Swimwear for TGirls

 It's the height of the holiday season and beachwear is the norm here on the coast. Here life is relaxed and quite family-oriented and it's acceptable to walk in town or shops in your swimwear with just a light top or wrap.

 

Each year has its fashions, of course, and bikinis in pastel shades with a sequin top are all the rage here this year. 

 

A common sight this summer. This is Yamamay's brazilian brief and triangle top with sequins. The sequins are plastic - metal ones would really toast your buns in the sun! (c) Yamamay.com

Fundamentally, though, it's a choice between bikini or a swimsuit for us women. These are the kinds of garments that epitomise femininity, aren't they? They are also the hardest for TGirls to wear convincingly if they haven't had the operation. 

A few thoughts, then, on getting that lovely summer item if your body is not as feminine as you'd like.

If you tuck, no matter how well you do so, a bikini will never look quite right. I'm not suggesting that you shouldn't wear a bikini even with a bulge if you're happy to. My solution is my four-piece bikini set. Although it's made of unforgiving mould-to-your-body microfibre, it comes with a short skirt and a top in matching material and style. Therefore, you can cover any telltale differences and look very cute in the process. I wish I had it here so I could put up a photograph, but like so much else it's in storage in another country that Covid restrictions prevent my reaching right now. But you can get any number of sets with bikini + skirt or - and these are becoming popular - a two-piece bikini skirt, like this really cute number from Dolls Kill:

(c) Dolls Kill

Of course, a sarong is a similar way of providing discretion.

These days there are quite a number of ladies' swim shorts around and, coupled with a gaff or your usual control briefs these may be a good alternative.

Shorts bikini by Venus. (c) Venus

The one-piece swimsuit is a more forgiving item, of course. My latest one has removable breast inserts, and full breast forms can be put in place, so I'm quite pleased with it. Black, of course, hides a lot of sins! I've removed one of the inserts for the photo below.

That one's practical but is not as cute or comfortable as my favourite one which I bought two years ago and is so pretty, so soft and has a  bias cut with a cute frill. But being too figure-hugging with no hiding anything top or bottom, I'd not wear it to the beach.

When I'm happier with my weight, and the builders opposite have gone, I may model these properly. 

Like the comments above on bikini bottoms, the one kind of one-piece swimsuit that really works for TGirls is the swimdress. So cute, if old-fashioned, it has been making a comeback in recent years.

(c) Cotton Traders

Obviously, in all this, my advice is limited to the body parts covered by the item. If you are MtF with, say, wide shoulders, or are very tall, then there are further considerations, but the sort of swimwear preferences of professional swimmers might be worth considering. However, world swimming champion Federica Pellegrini is tall and has a large, powerful upper body but insists on wearing what she likes and has called for freer choices of competition wear for athletes. So do what feels right for you.

Federica Pellegrini. Photo by Michiel Jelijs

The one advantage swimwear has over lingerie is that it's stretchier anyway. I'd also recommend, if you're body conscious but want to be seen on a beach or by the pool, that you go (Covid permitting) to somewhere like Spain where nobody cares if your body is not supermodel perfect. Not every resort is snooty like St Tropez! 

Here are some thoughts on MtF beachwear from other sites and bloggers which I found worthwhile and have links to suppliers and recommended items:

Trans Café: MtF swimsuit guide

Autostraddle: perfect swimsuits for trans women 

The Lingerie Addict: trans swimwear

Feminization Secrets: how to look hot in swimwear 

There are now several firms that offer lingerie and swimwear for MtF trans people, for example

En Femme

The inimitable Hannah McKnight has a lovely review of En Femme's swimwear here: Hannah McKnight: the swimsuit issue

Trans Missie 

Cross-Dress

Most importantly, though, be happy in your pretty beachwear.

A dip in the archives

I do a lot of historic research, partly for work and partly for pleasure. I recently read The Life of Mary Read, a short biography by Daniel Defoe (author of Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders) and I thought it would make a suitable introduction to transgender military figures. But I see I have been pipped to the post by this article on her and her companion Ann Bonny on A Gender Variance Who's Who. 

Who doesn't love a crossdressing pirate?! (Talking style, that is. You'd disagree if you'd lost your ship, I'm sure!)

Mary Read

So instead of a historical post, here's a suitably nautical picture of me, recently rediscovered. This was in 2013 aboard the Cutty Sark museum ship in London.

Sue x