Akiima

“The word swimsuit was coined in 1915 by the Jantzen Knitting Mills company. Its logo – a figure clad in a scarlet one-piece, named ‘Jantzen’s Diving Girl’ – evolved over the years to keep abreast of fluctuating trends. At first, her stockings and swimming cap were removed. Then in the 1940s, the red, cartoon swimsuit became strapless and backless, emblematic of a shift in the sartorial doctrine that once dictated the way women should dress for water-based leisure activities. The contemporary iteration of Jantzen’s Diving Girl can be seen on our television screens on a nightly basis. The ITV2 reality show Love Island celebrates a group of women who practically live in their high-legged swimsuits for the entirety of an eight-week period. Indeed, each of these women poses the question: why bother with an entire outfit when you can ensnare unsuspecting men with one snap of a lycra gusset? Here, Katie Shillingford and Ben Toms explore five ways to emulate this trend with a subversive twist, as seen in AnOther’s S/S18 issue.”

-AnOther Magazine

Katie Shillingford styles the trend with a twist, photographed by Ben Toms. Akiima is wearing a swimsuit by DSquared2 Suede heels by Jimmy Choo

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