Wait, Am I Entering My Swim Dress Era? And Why Do I Feel So Weird About It?

It’s hard to get on social media around this time of year and not come across content about getting “your body ready for summer”. I know I’m lucky in the sense that I’ve always had a somewhat healthy relationship to my body and food, but this has just never been my thing. I’m more of the “you get a beach body by having a body and going to the beach” mindset.

But I’m also not the person who is going to wear the teeny tiny bikini no matter what. I absolutely look for swimsuits with “flattering” properties. I want my midsection to look smoother, my legs to look longer, my insecurities to remain under wraps…all that jazz. My two-piece days are over, and these days I’d rather be covered up. It’s just what makes me feel more comfortable, literally and figuratively.

Recently I’ve been feeling the urge to invest in a swim dress…and I’ve been surprised by how weird I feel about this. Maybe it's because I used to make fun of my own mom for wearing one, but something tells me there's something deeper going on.

I am 38 years old, I have two kids, and let's just say I’m not hitting up any hot Vegas pool parties these days. My swimwear is more about function than anything else, and obviously, a swim dress gives you the kind of coverage that lets you move easily (and…less self-consciously?)  in a way a regular suit just doesn’t.

At the same time, I wonder if I’m giving in, or maybe even giving up by embracing the swim dress.

Am I looking at swim dresses because this is truly what I want, or because I feel like this is what I “should” do as I approach 40? Am I doing this for my own personal swim style, or for the purpose of hiding my body away? Where do we draw the line between dressing in a way that makes us feel more comfortable and dressing in a way that makes the outside world feel more comfortable?

I think I also feel like stepping into the swim dress era feels like stepping into a new era of womanhood. An era that feels…more serious? More…preparing for perimenopause-y? More…the-world-tells-women-of-a-certain-age-to-dissappear-and-be-ashamed-of-their-bodies-and-I’m-listening-to-those-messages-y?

I don’t know. Maybe this is way too dramatic a take, especially because I am seeing so many swim dresses that I genuinely find really cute. Will I make the leap this year? Maybe. Time will tell. Stay tuned for an update…and let me know if you have a swim dress you’d recommend.