Bathing Suit Shopping

[Cumberland]

I have ten days to find one..... I just CANT pay $60 bucks for a bathing suit. Whoever invented mix and match bikinis was a capitalist genius. Even at wal mart a two piece is 25 bucks. I have been almost everywhere in town. I still have old navy and target to go, otherwise I will bask in the Mexican sun in a tshirt and jeans.

Just reading the title of your post made my heart pick up a few beats. I hate shopping for swimsuits. Do you have a Ross or TJ Maxx in your area? When we were in Florida, my friend stopped by one there and found a cute Anne Klein for $25.

You might want to give Lands End overstock or REI outlet a try. J Crew has some on sale, too, but not that great of a sale.

[SuzySunshine]

Old Navy has some great prices on their commercials right now - did you find one? I hate shopping for them too, bought new ones for our honeymoon three years ago and I'm still wearing them.

I just saw the sign in the Old Navy window and logged on specifically to tell you about it -- but Cheri beat me to it!

It looks like Target has some cute ones / good prices too!

Good luck!

[SueC]

Looks like Target is on your list, I always have pretty good luck finding a suit there.

[Cumberland]

I got one!! I found it hidden in the clearance rack at Target. It was on sale from 40 bucks down to 9!!! DH was into the retro-ish look but I like it alot. That means I can return the very blah one I paid 50 bucks for at Dillards.

[HeartRN]

YEAY! I just got one at Target today, too. I have to agree with you, the rack was rather misleading in saying "14.99-29-99" To me, this implies that it's the price for the entire suit, not just a single piece. I paid $30 for a cute top with matching bottoms that look more like a little skirt but not mu-muish (translates to: It covers my butt well!!!) I think DD and I are going to go to our townhouse community pool a lot this summer. Where do you guys swim?

[Rapunzel]

I just found this and thought I'd add it to the swimsuit shopping conversation:

The Joys of Swimsuit Purchases
This is a true story written by a woman in England to her friend after a swimsuit shopping expedition.
When I was a child in the 1950's, the bathing suit for a woman with a mature figure was designed for a woman with a mature figure - boned, trussed and reinforced, not so much sewn as engineered. They were built to hold back and uplift and they did a good job.

Today's stretch fabrics are designed for the pre-pubescent girl with a figure carved from a potato chip. The mature woman has a choice; she can either front up at the maternity department and try on a floral suit with a skirt, coming away looking like a hippopotamus who escaped from Disney's Fantasia - or she can wander around every run-of-the-mill department store trying to make a sensible choice from what amounts to a designer range of fluorescent rubber bands. What choice did I have? I wandered around, made my sensible choice and entered the chamber of horrors known as the fitting room. The first thing I noticed was the extraordinary tensile strength of the stretch material. The Lycra used in bathing costumes was developed, I believe, by NASA to launch small rockets from a slingshot, which give the added bonus that if you manage to actually lever yourself into one, you are protected from shark attacks. The reason for this is that any shark taking a swipe at your passing midriff would immediately suffer whiplash.

I fought my way into the bathing suit, but as I twanged the shoulder strap in place, I gasped in horror - my bosom had disappeared! Eventually, I found one bosom cowering under my left armpit. It took a while to find the other. At last I located it flattened beside my seventh rib. The problem is tha t modern bathing suits have no bra cups. The mature woman is meant to wear her bosom spread across her chest like a speed hump. I realigned my speed hump and lurched toward the mirror to take a full view assessment. The bathing suit fitted all right, but unfortunately, it only fitted those bits of me willing to stay inside it.

The rest of me oozed out rebelliously from top, bottom, and sides. I looked like a lump of play dough wearing undersized cling wrap. As I tried to work out where all those extra bits had come from, the pre-pubescent sales girl popped her head through the curtains, "Oh, there you are!" she said, admiring the bathing suit. I replied that I wasn't so sure and asked what else she had to show me.

I tried on a cream crinkled one that made me look like a lump of masking tape, and a floral two-piece which gave the appearance of an oversized napkin in a serviette ring. I struggled into a pair of leopard skin bathers with ragged frill and came out looking like Tarzan's Jane pregnant with triplets and having a rough day. I tried on a black number with a midriff and looked like a jellyfish in mourning. I tried on a bright pink pair with such a high cut leg I thought I would have to wax my eyebrows to wear them.

Finally, I found a suit that fitted ... a two-piece affair with shorts style bottom and a loose blouse-type top. It was cheap, comfortable, and bulge-friendly, so I bought it. My ridiculous search had a successful outcome.

When I got home, I found a label that said, "Material will become transparent in water!"

Thankfully our baby will be too young to take to the pool this summer. All I can say is that there is noooooooo way I would be caught dead in a swimsuit this summer!!

Check Lands End Overstocks. I got a black one piece halter/removable strap, slimming suit for $25!

[Vanquisher]

Just the mention of swimsuits maks me want to cry! I can't believe that I am such a hippopotamus that my poor kids can't go to the pool because of their absentee father and fat, embarrassed mother. I'll admit here, I wear a size 18/20 right now. I have no time to myself or money to hire someone to exercise, and I replace my husband with food.

I've been shopping all week to try to find a huge light purple tent to wear for my sister's wedding. We finally had to give up after all the size 3X's came several inches away from covering my bust. My mom is in the next room sewing for me now.

There is no swimsuit for me, well I have one, but a two-piece is definitely out of the question for the rest of my life, or until I have gastric bypass, a tummy tuck, and a boob lift, at the very least.

On another note, I have found that miracle suits are the best bet for a cow like me. They cost a bundle though. I got a last years model on ebay.

The dressing rooms for swimsuit fittings should come with aeresol prosac.

Anyway, the point of all that was, ebay's not a bad place to look if you find a brand you like and have sticker shock.

[Vanquisher]

repost - stupid computer

[Vanquisher]

deleted as a repost

[PrincessFiona]

Heidi,

Woman...I feel your pain. This was going to be my summer to get in shape...as it is, I'm rounding out quite nicely