- Part 10

Red sweat pants – a playful swimsuit cover up

Red mixes best with extremely neutral colors. Shown here are Juicy Couture velour original sweat pants in red slam. You can find more at Juicy Couture. These sweats are velour, but you can also find them in terry cloth, a material that I adore as well because it is cool and beach appropriate.

These red sweat pants are shown with the perfect little sandal in neutral beige. I am going to let you in on a serious style secret. Whenever you decide to go with a bright color, make sure it is only one bright thing in your overall outfit. This gives you the perfect pop. You are not going to want to pair a red piece of apparel with a brightly patterned purses, bathing suit, beach towel or beach bag. The idea is to go really plain and simple, then have only one pop of red.

These sweats are an adorable cover up for a simple black bikini top or white bikini top. A toned down white bikini top would look so great with these sweats. I love this little pop of color, and as long as it is paired with neutral colors, you are good to go. I personally prefer to wear only the sweat pants, or only the sweat jacket. Too much red all over is going to stand out too much so avoid wearing both pieces of the sweat suit at once. Stick to one red piece (sweat jacket or sweat pants) so you do not over do. Just be warned ladies, red is the color of sexual attraction! Therefore, keep it toned down and never overdo it with too much red. A hint of playfulness is all that is needed. You can find these sweats shown at Juicy Couture store online.

Ladies all of us have body flaws, but let me let you in on a secret. Some women are able to hide them much better than others! Now leave it to ASOS (love this brand!) to come up with fashionable ways to brilliantly hide the jiggle. This long beach skirt rocks it! In fact, long skirts with a slit work absolutely great as a body flaw cover-up and you can see that the slit makes the look summer skirt paired with bikini top beach pool-side appropriate.

If you want to hide some junk you have in the trunk, try this lovely slit skirt which you can find on Asos. It has a hexagon print that is best paired with a solid color top as shown. If you have a patterned swimsuit, you can find similar skirts in soft cotton but solid non-print colors that will also work great for concealing flab in the lower body area.

Patience is a virtue when shopping for beachwear

The one thing about swimsuit shopping is that it takes nerves of steel, and you have to get strategic about it. Some women that look perfect to you, really aren’t, but they’ve got great fashion sense and know how to flatter their bodies effectively. Be prepared to try on plenty of swimsuits and cover-ups in glaring dressing room lights before you find the perfect outfits.

Working out and developing a toned body also does wonders for the flab. But no matter how hard you work out, or how skinny you are, as you get older and especially after having children, you probably can’t avoid developing a little bit of flab. This is simply genetic for some women. You can to a certain extent, tone up the flab by working out. In fact, resistance training is great for this because it helps give you muscle tone which in turn can smooth down the look of cellulite. The nautilus machines are great for this type of toning.

Flabby legs

Some flab can be from being out of shape, and some flab can be from gaining and losing weight over a period of years. For example, after you have children your skin has stretched out and in again plenty and when you get back down to size, some skin just is not elastic enough to snap back tight. That is why some women elect to make a trade off between unsightly scars for example with a tummy tuck, for getting rid of excess skin that hangs on the body and frustrates them. It happens, and I think women really struggle, especially as they age, to don their bodies out on the beach. This is where strategic shopping and something as simple as a flowing long skirt can do wonders.

Dealing with flab is universal, don’t think you are alone for one second. This is just run of the mill for women and it’s unrealistic to assume that you are going to have taut legs like a model. What you can do is eat healthy, maintain the recommended weight and try not to fluctuate too much. Work out to improve your muscle tone. If you pair your jiggle with a flowing skirt it gives you a feminine look at that jiggle all of a sudden because very sexy I kid you not! You just have to dress smart and work it.

Now, assuming you’ve done all that, you might still have some body flaws in the lower area, including for example flab, a droopy or flat bottom, and cellulite on the front or back of thighs. That’s where the long sexy slit skirt comes in! I’ve said it before and I will say it again, this is a great swimsuit flatterer. The hexagon print skirt shown is by Asos, USA. Since this one has a pattern you are going to want to keep it simple as shown, with a solid color bikini top and solid color sandals. I love this look on all body types. If you are on the shorter side, look for a skirt that comes down only to the calf, rather the ground, and pair with a wedge sandal instead of a flat to give you added height.

Long beach skirt

Hide love handles with clean lines and interesting features on top

Now, here is the kicker. The deep plunging neckline goes down so far that it sort of cuts up the body and makes the upper waist look slimmer. This gives and hourglass illusion which helps to diminish the love handles. The little back strap across the front on top is a great way to draw attention to the top and it visually draws attention away from love handles.

All black on a heavier woman can look too dark so make sure with a black swimsuit you have some skin showing like this deep neckline has to break up the color a bit.

How to look skinny

Another little feature is the gold buckled on the halter top. Again, this draws attention upward and away from the handles giving you a free body lift. So if you have love handles you are going to be looking for a one piece swimsuit in a darker color that has clean and simple lines in the hip area. Then you need some action on top by way of a deep neckline or details higher up that divert and attract the eye.

If you are too self-conscious to wear a swimsuit another idea is to try a high-waisted two piece but then wear a lightweight open kimono or cover up to hide the hip area that way. But if you don’t want to wear a coverup, then stick with a fitted one piece. This picture is I believe Colleen Rooney and I ran across it on entertainment site OK! in the UK. UK fashion rocks! Great site for celebrity fashion ideas. This woman looks just gorgeous in this wonderful photograph. Love!