Straight to the Source

Curious to see what the process is like? Go straight to the source: one of our clients!

Margaret is a beautiful woman, inside and out, and as strong as they come. She works full time, is an awesome mother to an amazing 14 year old boy, and still manages to find time for the things she loves the most (besides her son, of course): friends, music, and shopping. A true fashionista, she is known for setting trends instead of following them.

It was an interesting experience for me to have a client that is so in tune with fashion, but hadn’t really explored that side when shopping for swimwear.

Oh My Swimsuit: How would you define your style?

Margaret: Comfortable, colorful but at the same time it has to be sexy.

OMS: What is your biggest concern when it comes to buying a bathing suit?

M: That it’s going to look bad.

OMS: What was your most recent bathing suit shopping experience like?

M: Horrible. I was in the store for almost 2 hours, and must have tried on at least 15 different tops. Out of everything I tried, only one actually fit. A second one looked average, so I took it home for my mother to alter. It was also frustrating to not have any professional assistance, they only ask you what your size is, they don’t tell you what suits would look better on you.  

OMS: What are your expectations regarding this experience?

M: I always have problems finding flattering tops. So I’d say discovering what kind of tops fit me well – finding the perfect top would be ideal.

With a body type that I consider ‘Rectangular’ (not many curves), and a lightly tanned skin tone, I knew we’d have plenty of options to choose from. Bright colors would look great, but no fluorescents. Patterns as well, but with larger prints. And, because of the light undertones of her skin, absolutely no pastel colors, or off-whites. Finally, some extra focus on the top (part of the process she has the most difficulty with) and… Voilà!! We had ourselves one very happy client!

When we were finally done, I asked Margaret to give me some feedback on her experience. This is what she had to say:

Actually, I was surprised at the sizes that you picked; I would never go for them. I would think they would be too small, that they wouldn’t fit properly or wouldn’t be flattering. But they looked better than the sizes I was going for. The worst looking top I tried on was the one where I selected the size, which was really surprising!

Also, I am used to buying a matching swimsuit, so top and bottom of the same pattern. But you played around with colors, shapes and patterns, and they looked so much better. It was a very good experience. I would definitely recommend this experience to others, but most important, I will definitely shop with you again.

Thank you Margaret, for being our model for the day and sharing your experience with us. I had a blast shopping with you, looking forward to next time!

Two Passions in One Day

Lately I’ve been thinking about how we relate to time. When we’re kids all we want is for time to fly, so we could become adults, wear make up, high heels, drink wine… but when that time finally arrives we immediately switch over, and want time to slow down, or we’ll get old too soon. Sometimes I sit at work and think: “come on 5pm! Where are you?” And I feel happy when the clock turns from 4:59 to 5pm. But, while on vacation, I want time if not to stop, then to go as slow as a snail going up a mountain, preferably a mountain covered in snow. Isn’t it interesting that our feelings towards time change drastically depending on what we’re referring to?

Later this year, I will be heading to my home country for the Holidays. Usually, the countdown begins the very moment I purchase my ticket. I’ve been in Vancouver now for almost 5 years and love it here, but I will not lie that leaving here in December for sunny Brazil would make anyone smile. I not only do that, but I also get to see my family and friends, whom I miss each and every day. This time though, I’ve been having mixed feelings, and here’s why.

A little over a week ago, our family dog Shaolin, the cutest, most intelligent, funny dachshund the world has ever met, past away. He was only 9 years old, but had a rare heart condition that cut his life way too short. We had originally bought him for my mom on Mother’s Day back in 2005, and although he was my mother’s dog and knew she was his master, each of us remaining family members had our own special bond with Shao. There really are no words to express how much I’ve missed him since I left, but knowing that I will go back to my parent’s house and not see him there… that is a blow that I’m not looking forward to.

I can’t help but wish that I’d spend a little more time with him last time I was there, that I’d taken him for a little bit of a longer walk, given him food under the table without anyone else noticing, and so many other things that we did while he was around. If anything, I’d like to go back in time so I could at least give him a big goodbye hug and kiss. And although I know there was nothing we could have done to prevent or predict what happened, I can’t help but wish for a time machine. Being far away makes you feel even more helpless at times like these.

The day after I received that sad news, I woke up feeling like I had to do something to honor our brave little canine brother. I’d decided to make a donation in his name to the SPCA, but still felt that wasn’t enough. I felt a strong need to have him close to me, and that’s when it hit me. I knew exactly what I was going to do.

This picture was taken a day after I had it done. I was out on my friend’s boat, sailing through what was probably our last summer day for 2014. Although I was still sad, I felt very fortunate to spend that beautiful day among my friends, and with two of my passions: swimwear and Shaolin. I’m sure that he was with me then, and loved the ride.

From “You’ve failed” to an A+

OK, so, giving yourself an A+ right off the bat may be a little more challenging that it sounds. I couldn’t agree more, it’s no simple task. It’s a process, and one that a lot of us are not exactly eager to get on board with. The very thought of how to go about it is overwhelming, and that is not the state of mind you should be in when your goal is to improve the grades you’re giving yourself.

