So I was browsing through my favorite plus-size clothing catalog. (Roaman's, for the record.) Their swimwear sampling consisted entirely of swim dresses, as opposed to any other kind of style. An attached brief, with a skirt. The very kind of bathing suit I have refused to wear for most of my life, simply because in my younger days, that was the kind of swimsuit big women always wore. It was hard to find any other style of swimsuit in a larger size. Color choice? Usually solid black, or black with white trim.

Which is why my swimsuits have tended to be skirtless, brightly colored florals.

But my rebellion bites me in the rear end. It turns out nowadays, a swimsuit of that description is exactly the new "big" stereotype. The last time I was at poolside, I noticed that every single woman with even a trace amount of body fat on her was wearing a bold floral top and a solid navy bottom. Including me. Sigh.

I got to thinking back, when did I first see a skirted swimsuit? I remember exactly. I was eight years old, right before my infamous early puberty hit. My babysitter's younger sister gave me a swimsuit she had outgrown. It was a bikini, but the bottom had a skirt. I loved it. I have always been totally girly-girl. Given a choice, I would always choose a dress instead of jeans, no matter what I was going to be doing. A swimsuit with a skirt struck me as something frilly and feminine, right up my alley. It made me picture--and feel like, when wearing it--a figure skating champion in her traditional skirted costume. I had no idea that a skirted swimsuit was associated with a certain body type until it turned out that my mother disapproved of my wearing it. "You don't need a skirt. Fat old M--- wears that kind of thing, but you don't have to."

First of all, that's a 13-year-old girl she was calling "fat old M---." Second, it was news to me that the skirt had anything to do with M--- being a heavy girl who came from a heavy family.

But the seed was planted. If such-and-such is classified as "what fat people wear," then I'll be horsewhipped before I'll ever put one of those on. Skirted swimsuits. Muu-muus. Elastic-waist knit slacks. Especially with the sewn-in seam down the front. Knee-length shorts. And black. Always with the black. I wouldn't wear any of it.

The child in me, unaffected by prejudice and stereotype, enjoyed the femininity of a skirted swimsuit. The middle-aged woman in me is repulsed and wants to REFUSE to put one on. Because I think I'm "expected to," I won't. But is that really the middle-aged woman talking, or the rebellious teenager? It's only anti-stereotype. When it comes right down to the heart of the matter, I *like* skirted swimsuits. And who am I supposed to please? Me.

So, the next swimsuit I buy will have a skirt. So what if it's a mark of being fat? I *am* fat. I know that. I will always be overweight by comparison, even when I am down to my body's ideal, because my body is built to be larger than average. I may not always be fat, but I will always be big. Nothing to do with body size; I like the skirt, and I've finally given myself permission to like it.

But not a swim dress, with the attached brief. I'll go with a skirtini. It covers as much as a one-piece suit, but, well, um.... it's easier to get in and out of. At my age, when nature calls, that's important.

[protector1973]

have you heard of sarongs?? look beautyfull

[disguise123]

thank you for posting this. Im a big woman, i also associated the 'skirts' with old ladies who wernt slender. Well your right, bugger that im gonna find me a skirted cossie too!
Xxxxxx

I think skirtinis and tankinis are the best inventions. I always had a dilemma before, back when the choices were either a bikini or a one-piece. I hadn't worn a bikini since I was twelve, and the reason I stopped didn't have as much to do with my figure as it did with the fact that some neighborhood bullies snuck up behind me at the local swimming pool, unfastened my top half, and made off with it. I vowed at that time to wear a one-piece from now on, so nobody could do that to me again.

But then came the problem: either a one-piece, and have to take it all the way off every time nature calls, or a two-piece, which didn't cover enough. Tankinis and skirtinis are the best of both worlds. They cover like a one-piece, but they're convenient like a two-piece.

My mother and I simply had two different mental images connected with that skirted swimsuit M--- gave me.

I had this in mind.


My mother was picturing this.