Tommy Bahama Swim Wear

Swimsuit shopping: what women want

Almost half (45%) of women have purchased a suit that claims to trim down their figures, including offering tummy control and overall slimming, according to a survey of 1,009 women, ages 18 and up, conducted for ShopSmart ( shopsmartmag.org ), which is from the publisher of Consumer Reports .

About 18% of women don't like how they look in a bathing suit, 40% are impartial, and 36% are OK with it.

"It's very encouraging to hear that women feel pretty good about how they look in their bathing suits," says Lisa Lee Freeman, editor in chief of the magazine. "Women are a lot more confident about their bodies than we give them credit for."

This may be partially because bathing suits today are more flattering than they used to be, she says. The newer suits do a better job of giving women a slimming look, she says.

The magazine's editors had three women with different body types try on 13 different suits that claim to shrink figures by as much as 10 pounds or an entire size. They had an expert measure the women's figures before and after to see if the suits did the job they promised to do.

All the one-piece suits helped the slim the women's figures, Freeman says. The top three picks for body slimming were Lands' End All-over Control Slender Grecian Swimdress, Tommy Bahama Cat Island Shirred Bandeau One-Piece and TravelSmith Fantasizer Convertible Halter Suit.

The suits act "like body shapers, but they don't feel restrictive like girdles," Freeman says. "The only suits that didn't look so great on the women were the tankinis."

This poll and others by the magazine editors show the average woman owns three swimsuits, 21 pairs of underwear, 17 pairs of shoes and seven pairs of jeans.

Among findings of the latest poll:

45% of women say they have a hard time finding a bathing suit that fits properly.

42% have regretted at least one swimsuit purchase.

About a third of women buy a new suit every year, paying an average of $47.

About half of women say it's fine to wear a bikini at any age; the other half say that at a certain age, you're just too old. The age limit: 48.

50% of women expect to wear a one-piece suit the most often this summer.

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