Not to worry. A wise friend of mine always says that we don’t need to know what every step of the way will be. What we need is to find out what our next step is, and once that’s done we figure out the step after that, again and again until we finally reach our goal. My friend is an extremely successful project manager with many years of experience, and I fully trust her opinion. I invite you to join me in doing the same. Let’s all take a deep breath, and see what happens when we follow her words of wisdom.

What is the very first step? Well, I guess that is going to be different for each of us. Some of us may think it’s a good idea to start by analyzing why we’re such strict judges with ourselves in the first place. And why our standards are so high when it comes to judging our appearance. Do we really need to be so hard on ourselves? Are we really incapable of cutting ourselves some slack?

Or, we may go in a different direction and start with listing the things we actually give good grades to. Is it only to other people? Or is it possible that, deep down, we have a list of things about ourselves that we really like, and are just not “grading” properly? Would we dare list 10 things about ourselves that we are actually very proud of?

Another first step idea would be to develop a new habit. If we don’t practice giving out good grades, we’ll never excel at it. So maybe the first step can be to give high scores to at least one aspect of whatever we decide to judge. Not a fan of someone’s shoes? You can still give at least a B to the color, or to that person’s outfit. Having a bad hair day? Then give your skin some acknowledgement, or celebrate coming up with an outfit that matches that hat you hardly ever wear (and that will help you through your bad hair day). Becoming a “glass half full” type of judge is not only a great habit to take on, but it also increases your opportunities to be creative. That could be really fun!

I guess what I’m saying is that there is no easy, unfailing plan, or recipe to go from not enjoying the experience of looking into a mirror to loving every minute of it. It could be a long journey, and it’s not necessarily the most pleasant. However, what I do know is that the final result is going to be absolutely worth your time and energy, no matter what first step or path you decide to take.

Your first A+ is one you’ll never forget :) And I have no doubt it’ll be something you’ll want to experience over and over again!  

The Common Denominator

Often times I’ve wondered if there was a common issue we face when going out to buy a bathing suit. Do we all really feel that, no matter how healthy we are, or how great everyone says we look, we’re still not “bikini worthy”? What is it that makes this so different than buying a pair of shoes, jeans, or a skim mocha caramel latte?

In my opinion, it has a lot to do with exposing ourselves. If you think about it, wearing a swimsuit is about as exposed as you’ll ever be (in public, at least). There are no accessories to hide this, cover that… it is as bare as everyone else will see us, and there lies our concern: “How can go out in public like this? What will other people think, or say?” As women we know it takes a lot of guts to even put on that bikini we love but aren’t sure if we look good in, and once that decision is made, the last thing you want to hear is that it was the wrong one.

I will admit: more than once I have observed other women’s swimwear choices. Having said that, I will also admit that between noticing, agreeing or not with their decisions, and going back to whatever it is I was doing, it may have taken me no more than 10 seconds. Which brings me to my point: as much as we may notice what other people are wearing, nothing compares to how severely we judge ourselves. When it comes to our own exposure, it’s almost as if a button turns on, and we automatically assume everyone is looking, and judging us as intensely as we are. Could this be our common denominator, that when it comes to looking into a mirror in a swimsuit, we are undoubtedly our worst enemy?

If so, then great news! And yes, I am serious! Think about it: if we are busy being strict judges to ourselves, how much time are we really spending judging other people? And how much energy do we really put into doing that? If we had to choose, would we really decide that someone else’s appearance is more important than our own? Absolutely not! Therefore, when we remove everybody else’s opinion from the equation, we’re left only with our own.

It is time to turn our worst enemy, or our most strict judge into our best friend, at least when it comes to swimwear. Who's ready to give out an A+?

Women and Shopping

Being a woman means, amongst so many things, that we love to shop. We could spend hours going from store to store, looking through numerous racks of clothing, shoes, jewellery, handbags, or whatever else is for sale, and still go home feeling like we didn't see everything. We will happily wait in line to try on numerous outfits, carry around store bags all day long, and make room in our crowded closets for that amazing dress we just had to buy. Women love shopping so much we actually get together with friends to do it, and that turns into an all-day event. We can spend our entire Saturdays shopping, even when it is for someone else. It's not just about the thrill of finding something that makes us look great, it's that sense of accomplishment we feel when the clerk hands us yet another bag. When we shop, we're getting things done.

Having said that, when was the last time you heard a woman say she went bathing suit shopping, and actually enjoyed that experience? Probably never. If there's one thing each and every one of us hates having to buy, it's swimwear. There's something about standing in that small dressing room with the bright white lights enhancing the things we most dislike about our bodies that just makes us want to run the other way. If anything, we avoid that kind of shopping experience as much as possible, and usually end up buying the good old black one piece, to cover most if not everything up.

It is not only from listening to my friend's experiences, but also from my own that the idea of Oh My Swimsuit came about. What if we could have the fun of shopping and still be able to find the perfect piece that would enhance our best features and make us feel proud of walking around the beach or pool? Would it possible to bind those two things and still have a successful outcome?

In my opinion, absolutely! And Oh My Swimsuit is here to prove me right.