It's great that you can now buy cup-sized bikinis for larger boobed ladies. If you have boobs and you're a bit younger than me, you probably won't remember that cup-sized bikinis are a relatively new invention. I've had big boobs since I was about 13, and I remember having two not great swim suits when I was a teenager - a blue one that just squashed my boobs downwards, and a black one that had underwired cups that didn't actually fit, but I rested the underwires half way up my boobs and it did the job. Unfortunately both of these swim suits got ruined one camping holiday when the camp site owners got a bit too happy with the chlorine in the whirlpool. The blue one turned a bleachy blue/pink/yellow tie-dye colour, and the black one when a horrible brownish colour. Both had to go in the bin.
By this time I was about 18, it was the late 90s, and great news - someone had realised that you could make bikinis in bra sizes! How excited was I? Well, my excitement diminished when I realised that a single bikini top cost around £75 and was only available in Alders (my local department store). Anyway, I trooped off there to get a new bikini, but all the styles were horrible. Whoever had designed them clearly thought only women of a certain age would need to buy a cup sized bikini. Anyway, I couldn't afford £75 to spend on a bikini top (let alone bottoms as extra) - I mean I was going to uni soon and I was earning £2.42 an hour in my Saturday job in River Island. It was bad enough shelling out £30 on bras!
I did eventually find a bikini in my size on the sale rail. There was just one, it fitted, and although it wasn't designed for an 18 year old, it could've been worse. I think it was a swirly blue and white pattern, but the styling was not good. I can't remember how much it cost, but I'm sure it was about £40, so I bit the bullet and bought it. I had to buy the bottoms as well, which were yuck. I used it for holidays throughout my student days, but then solved the bikini problem by not going on beach holidays or going swimming!
In the last ten years I've gone on one beach holiday, about four years ago, and I bought just a plain black tankini top from Bravissimo. By this point, the styles were much improved and the prices had come down, but I was a student again, so money was tight. Not so tight that I wasn't going to get it though. However, I did buy some bikini bottoms from Tesco for £3, rather than forking out £20 on the matching tankini bottoms.
Hence, here I am today. Spending lots of money on pretty bikinis because I've not had the opportunity to do in the past. I apologise for the ramble about my bikini buying history above - I was just going to show pictures of what I've ordered, but went slightly off track!
Anyway, here are the bikinis:
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| From Bravissimo |
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| From Figleaves Swimwear - the cheapest of the bikinis |
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| Fantasie from Figleave - I've never worm a bandeau top, ever! This is probably my favourite - hope it fits! |
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| Pour Moi? from Figleaves - I doubt this will fit, but I hope it does! |
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| I couldn't resist this Fantasie khaftan from Figleaves |
Do you have any horrific bikini buying stories? It's good to share! Maybe I'll tell you my sports bra stories from when I was a teenager - I'll save that for another time!
Thanks for reading! xx
