Summer 2012: Letter from the editor

There’s only one thing that might be worse than swimsuit shopping: Swimsuit shopping while pregnant. It’s something we imagine Anna Paquin will be facing—she announced her first pregnancy with husband Stephen Moyer just days after our cover shoot. Meanwhile, Leah McLaren, who is due to become a mom this summer, braved the swimwear waters for “Hope Floats” on page 44. Her amusing tussle with triangle bikinis gives new meaning to the phrase “grin and bare it.”

I didn’t find much to smile about on my own recent hunt for the perfect maillot. I set aside a good chunk of a Saturday to spend at a swimwear boutique. Previous excursions have taught me that an experienced swim and lingerie specialist can eyeball a body and return with a handful of options that not only fit, but play up one’s best features and camouflage the rest. On this occasion, however, I wasn’t so lucky and after trying on 30 or so suits, I settled for something annoyingly less than ideal.

Great service, whether in a store or a salon, is a major factor in why some businesses thrive and others don’t, especially when it comes to stripping down for summer. Olivia Stren peels back the layers on her deep devotion to her waxer (“Bare it All,” page 98) and how it feels when the woman who knows parts of you better than your gynecologist moves out of town.

Emotional connections can happen when you least expect them, as Saman Munir (“Under Cover,” page 148) found when she decided to post a hijab styling tutorial on YouTube. The Brampton, Ont., makeup artist and hijab stylist has more than 5,000 subscribers hooked by her modern take on modesty.

Her story is a reminder that designers can propose whatever they want, but the most stylish among us are always going to embrace the new but give it our own spin.

Whether your summer style has to do with covering up in breezy layers, baring your midriff in a cut-out tube dress or nuzzling your newborn in a Trina Turk tunic (“Licence to Chill,” page 64), let me know how our Summer issue resonates at letters@fashionmagazine.com.

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