When do you become too old to wear a bikini?

[MissMiss1]

At what age do you become too old to wear a bikini n start wearing a full swimming costume.

I'm in my early 40s n have been looking for some new swimwear. Everywhere I go everything seems either tiny, too brightly coloured, not the right shape and far too young looking.

Is it time to admit defeat on the bikini front and start looking at swimming costumes?

Lying and as for being noticed at the beach, if one were on the pull, on any given beach there is a man and a woman who finds every size of man or woman attractive (and likewise, no one can possibly be everyones type). But someone having a good time and feeling relaxed will neither stand out nor blend in in a bad way.

It's time for women everywhere to reclaim just chillin out with a beer! Not trying to be the advert, just chilling!

I infinitely prefer my one piece. It's gorgeous. There's an assumption here that one pieces are second class. I don't think so at all; I happen to think they're far more attractive whatever the tummy.

In other words very narrow minded and retentive to assume that women opting for swimsuits are narrow minded and retentive. One could ask why women feel the need for a tanned tum - is that the McCall thing of pleasing the husband? Also, it's far easier to get into the cold English sea with a swimsuit, not a bikini - I don't think I'd ever get swimming if I had to get under in a bikini.

Molio I like the look of one pieces, I just don't like wearing them.
Actually most of my wardrobe is 2 piece (tops/bottoms/skirts) - I'm not a dress or one piece person I guess.

Molio - I definitely don't look better in a one piece! I've a long torso so they are always too short unless I buy several sizes too big

I certainly don't judge women who wear one pieces, it's not rocket science to realise that some figures suit one style better than another, I just object to the notion that age has any relevance to the decision!

Never worn one.

I am pretty slim size 10 but saggy in areas. After 5 children my stomach is a mess and while I am slim I do have the odd lumps of fat in certain places. My cellulite is horrid and my hundreds of lipomas aren't great either.

I actually feel quite sad that I haven't wore a bikini before because no one really cares how I look do they? I think it is going on my bucket list. Bikini bra types would probably fall off me with my tiny boobs and my arse will look lumpy and bumpy but what the hell...

I'm fine with the look of one piece suits. I have owned a few when I was younger. I just don't like the wet stomach feel to last more than it should.

Getting in the water is just as bad with a bikini or a swimsuit. And if I was getting in the cold English sea, I'd be wearing thermal wear (still not that useful).

Interesting squizita and Peacock. Also good to know that not everyone is championing bikini wearers as especially liberated. For myself I'm not so arrogant to assume that my own wishes about comfort/ tanned tummy trump consideration for others on the beach. I tend to think that at my age and after a number of children (although still pretty slim) I'm doing a public service not flaunting a middle aged tum. It would be quite nice if some men could cover up too, unless they're extremely old or tolerably lithe.

For those of you with long torsos, why don't you opt for halter neck styles instead, since they are adjustable?

Lweji to my mind it's vastly worse getting into the English sea up to the waist in a bikini - and don't you have to get in up to the waist before you can launch off and swim? Possibly I have an odd technique. Or odd psychology, swim wise.

This thread has taught me two things:

a) I'm not alone in still being enamoured of the bikini at 50 and
b) whether to wear one or not depends on personal taste and appropriate location, not body size or shape.

In my case I wear a speedo one piece for charging up and down a pool in the UK (extremely unflattering - makes me look like a blue sausage with no boobs) because once in the water I don't care what I look like, I just want to go faster than Mr Triathalon in the Fast Lane. A bikini in this situation would last seconds.

However, on holiday it's a two-piece, despite the ravages of a twin pregnancy from which I have never fully recovered. I did venture into a tankini but I drive to the beach and the flipping thing took an age to dry, plus it was really hot to wear. Plus all my Spanish relatives wear bikinis except the very portly or elderly, so it made me feel like a numpty. So thanks to all who have given me leads on online sources of structured bikinis because once on the beach, everyone is as wobbly as each other. It's very liberating.

The fabric offers no protection at all.
And I'm very sensitive to the cold.

You see - as I was saying - choice of swimwear depends on appropriacy of location + personal comfort. A wetsuit seems more appropriate for the freezing English seaside. In other circumstances a burkini might be the best option.

If you have a long torso and a halter neck swimsuit, aren't you just going to end up with a risk of your breasts escaping? I don't think a halterneck lengthens the body as such, it lowers the top.

I get my flabby belly out in a bikini just so I can piss off sanctimonious arseholes the sensitive of eye who have to look at my tummy. I do it specially for them, to spoil their holidays.

molio do you really feel the general public need protecting from the sight of women's imperfections?

Men too.

Only beautiful perfect people are allowed out, you know?

It's just good manners and healthy self-respect to make the most of oneself. Which, for some people, might mean a bit more coverage!

My post was purely about my own attitude to myself Word. Bonsoir has it bang on, although I do think the question of good manners possibly comes into it more broadly than that - I take the view not that others sharing the beach need protecting the sight of my tummy, simply that it might be polite not to insist on subjecting them to it. These posts are mostly about self.

It's good manners and healthy respect to not care what others are wearing.

If someone has a huge scar running up the side of their leg, should they were leggings so as not to insist on subjecting others to the sight of it?

Not managed to read all the thread but wondered if anyone had linked to this meme that has been doing the rounds on Facebook How to get a bikini body

As a 54 year old who sees no reason why she should stop wearing a bikini, I fully subscribe to its reasoning!

SoupDragon - the thread is not about judging others but about one's attitude to oneself.

God, what would our grandmothers say?! We put ourselves under SO much pressure to conform. I like what someone said earlier in the thread enjoy the beer, don't be the advert or something like that. There's so much pressure now to look like something out of a magazine and it's all illusion and photoshop. Cindy Crawford once said that even she doesn't "look like that" without the stylists and clever lighting! Being young/slim/tanned is seen as some kind of achievement in our society.

Eliza - our grandmothers would have been a lot more restrained in their self-exposure.