Vintage clothing is par for the course these days. Wedding dresses are sold secondhand, the label Re/Done has made a whole business out of artfully reworking denim discards, and even Victorian-era silk slips are coveted items. But what about a bathing suit—a garment far more, well, intimate than the typical wash-and-wear purchase?
Though some may find the idea a bit too close for comfort, vintage suits are quickly becoming a go-to for style influencers. Last year, Kylie Jenner wore a hot pink one-piece that her own mother Kris Jenner posed in over 25 years ago. (Jenner recently cited her mother’s pieces as the inspiration for her capsule swim collection.) She’s not the only family member catching on to the trend: Even more recently, back in April, Kim Kardashian West sported two noughties-era Dior monogram bikinis within a span of one week. Both for-rent items (yes, you can rent them!) were pulled from the archive of New York stylist Gabriel Held. “The pieces are lightly used,” Held explained in an email. “They are in good, clean vintage condition. Since KKW [Kim Kardashian West] wore my Christian Dior Rasta bikini, I have been getting many requests from her fans! I have coveted pieces from that collection since high school and couldn’t bear to part with any. I’m very happy to see those pieces get new life!”
Held is one of many sources for swam- and sunbathed-in swimwear. Swap.com, which offers a range of inexpensive suits for as low as $2, had a reported 104 percent growth in the category since last summer. “The demand for used swimsuits has grown,” says a representative for the site. “It isn’t taboo to buy those things anymore.” Upper-echelon e-commerce hubs have also seen a boost in the category. “Our swim business has grown four times since last year,” says The Real Real’s chief merchant Rati Levesque. “In general, we only accept swimwear that’s new with tags, but we do make exceptions for more vintage styles from Chanel, Pucci, and Missoni, which are in high demand.” E-tailer 1stdibs.com has also seen the category expand this summer, despite its formidable price points: An off-the-shoulder black Chanel maillot from 2001 is currently available on the site for a whopping $3,499.
The vintage bathing suit comeback may have to do with current swimwear trends. Bella Hadid has lately been wearing the hip bone–grazing, leg-lengthening ’80s and ’90s looks, which have also taken off in the contemporary market. And then there’s the industry’s current obsession with logos: People are on the hunt for the sort of cheeky monograms typical of the noughties. “At some point, the tide turned on logomania and monogrammed pieces were almost taboo,” says Held. “So there is something subversive about wearing them today, which makes me happy!”
Despite the growing popularity of vintage swimwear, not everyone is ready to dive into the look. Vogue Culture Editor Alessandra Codinha had a few words to say about the trend: “The reason to go vintage historically is that you can’t get it anymore and things are often a better quality, but neither of those things are really true for swim. Swimsuits are not really ever intended to last very long, salt water being the type of thing that totally degrades a fabric.” Codinha noted that she did buy an archival Chanel bathing suit from 1stdibs, but added, “It did have the tags.” Vogue Fashion News Director Chioma Nnadi also avoids used bathing suits, though she will purchase dead-stock versions off of Etsy. “My dad was never really into the idea of me shopping for vintage clothing when I was a teenager. And though I never took his advice, for some reason secondhand swimsuits feel a bit too close for comfort, unless it’s like your mother’s old bathing suit from the ’60s, which I did try to wear, for the record,” writes Nnadi. “The elastic was all saggy around the booty and the bikini top was way too big for me. Needless to say, that was one retro beach look that never saw the light of day.”
Sites offering pre-worn swimwear do understand people’s hesitation, though: Reputable retailers individually screen items for cleanliness before selling them. And as it turns out, health-wise, there isn’t much to fear. “You can’t get any disease, including venereal disease, through clothing—except for lice,” says New York City ob-gyn Inga Zilberstein. “If the clothing is washed in hot water, the lice should be killed.” Dedicated followers of fashion, consider it another addition to your laundry list.
