Happy lolidays: Novelty swimwear has taken a turn for the weird and wonderful

It’s silly season - get into the spirit and you’ll be laughing all the way to the beach
Gigi Hadid, Cara Delevingne and Taylor Swift
@taylorswift
Emma McCarthy26 July 2016

Summer is a time to be serious, said no one, ever. We don’t call it the silly season for nothing. So embrace those dental floss Daisy Dukes and spaghetti-strap-no-bra look in the office because the sun is out and everyone’s a little bit giddy, or drunk, or both.

And that’s just in the city. When it comes to your holiday — a week or two of uninterrupted sun, sea, sand and sangria — it goes without saying that you can get away with anything.

So why not make it a shark-print bikini? Or how about a one-piece emblazoned with toucans?

This summer, swimwear — already something of a novelty as far as we sun-starved Brits are concerned — has taken a turn for the weird and wonderful, much to the delight of beach-peppered Instagram feeds everywhere.

Inflatable pool floats - in pictures

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Witness Cara, Gigi and Taylor frolicking about in matching red, white and blue Solid & Striped swimmers at Swift’s Fourth of July party.

Leandra Medine in a sequined pineapple swimsuit, £28, from Topshop

Or Leandra Medine (aka blogger Man Repeller) sporting a fetching pink cossie complete with strategically-placed sequined pineapples in her edit for Topshop. How brilliantly bonkers. And during this summer of discontent — a time plagued with Brexit, Boris and the Diane Kruger/Joshua Jackson split — we could all do with a few more reasons to smile.

Shark-print bikini, from £25, from Lazy Oaf

East London label Lazy Oaf is another at the forefront of the silly swimwear movement. Its Lazy Swim Club collection, which debuted this summer, is dedicated to those who spend more time posing poolside than practising their front crawl, with shark-print and watermelon bikinis and cat-face swimsuits.

Its crop top and briefs combo, which features goggly eyes and a scalloped “teeth” trim, is also a popular choice among those looking to stand out from the crowd at London Fields lido.

Lion-print cut-out swimsuit, £90, and toucan-print bikini, £70, from Ekat

Fellow London label Ekat — best known for its eye-popping festival leotards loved by the likes of Sienna Miller, Poppy Delevingne and Rita Ora — is also flying the flag for LOLZ Lycra with cut-out cossies and triangle bikinis adorned with lions, capuchin monkeys and Pop Art prints.

The jungle has also long been a source of inspiration for cult Aussie swim label We Are Handsome, which champions its signature tiger and leopard prints this summer alongside more water-friendly flamingos and jellyfish, while LA brand Wildfox prefers tankinis splashed with banana prints and rainbow tie-dye bikini tops crafted into shells.

XO-print bikini, £240, from Araks x Quentin Jones

Of course, not taking yourself too seriously on the beach needn’t mean dressing up like a mermaid. New York-based lingerie label Araks has a host of chic swim options for the creatively minded, including a collaboration with London artist Quentin Jones featuring abstract paint-splash prints and a noughts and crosses motif, while Mara Hoffman’s technicolour crochet creations are enough to make even the most straight-laced beach babe see the brighter side.

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