charles, who stocks Australian and New Zealand designer swimwear in New York, says that Australian swimsuits also tend to have more coverage in the rear - although Brazilian bikinis have been popular in Sydney for some time, mainly on models at the city's Tamarama beach, known as "Glamourama," next to Bondi. That is because Australians need to be able to body surf in the rough ocean, dive into a pool, swim laps, and eat at a barbecue without fear of exposure. So designs offer "more coverage, but are not boring".
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