If you’ve braved the heat to walk the streets of London recently, you might have noticed an interesting phenomenon: people with no apparent plans to head to a pool, beach, lido, or sun lounger wearing swimwear.
It turns out this is more than a heatwave last resort. This summer, everyday swimwear is a bona fide fashion flex. The nifty styling trick of wearing a swimsuit in place of a bodysuit or top has been around for a while now. There were plenty of beyond-the-beach examples on the spring/summer 2025 catwalks, from Miu Miu’s memorable cutout styles (which have now filtered down to Skims) to plunging swimsuits in 1970s tones styled with low-rise jorts and lightweight trenches at Zimmermann.
City styling
Last summer, Leandra Medine Cohen extolled the virtues of wearing a swimsuit in the city via her Substack, The Cereal Aisle, pairing them with drawstring trousers, track-style shorts and sheer tops. The move is also a long-loved favourite of Georgiana Huddart, the woman behind enduringly covetable swimwear brand Hunza G.
“I love a one-piece under trousers as a body, or a bikini top under an oversized shirt,” she says. “I think it’s chic and relaxed and gives you options. We have recently launched a polka dot collection and most of the products work to swim but also as ready to wear — like the halter polka dot top and the little shorts. We also see people wearing our UPF headscarf as part of a cute look all the time in London.”
Practical benefits
Added to the fact that they feel eminently appropriate in a sweltering city is the bonus that a swimsuit often provides the supportive, cinching qualities of shapewear. And even when you aren’t anywhere near a body of water, wearing a cossie off-beach somehow makes the prospect of submerging yourself in a sweaty Tube journey less grim.
This summer, brands and retailers appear to have taken note; there has been a noticeable uptick in swim-ready separates that blur the boundaries between swimwear and daywear. Note tankinis at Reformation, micro-shorts and long sleeves at Vix Paula Hermanny, swim skirts that double up as boob tubes at Hunza G and, at Cos, an olive green racerback tank that’s made from the same double-layered, supportive fabric as its bikini counterpart.
Beyond the bodysuit
This means the swimwear-as-daywear trend is going beyond the swimsuit-as-bodysuit. Prepare to see tankini tops replacing favoured tanks, bandeau tops worn beneath open (or vaguely buttoned) shirts, and triangle bikinis peeping out from beneath almost anything — ideal if you want to dress a bit like Charli XCX this summer but don’t want to flash your bra.
“I’m going full bikini top styled under tanks, unbuttoned shirts or sheer tees,” writes Medine Cohen in a recent Substack. “They leave so much more to be thought about than bras do; especially as paired with public pyjamas.” As she implies, the enduring presence of semi-transparent styles makes the trend all the more appealing — wearing a bikini underneath a “naked dress” or skirt makes it feel, well, a bit less naked.
They’re also good under the many loose knit, pointelle, crochet and side-tie tops on the high street at the moment (there are good options at M&S and a great pistachio-toned iteration at Wrap London).
As ever with more experimental trends, the key is to root your look in the everyday (say with tailored shorts or classic jeans) to avoid looking a bit mad. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Dive on in.
