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When summer finally hits and the wave-riding fashion cognoscenti swap their Proenza Schouler PS1 clutches for waxed-up surfboards, what becomes their aquatic look of the season, apart from the requisite wetsuit? We’ve noticed that much like in the streets, there’s a burgeoning desire for bright, feminine-focused prints and hues gliding into the spray.
“I wear a red-and-white striped bikini by Lenny. They make great suits that stay put,” says fashion PR Juliana Ribeiro, who takes lessons close to Manhattan on Rockaway Beach. “It’s such a community sport that when non-surfing friends come along, they want to be able to spot you out there.” Poppy Edmonds, Ribeiro’s cosurfer and co-worker, may eschew that mood with an understated black Nike maillot but gets a salmon-pink or ocean-blue manicure for the trip and always covers up in an ostentatious pair of Nike’s tie-dye print leggings, with a glistening gold swoosh.
“It’s about being more feminine and not being a jock,” believes surfer Karen Mulligan, who spends summers in Amagansett in the Hamptons and along with Vogue’s Entertainment Editor, Jill Demling, founded Pret-A-Surf, a colorful, vintage-inspired collection of swimwear. “Nobody wants to look unattractive just because they’re in the ocean.” That explains **Julie Macklowe’**s propensity for Lisa Marie Fernandez’s primary-colored neoprene offerings when she whips out a board in Sagg Main. And even cold-averse fashion consultant Julie Gilhart—who hides her string bikini under two tiers of rash guards and a merino wool–lined Patagonia wetsuit on Long Beach to save her from shivering, no matter how high the temperature—opts for an African-print version by Bantu rather than something simpler. “I’m from Texas,” she says with a smile, “so I tend to be the one in the water with the most stuff on!”
Riding that current with her line of globally inspired one-pieces and bikinis is Hawaiian-born former Sports Illustrated model and self-taught swimwear designer Tori Praver. Having grown up in Maui and relocated to Venice Beach in 2007, she has never been far from the ocean, throwing on drawerfuls of rainbow-hued bikinis with her board. Each eclectic print in her collection is inspired by exotic finds on her cross-continental sojourns—from an Israeli tapestry to a sarong from Bali—and is modernized with a youthful zipper, extreme cutouts, or her figure-flattering signature ruching. “They’re really versatile,” she says of her stylish and practical collection that she started last year. “You can surf in them and feel held in, or sunbathe and feel sexy.”