With summer now not as distant as it once seemed in the depths of winter, as the days lighten thoughts may be turning to planning for the holidays, which often includes questions about what to wear and what not to wear on the beach or to the poolside.
Living in a culture where clothing and swimwear seeks to reveal more of our bodies but not our values, I decided to build a Christian modest swimwear brand – one that will reveal the heart of a woman, not her body parts.
When it comes to swimwear, the all-conquering Bikini is still the most popular choice for many consumers. However, the history of the Bikini, designed in 1946 by Louis Réard, is, in my opinion, one to be questioned, not revered.
His design concept was most certainly influenced by the many years he spent working in his parents’ lingerie factory, and the story goes that he pondered how he could get women to wear this sort of attire outdoors. Not surprisingly when pitching his new bikini design, no respectable model would wear it. So Réard paid a teenage stripper to model it.
To me this very occurrence alone speaks volumes about the bikini’s scandalous origins. However, despite some resistance at the time, it did not take long for the Bikini to become a fashion trend and attract the attention of more mainstream designers.
Today it is considered a normal swimwear choice, and to say anything on the contrary renders you old fashioned or prudish. But I still ask myself: Is it normal to essentially wear a set of bra and knickers outside in public?
And it seems the answer is Yes for the majority of a seemingly desensitised society. But for the woman of faith, for those of us who still want to live a life according to our convictions and to have modest swimwear options available, what is one to do?
As a modest dresser myself who believed in the call to modesty, I decided to found Sweetpea & Marmalade, a company that caters to traditional Christian and family values, and to create a line of swimwear for those of us in the “semi-covered club” and who might want to be part of a “modesty revolution”.
Starting in 2020, I ditched the bikini and naturally moved toward tankini sets – a combination of a tank top and bikini bottom that is meant to provide the modesty of a one piece suit with the convenience of a two piece suit.
But I soon discovered that most tankinis are designed to reveal the cleavage area and are often paired with tiny knickers or shorts. In fact, it turned out that our best selling product was our “modesty panels” that customers would sew onto tankinis bought elsewhere to make them, well, more modest.
That is why when designing our first collection, it was a priority that our tankini sets or swim dresses would cover the areas most important to myself and my customers: the cleavage, the midriff and the private areas. This meant no tiny knickers and no cropped or low cut swim tops! You could say our swimwear sits in between the industry standard tankini and a more Muslim-style burkini.
Customer feedback has demonstrated that not all women want to wear a bikini and reveal their bodies –particularly their cleavage – and there are many reasons for this. For some it can be for religious reasons, like it is for me; or for professional reasons, such as carers who take service users to the swimming pool. For some women, it is simply their age or even just a matter of body confidence. For others, they have just had children and don’t particularly want to parade around in a bikini all summer long. And of course there are those ladies who choose because of more serious reasons, such as having had a mastectomy or other forms of body-transforming surgery, and would prefer a more modest option.
But it’s also for anyone out there who doesn’t want the pressure from society to carry out all the seemingly necessary requirements to be “bikini ready” – with all that that entails!
Unlike other swimwear brands that focus on vanity, sex appeal and revealing the body on the beach, we want our focus to model humility, drawing attention away from ourselves and instead pointing toward Christ. As John the Baptist said so perfectly in St John’s Gospel: “He [Jesus] must increase and I must decrease”.
You see, although our swimwear is stylish, it is subtly so, as modesty is not only about material clothes but about an attitude of the heart. The book of Phillipians teaches us: “That our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing” (Philippians 2, 3-7). In a world where we are constantly told it’s all about us and that we have it flaunt it, to make a choice to do the opposite – for example by wearing modest swimwear – sets you apart by default.
Our raison d’etre is really to offer an alternative option to women and young girls in a society where many contemporary brands encourage women to focus on their body image and sex appeal. All of this has an impact on women, whether on their self esteem or values, but it also impacts their men too. Often men are criticised for objectifying women, but we also have a culture that is encouraging more and more young women to wear lots of make up and revealing clothes – that doesn’t help at all.
This is why I feel inspired to design swimwear with messaging that will not only reflect the true beauty of a woman but also guard her Christian brothers around her. The summer time can be a challenging time for both men and women, whether dealing with insecurity or lust. As Christians, we have a great opportunity to contribute to the spiritual growth of those around us through what we wear, and to provide an environment that is safe for all the family. When we practice a life of modesty, it bears fruit both for others as well as for ourselves.
So whatever you choose to wear this summer on the beach, I pray that you will be freed from the pressure of being “bikini ready” and that you find the right swimwear that allows you to enjoy God’s beautiful creation and your body.
Sweetpea & Marmalade’s website can be found here. Questions can be emailed to [email protected]. Pre-ordering of swimwear for 2024 will occur on the weekend of 15 – 17 March, enabling customers to put orders in before the company goes to production to pick the right colour and size they want.
(Main photo: Image courtesy of Sweetpea & Marmalade.)
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