Salt Water

There is a particular kind of luxury in the right swimsuit. Not the logo-splashed sort that shouts across a hotel pool, but the quiet kind — a beautifully cut maillot, a bikini in exactly the right shade, a cover-up you could wear to lunch without a second thought. Swimwear is the smallest wardrobe you own and, hour for hour on a summer holiday, very nearly the most worn. It deserves the same consideration as everything else, and this season the designers have made that easy.

Because swimwear, this summer, has grown up. After several seasons of bold logos and barely-there novelty, the mood has turned in two directions at once: toward a refined simplicity — sleek one-pieces and clean bikinis with a distinctly nineties precision — and toward personality through craft, with crochet, ruching, nostalgic prints and embellishments that read almost like jewellery for the beach. The result is swimwear you invest in rather than replace: pieces that look as considered as the rest of your summer wardrobe. Below, thirty-six of the best, across the three things every suitcase needs — the one-piece, the bikini and the cover-up.

The smallest wardrobe you own, and hour for hour the most worn.

The New Mood

After years of logos and novelty, designer swimwear has turned quietly grown-up. What changed this season, and who is leading it.

For the better part of a decade, designer swimwear meant one thing: the logo. Waistbands, straps and chests were branded in capital letters, and the louder the better. That era is, mercifully, ending. The swimwear arriving for summer 2026 is quieter and far more considered — a return to the idea that a swimsuit can simply be beautiful, beautifully made, and yours, without announcing whose it is. It is the same shift toward intention that has been reshaping the rest of fashion, finally reaching the water's edge.

In its place, two clear directions. The first is a sleek, almost nineties minimalism — the architectural maillot, the clean bandeau, the high-cut leg — rendered with modern precision by houses like Alaïa, Matteau, Eres and Valentino. The second is personality through craft: across the resort runways, designers leaned hard into handwork — crochet, ribbed and crinkle textures, ruching and beadwork that reads like jewellery for the beach. Missoni's metallic Mare knits, Hunza G's signature crinkle, Oséree's embellishment and Zimmermann's crochet trims are the names to know; together they make the case that a swimsuit can be an object of craft, not just a scrap of Lycra.

A return to the idea that a swimsuit can simply be beautiful, and yours.

And after seasons ruled by black and neutral, colour has come back to the water — butter yellow, tomato red, cornflower blue, the soft optic white the colour forecasters are calling the shade of the year. It arrives most easily through swimwear and accessories, a low-stakes way to ease back into a brighter palette: Eres in yellow, Saint Laurent in orange, Etro in paisley pink. The throughline across all of it is ESVRA's favourite principle — buy less, buy better — applied to the one corner of the wardrobe that has always been treated as disposable, and no longer is.

Quieter, more considered — the same shift toward intention, reaching the water's edge.

The One-Piece

The maillot — sculptural, flattering and the most elegant thing you can wear to the water. The one-piece is having its most considered season in years.

Sculptural, flattering, and the most elegant thing you can wear to the water.

The one-piece is where swimwear looks most like fashion, and the houses know it. Alaïa brings its signature body-architecture to a draped halterneck swimsuit, while Valentino Garavani's two-tone one-piece and Matteau's clean square-neck suit are masterclasses in nineties restraint. Tom Ford does polish in a polka-dot jersey maillot, Lisa Marie Fernandez the tie-front three-tie suit, and Eterne the pared-back Grace one-piece for everyday ease.

Where swimwear looks most like fashion.

For white, there is Norma Kamali's open-back sequined swimsuit and Lido's embellished Trentasei; for neutrals, Tom Ford's polka-dot one-piece, Magda Butrym's sculpted swimsuit and Missoni's one-shoulder crochet-knit Mare suit. And for the colour the season is asking for: Eres' strapless Maharani in yellow, Saint Laurent's one-shoulder colour-block suit in orange, Etro's paisley swimsuit in pink, and Eres' belted two-tone Lilas in purple.

In white, the maillot is the chicest thing on the beach.

The Bikini

The designer two-piece — crochet, embellishment and nostalgic print, the bikini reborn as something you invest in rather than replace.

Colour is the season's loudest argument — best made in a bikini.

The bikini is where the season's sense of play lives. The handcrafted mood leads: Oséree's Lumiere embellished set and beaded Studs microkini read like jewellery, and Zimmermann's floral crochet-trimmed top brings the artisanal touch.

Where the season's sense of play lives.

Colour and print follow: Zimmermann's Aster printed bikini in orange, Dolce & Gabbana's Maiolica halterneck bikini, Etro's paisley two-piece, and Coperni's red flower top. And for the textured, sculptural end there is Hunza G's signature crinkle in the Sandy set and Swarovski-trimmed Gina, Lido's embellished Venti triangle, and Adriana Degreas' corduroy high-leg strapless set.

Nostalgic prints and a little embellishment — the bikini, reborn.

The Cover-Up

The piece that takes you from the water to the table — broderie, crochet and printed cotton, the cover-up that earns its place beyond the beach.

From the water to the table, without a second thought.

The best cover-up is the one that does not look like a cover-up at all — the piece you throw over a swimsuit and wear straight to lunch. In white, Miguelina is the name, in the broderie anglaise Sonnet and the cotton-lace Jane. Missoni brings its signature metallic crochet to the Mare cover-up in gold and the belted striped version, while Oséree's Lumiere spiral lurex coverup shimmers for evening.

For print and craft there is Johanna Ortiz at her most romantic — the Palm & Soul cotton-mesh coverup, the tasseled Quetzalcóatl cotton coverup and the Refugio de Sol coverup in green — and Mary Katrantzou's Collins printed woven cover-up, with one more Missoni Mare striped metallic crochet coverup to finish.

The best cover-up does not look like a cover-up at all.

How to Style It

Swimwear is only half the look — the other half is everything you bring to the water. How to wear it beautifully.

The cover-up. The fastest way to make a swimsuit look expensive is to layer it well. A broderie or crochet cover-up over a plain maillot reads instantly considered; a metallic knit takes the same suit into evening. Think of the cover-up not as an afterthought but as the outfit — the swimsuit is simply the layer beneath.

The accessories. This is where a beach look becomes a styled one. A big straw hat, a woven tote, oversized sunglasses, a stack of gold bangles or seashell-inspired earrings — the season's swimwear is so pared-back that the accessories do the talking. A silk scarf tied at the waist or around the handle of a bag is the easy, Riviera-chic finish.

The colour. If you have worn black for years, this is the season to try otherwise — a butter yellow, a tomato red, a cornflower blue. And if you would rather not commit, let the suit stay neutral and bring the colour in through a printed cover-up or a bright tote instead.

The fit. No styling rescues a suit that does not fit. Buy for the body you have, not the one you are promising yourself by August; the right cut in the right size always looks more expensive than the trend in the wrong one. A beautifully fitted black maillot will outlast every novelty in this edit.

The season's swimwear is so pared-back that the accessories do the talking.

How to Wear It

The secret to swimwear, in the end, is the same as the secret to everything else ESVRA believes in: buy less, buy better, and choose the things you will reach for again and again. One beautifully cut maillot, one bikini that makes you feel like yourself, one cover-up that carries you to lunch — that is a summer wardrobe. It takes up almost no room in the suitcase and does almost all the work once you arrive. Spend where it counts, keep the styling simple, and let the salt water do the rest.

Buy less, buy better — one suit you will reach for again and again.

Because the right swimsuit is not really about the beach at all. It is about how you feel walking toward the water, and away from it — unhurried, at ease, entirely yourself. That is the quiet luxury this season is selling, and the only kind worth buying. See you by the sea.

Unhurried, at ease, entirely yourself.