Summertime Gal: Part One

Hey everybody! So, not too long ago, I downloaded the June issue of JELLY (their fourth anniversary issue!). In it, they had two spreads that I have been looking forward to forever: swim wear and casual/beach wear. I've been looking forward to these spreads because since Summer is soon going to be upon us, many of us will be hitting up the beach and other places where you don't want to dress in your Gal finery.

So I decided to do some posts on the three aspects I find important for this: swim wear, beach wear and hair & accessories!

(Jelly May 2010)

Every Gal wants to keep up her image, even at the beach or by the pool where having perfectly coiffed hair and spot on makeup is not always practical. This is why I love looking at the bathing suits that Gal brands have. Even if you can't purchase a specific brands swim wear, you can always use their designs for inspiration and find similar ones in your area.

        

(Jelly June 2010)

I chose to focus on four specific styles for swimwear: sweet, cool, pop and sexy. I feel by choosing these types, I am generally covering all the different Gal substyles, etc. So let's get started!

SWEET

The Sweet category suits more Mori Gal, Western Gal, Hime Gal styles. There's generally lots of florals, lace, pastels, ruffles, etc. A lot of the 'sweet' suits have little skirts, or ruffle detailing around the waist. The suits I chose for this category are all super cute and full of sweetness!

                                               

(Liz Lisa)

(Liz Lisa)

(Liz Lisa)

(Yumetenbo/DreamV)

As you can plainly see, there are lots of ruffles and florals, the Liz Lisa suits being more subdued and the Yumetenbo ones being... Yumetenbo. I love how simple the Liz Lisa ones are, but they have such great impact. I also highly recommend the ruffled one for smaller chested Gals, it will really accentuate your chestular regions.

COOL & SEXY

Cool styles are more towards followers of more adult styles (Onee Gal, Rock Gal, Psyche Gal etc). They are not covered in lace and ruffles, and there's almost never a floral pattern. More monotone and block patterns, tie dye, and ethnic prints than anything else, but still very, very cool! Sexy styles I combined with cool, because they do have very similar tastes. But sexy styles will use more prints, and some lace, but in darker colours.

(BACKS)

(Victoria's Secret)

(Egoist)

(Gilfy)

(Lip Service)

(MA*RS)

Most of the cool/sexy swim wear is subdued, dark colours and simple patterns with basic cuts, with the exception of the MA*RS suit, which is definitely suited to MA*RS. The I love how Gilfy added the little matching chou-chou's with their swim wear, it's a really good idea to tie it all together. I threw the Victoria Secret one in too match up with recent Ethnic trends, and I love the embellishment on the top.

POP

Pop is the category I would associate with Ame-kaji and other such colourful styles. Focusing mostly on loud prints, colourful graphics and basic cuts, these bathing suits are ones you can find most easily in your own area.

(Buzz Spunky)

(Peak & Pine)

(Victoria Secret)

(Yumetenbo)

I tried to find COCOLULU swim wear, but couldn't find any. Anyways, the pop swim wear is generally pretty sporty, but I got a couple suits in there with some ruffle and bow. I also added a Marine style suit, since Marine is trending again this year. The key with pop style is usually a bright colour or a bold print.

So, I hope that was helpful, and hopefully my nest part of this series won't take me nearly as long! If you have any further questions or suggestions, leave a comment or ask me a question of Formspring. Thanks for reading!