Our sizing chart makes things easy!

For many women the thought of buying swimwear online is crazy – how can you know what size, how it’s going to look on your body, what’s the fabric like and so on.

But I don’t think it’s any different to buying shoes say, or pants or a dress online, the big advantage  to buying swimwear online  is you can try the swimsuit in private, and not have to get completely anxious as most of us do when trying on swimwear – it is really a trial in the changing room, cramped and badly lit and worst of all – other people –  it’s a confronting situation and it’s almost impossible to make a rational decision.

Buying swimwear online, if you choose carefully, as you would for any other garment (and with our site, go to the sizing/measuring pages and read them), the chances are high that you’ll get the right swimsuit for you.  If you don’t like what you’ve bought or you do like it but it doesn’t fit, it’s easy to put it in a post bag and get another or your money back. We at Betty Diamond pride ourselves on how fast we despatch our beautiful one piece swimsuits, and how quick our turn around is if there is a problem or a change of heart.

So next time you want to buy a new swimsuit, think about buying swimwear online, there are lots of advantages.

Hollywood really helped to glamorize swimwear, this is the incredibly beautiful Ava Gardner.

1910 Women's Swimwear

Ever wondered how the one piece swimsuit came into being?

Before the middle of the 19th century there was no notion of the bathing suit – people simply waded into the water in their clothes and bobbed around.

The evolution of the one piece swimsuit into the garment we know today depended on two factors – social mores and technology.

As the notion of the pleasures of swimming grew in popularity, men swam in their long john underwear – heavy knitted woolen combinations, (segregated from the women folk at the other end of the beach) and women dangerously wore huge swimming dresses which were pretty much a slightly simplified version of their street wear.

By the 1890’s the ‘princess suit’ had been devised which was essentially a simple dress worn over ankle length bloomers, not really a swimsuit but slightly less dangerous for the swimmer.

In the early 20^th century men swam in light weight wool one piece swimsuits with scoop necks, short sleeves and shorts legs. These were the prototypes for modern womens swimwear.

The one piece swimsuit didn’t change much until the 1930’s when new fibres with stretch and semi water resistant qualities came on the market.

The Dunlop Rubber Company introduced Lastex, a very fine elastic yarn covered with thread, preferably of artificial fibres like Rayon and the modern one piece swimsuit was born – supporting, comfortable, flexible, light weight and glamorous.

We also have some luxurious silk/linen Drawstring Pants to do the same cover up job gorgeously.

Kaftans are big resort wear news and BETTY DIAMOND’S come in floaty and a bit transparent, subtle tone on tone print, or deep edge, tone on tone embroidered – exclusive, high quality fabrics which are beautifully made in simple classic designs. We also have the very sophisticated silk/linen version which can be worn waterside or anywhere really – accessorized with a low slung belt or statement jewellery – worn loose of pinned with a fabulous brooch – they are luxurious and comfortable and a great way to cover up just enough…

Beach Robes are statement garments – very retro – right back to the 1920′s in fact.

Beach Robes are seductive as they reveal and conceal… have a look at the BETTY DIAMOND range – they’re so sexy to look at and to wear – beautiful.

BETTY DIAMOND’S Beach Jackets are a brilliant practical and stylish solution for sun protection and keeping your ‘stuff’ together, they have big fold up or down cuffs and big roomy pockets – sunglasses, car keys, phone…

They are in crisp cotton or a really classy, truly high end resort wear silk/linen mix – you could go anywhere in one of these and stop traffic…

A little history of Resort Wear

In the 1920′s Resort Wear was what wealthy people wore on their holidays. Sometimes it was called ‘cruise wear’ – they were slouching around on ritzy boats and exclusive resorts like St. Moritz… This relaxed clothing became ‘lounge wear’.  Silk pyjama like outfits, kimonos and robes became high fashion at glamorous louche parties and from here came the modern idea of casual clothes for women. Prior to this there had been very strict rules about what you could wear when and where, and what parts of your body you could expose, when and where.

It’s nearly 100 years since then, and a lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same – but that’s another story

By 1930 beach or lounging pyjamas had become the height of fashionable day wear for the rich and famous. These are by Marcel Rochas in his Lido collection.

Wearing  a one piece bathing suit allows you to relax, if you find one that fits properly (check out the BETTY DIAMOND body length measurement) holds you firmly and stays where it’s supposed to, you can feel great about yourself and no one is more attractive than a person at ease with themselves.

A one piece bathing suit is a great friend to the woman with curves as it can accentuate the positive and if not eliminate the negative at least minimise problems.

A one piece swimsuit can also be a sophisticated statement of subtle sexiness – quiet vamping – very classy…

The fact that most of us are not size 6 or even size 8 and that life is not a fashion shoot and that  photoshop only operates on stills, means that finding a swimsuit to fit is very daunting.

These days plus size can start at size 12, which means most of us are plus size  and require plus sized swimwear!!!!

As most of the swimwear available is designed for a size 6 and only looks good on size 6 –  it really is daunting to find a swimsuit to fit and flatter.

Plus Size Swimsuit! Gorgeous!

Apart from even dreaming  about  being comfortable in your togs, that is that they feel good and stay where they’re supposed to and keep your body in the shape you want, let’s celebrate our curves, and our size and try to be comfortable in our  bodies.

from size 12 to size 18 -we're all plus size

This is the invitation to the current show  ’On The Beach’ at the Manly Art Gallery  & Museum in Sydney New South Wales. It’s a detail from a painting by Fred Leist (1878-1945)  called The bathing pool – Cremorne. The light and deep shadow is so evocative of Australian summer to me and those clever elegant women in their elegant swimsuits and beach robes look so at ease – maybe it was a no man zone…