For my birthday this year, I decided to do it big (see my previous post) and go all out for a beach holiday; seeing as it was a big birthday, I wanted to be BUNS OUT 24 hours a day and that meant purchasing some cute swimwear bits to take with me. I wanted feel confident, sexy and free and for me, adopting the micro-bikini trend didn’t only feel empowering, but it also allowed me to feel like I was reclaiming a sense of ‘normality’. Seeing bigger bodies rock pieces that were historically typically seen on ‘smaller’ bodies would always give me a dopamine hit, because we deserved to be seen. We deserved to have brands cater to bigger bodies and damnit, if we wanted to show our bums and boobs out full force on the beach, we deserved that too!

Summer should always be about fun, enjoyment, relaxation and adventure, not stressing over whether your body fits someone else’s idea of ‘perfect’. And while the various fat liberation and so-called body positivity movements have helped in a way to broaden representation of beach bodies, the constant unsolicited commentary surrounding fat bodies during Summer proves how much further we need to go. I for one love to photograph myself in the bikinis I wear, in a bid to be the person I always needed to see growing up. It’s incredibly important for me to help normalise seeing bigger bodies in swimwear, and generally I just feel incredibly liberated whenever I do!

With that being said, I thought I’d share a list of some plus size swimsuit brands and styles to get you in the Summer mood!

• Simply Be [Up to a UK24]
• Manners London [Up to a UK32]
• ASOS [Up to a UK28]
• We Are We Wear [Up to a UK30]
• You Swim [Up to a UK 28]
• River Island [Up to a UK 28]
• Curvy Kate [Up to a 44G]
• Yours Clothing [Up to a UK40]
• Villa Fresca [Up to a UK28]
• Elomi [Up to 44JJ]
• Evans [Up to UK32]
• Marks & Spencer [Up to UK24 – they should be doing better than this]
• Speedo [Up to UK24]