I do love chatting the girl talk here and I do apologise up front to my male readers and promise to revert to less gender specific topics in the near future… But I have an observation… or a thought that I would love to discuss with you…
Do you think there is an age appropriate moment when the bikini should be relegated to the past?
The reason I ask is that in Europe, from what I can see, there isn’t. The bikini is very much the bather of choice despite age and in many cases despite body… The Europeans are sun worshippers and as such want to bronze as much of their bodies as possible. I understand the Europeans way of thinking… for many, the winters are long and hard so the summer months are the time to soak up the rays, thaw the body and bask in the warmth. Summer in Europe is something you look forward to once the last piece of tinsel is removed from the Christmas tree and something you mourn once that first autumn chill bites in September…
I rather applaud the Europeans for their lack of self consciousness on the beach. I’m not like that… never have been… I always worried about every little non-perfect blimp. Whenever I beach holiday in France I feel the odd man out… because I am not wearing a bikini… the one piece is definitely not de rigueur there… I think I will always wear a one piece because I can’t seem to cross over to a European way of thinking… I would like to… and I may even have bought one or two bikinis in the past… but when I look at myself in the mirror I very quickly decide that some things are best left to the imagination… if you get my drift… For me it is not so much about being age appropriate but about what suits me and what I am comfortable wearing.
Is it a cultural question that goes beyond taste and pride? Are bikinis just the way it’s done in Europe? My European friends all wear bikinis… my Australian friends… one pieces… Or are the Europeans less obsessed with their body shape which means they have the self-confidence to expose more on the beach?
What do you think… should age determine how much we ‘show’ or don’t ‘show’? I like to think that if the body is willing and able then we should have the confidence to wear what we like… Maybe the answer is not so much about ‘appropriateness’ as being in shape… Perhaps our summer goal should be to ‘think’ European…think bikini…
If you, like me are fond of a classic… try these… here…
and as for a bikini… look no further than… here…
To bikini or not to bikini… which one will it be?… xv
