Jessie Loves: 5 Unexpected Ways To Style A Bathing Suit

Including a very exciting announcement!

I am SO thrilled to announce the (early!) launch of our swim collaboration with Left On Friday!! The collection is officially live tomorrow, but I wanted to give my Substack audience the chance to shop it first.

As you know from this Substack, LOF suits are my absolute favorites and I sing their praises every chance I get (see here and here.) I’m genuinely an avid fan. So how exciting for LR to collab with them on their first ever printed suits — in our signature leopard print! And an exclusive colorway of our best-selling Dana jelly to match.

I thought I would talk a little bit about the pieces in the collection and how I’ll be wearing them. I can’t wait to hear what you think!

1. As a Bathing Suit* (duh)

When we began this collab and talked about which silhouettes would get our print, I immediately suggested the suit I wear myself — the Double Scoop top and the Hi Hi bottom. I love these because they really support my chest and this is the first bikini I’ve been able to wear in 18 years. That is not an exaggeration — my stomach was very messed up from my twin pregnancy (a (crooked, I might add) Sharpie line down the center of my belly, crepey skin, and over the years, an extremely pale, untouched-by-the-sun midriff) and I never felt comfortable in a bikini after that. This one has a high waist that is flattering and covers the bits I don’t want exposed while still looking sexy. Ever since I first bought this suit, I’ve been able to wear a bikini again.

*not unexpected

2. As A Casual Body Suit

Another of my favorite silhouettes is the Streamline one piece. If I’m being honest, I was reluctant to try this one piece because I have always believed I needed a shelf bra in order to feel supported in a suit. But this suit, with its supremely smooth and comfortable compression-tech fabric, sucks me in in all the places and it holds everything exactly where I want it to go.

I’ve been wearing this suit as a bodysuit with my jeans and I love the way it looks. I think a leopard bodysuit is a great core item to have in my wardrobe to dress up or dress down this summer. (The jeans are my favorite

Jane Herman

Bob jean and the hat is from Your Stylist Says, recommended by

MALLY K. GOLDMAN

. It is sold out currently but restocking soon so you can sign up for the restock alert).

3. As A Dressy Bodysuit

This one piece is easy to dress up as a bodysuit with something fancy on the bottom. Here it is with a simple black skirt and our red Devon sandal.

4. As A Sports Bra

There have been many times when I have forgotten to pack enough sports bras on vacation and had to use my LOF bikini top in a pinch under my tennis gear. The shape of this one reminds me so much of the Outdoor Voices sports bra I regularly wear and it fits the same way. Try it! It really does work.

This skirt is from Spence, a fav new tennis brand. It’s currently sold out, but I like this one from Wilson too.

5. Poking Out Of An Oversized Shirt

The Sunday bikini is one of LOF’s most popular styles so we had to put it in our collection. I like the idea of wearing it as a bra poking out of an oversized button down shirt like this as a cover up.

Lastly, our super cute jellies! This style is a jelly version of our best selling Lara sandal. For the collab we made it in this chic brown color. We also sell it in a sparkly gold.

I wore these jellies to my daughter’s high school graduation this week and they were SO comfy! Styled them with the easiest black dress.

P.S. We also have regular LOF suits in stock. I personally requested they bring back my fav color to put into the one piece and bikini. The perfect bright, punchy red, and it’s only available on our site.

Clearly, I’m so happy with this collection. If you know someone who’d love it but might not be a subscriber yet, please share! I think (I hope!) it will sell out fast.

5 Things I’m Loving This Week

1. For our campaign shoot, our Brand Director,

Juliana Ramirez

(who has one of the most beautiful Substacks on this platform) and I were inspired by images from the photographer Martin Parr and even an old New York mag cover I have always loved. This photo is one of my favs:

Photos by our amazing in-house photographer Olenka Kotyk. Model: Luana del Valle.

2. This sweater I knit for my coworker’s new baby. This is seriously the most advanced thing I’ve ever knit and I am really pleased with how it turned out. Even though there are a ton of mistakes in it. The pattern was SO complex, with all the lacy details and the cute scalloped collar. Sometimes it took me an entire subway ride from Park Slope to Soho just to knit one row. The pattern is from Etsy.

These sweet custom labels, come from Etsy too.

3. Speaking of knitting, our collab bathing suits come with their own leopard pouches! These pouches are genius and I use them to keep all my knitting stuff in. They are great for bag organizing and travel too. They also hold a wet suit! We’re including these with every order while supplies last.

4. This vintage photo of Christy Turlington. I am gonna try to channel this vibe this summer. Perhaps with our pretty white top. Big question: can I pull off a head scarf?!? I am not so sure.

5. This special Souleaido dress I bought in Paris and wore to my son’s 8th grade graduation last week. I love the placed border pattern. I also pulled out the charm of his baby silhouette Brian had made for me years ago for the occasion.

And One Thing I Hate:

I’m in the process of getting all my kids’ health forms updated and annual check-ups scheduled and that has reminded me of one of the things I loathe the most…when you call a doctor’s office and get the passive aggressive ole “if this is a medical emergency, please hang up and dial 9-1-1.”