Solid + Striped Bikini Review
I Wore a Nonpadded Bikini For the First Time in Years, and I Felt Absolutely Liberated
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Over the past couple of years, Solid & Striped has become the one swimsuit brand that I've been seeing all over my Instagram feed. The brand has developed sort of a cult following with celebs like Gigi Hadid and Hailey Baldwin wearing it on the regular. While I thought the designs were adorable, I was always too afraid to give them a try because of one reason: they're not padded.
You see, like many girls, I often struggle with finding a swimsuit I feel comfortable in and, if I'm being completely honest, I wouldn't mind having a slightly bigger chest. That's why my entire life I have always worn swimsuits that are padded. But with style pros like Kendall Jenner opting to go braless, I found myself wondering about an easy way I could try this trend out without, you know . . . actually doing it. So, I decided trying a Solid & Striped bikini was a great alternative.
Before landing on an adorable marigold gingham-print bikini, I spent a solid 30 minutes scrolling through the brand's hashtags to see what the swimsuits looked like on other women. Once I was satisfied, I hit "Buy" and patted myself on the back for taking the plunge. A couple of days later, I tried the bikini on during a trip to the beach. After just a couple of minutes of having the swimsuit on, I realized two very important things: 1) there wasn't any annoying underwire pushing up against my rib cage and 2) for once in my life, my bikini straps weren't digging into my shoulders. I immediately found myself thinking this could be the start of something great.
The next challenge I faced was wearing it in the water to see if it becomes see-through. (If that did happen, I figured I have long enough hair to cover my chest.) Thankfully, it didn't and I found the gingham print actually helped draw the eyes upward. Now that all my worries were washed away — literally — I enjoyed the rest my day at the beach feeling completely comfortable and confident in my own skin. With that said, I think it's safe to assume that I will most definitely be wearing this swimsuit again.
