The beach can be every bit as intimidating as it can be enticing. And finding swimwear that matches the enticement...
Swimwear that fits like you want it to. Picture Tegan Smith
The beach can be every bit as intimidating as it can be enticing. And finding swimwear that matches the enticement and doesn’t kill the moment, no easy task for many women. This is the perplexion that bugged Cape Town photographer Tegan Smith during the pandemic.
So, instead of finding a new hobby, jumping on the back of online trends, or baking the hell out of sourdough bread, she set out to design swimwear. “I struggled to find a swimsuit for years and years and years,” Smith said. “It was just such a traumatic thing to find a swimsuit that you’re comfortable in, that fits nicely, that you can still be active in and that looks good.”
Smith had already spent years building a career behind the camera. Photography was her profession, not fashion but lockdown created something most creative people rarely get to do… time to think. And of course, there was no work going around.
Pandemic idea
The more she thought about swimwear, the more she realised that she was not alone in her frustration. Women who were technically the same clothing size often have completely different bodies and off the rack costumes did not answer that question. “I thought, I can’t be the only one struggling with this. I’m actually going to make one that does fit nicely,” she said.
Research into the challenge she set herself eventually led to infinity dresses, versatile bridesmaid clobber that can be wrapped and styled in different ways. Smith began wondering whether the same thinking could work in swimwear and made a test collection based on the notion. “I gave it to all my friends who were technically the same size as me, but we would never fit into the same clothing. It fitted everyone so beautifully.”
Shades of Jade was born. Before the brand was out of its nappies, Smith also took another frustrating bit of swimwear shopping and neutralised it. “Often, you’re looking for a swimsuit, and you can only buy a set, and your top and bottom are not the same size. I found that so frustrating,” she said. In her collection, they are all separates when it comes to two-piece shopping.
One style compliments all
Trends are not her bag and Smith said that she like creating pieces that can last beyond a single season and are durable. “Some of my customers are still wearing the very first swimsuit design I made in 2020,” she said. “Women want to swim, travel, chase their kids around or have a cocktail after and not spend the day thinking about whether or not their costume will betray them at some point,” she said. The designs are neither overly conservative nor determined to disappear into increasingly microscopic cuts.
Also, there will be leopard print in every collection she creates. Smith said it is something of a family inheritance. Her mother loved it and her sister loves it. Also, Smith’s six-year-old niece apparently loves it too.
She also decided to use recycled fabrics. Fashion’s relationship with waste has been well documented and Smith knew that if she was going to add another product into the world, she wanted to do so as responsibly as possible. The fabric she settled on is made from recycled plastic bottles. “If I’m going to contribute to the fashion industry in some way, it’s got to at least be recycled,” she shared.
