Thoughts on Beach Dressing

A few thoughts/observations on beachy dressing as well as some outfit ideas as I prepare for a week in Panama City Beach, FL!

We’re all familiar with summer dressing, but beach dressing seems to fall into its own category of dressing; sometimes summer-related, sometimes not. You aren’t always bound to the same rules and dress codes with beach dressing as you are regular summer dressing.

For example, a bikini top while considered taboo or perhaps simply a “non-shirt” at your local Publix is welcomed at 99% of local beach establishments as appropriate outerwear. Or to get more me-specific, a person such as myself would not consider something like a bando crop-top as an adequate piece of clothing for the day-to-day, but I will effortlessly walk into the Laguna Beach Christian Retreat Gift Shop wearing nothing but my Youswim Aplomb suit and not bat an eye. With that observed, beach dressing is distinct from regular summer dressing.

Beach dressing welcomes more daring outfit combinations for everyday life because for some reason we aren’t bothered wearing something quite underwear-like to get from point A to point B. This isn’t a commentary on current cultural modesty so much as a fascinating observation on humans as a whole. I myself am unbothered to be thus exposed when surrounded by a thousand other equally scantily-clad bodies than I would be walking around Statesboro, GA. In short, it lends itself to some fun possibilities!

I’m also very intrigued by the idea of incorporating swimsuits into beach outfits as they don’t seem as scandalous when exposed as say a bra or underwear. And let me say really quick that there are many fashion girlies out there who have no qualms stepping out of the house with their under-things exposed, and that is totally their prerogative. This is a judgement-free zone! I myself don’t feel comfortable sporting exposed intimates on the daily which is why swimsuit/beachy dressing feels particularly intriguing to me!

Here are three outfits I’ve put together as future inspo for myself, and maybe inspo for you as well!

Shell earrings are thrifted. Similar here; necklace is made from recycled sea glass, found at an OBX gift shop. Similar here; Blouse is Maison Cléo; Swimsuit is Target from last year; Skirt is a thrift find that I altered myself; Purse is thrifted; Shoes are new from Etsy! They were an April 30th pre-no-buy-month purchase, but I’d been wanting some similar for years!

Outfit #1 I put together in my head, and it came together EXACTLY as I had envisioned it! I dream of wearing this to a beach dinner dinner date as opposed to what I’ll actually be doing next week which is having dinner with 15 college students. Both the lace skirt and the tie-front blouse reveal the swimsuit enough but not too much to make me feel like I’m wearing nothing but a cover-up. It’s the perfect amount of swimsuit-to-clothing ratio for me! And I like that the fun print is still visible under both the skirt and the blouse.

Also, prepare to be absolutely sick of this Maison Cléo Agnes top by summer’s end as I have officially declared it THE blouse of summer 2024.

Swimsuit is from an old Instagram ad; Skirt is Mango; Necklace is me-made; Flip-flops are Old Navy from 2019, and they’re falling apart (currently taped together at the insoles). Might I suggest these instead? Purse is thrifted.

Outfit #2 is one I didn’t expect to be really excited about, but I absolutely LOVE the way it came together! The top has the most coverage of any swimsuit I own, and as such, I think it actually can pass well as a top! I’ve paired it with my new Mango skirt which I got 100% because I saw Heather Hurst (@pigmamiii) wearing it on her Instagram, and I am nothing if not a slut for a drop waist.

The high waisted aspect of the skirt mixed with the fuller-coverage swim top presents the perfect amount of revealed skin without making me feel uncomfy! Icyww, (from a recovering modesty snob) my favorite ways to show skin to feel sessy without scandy are the exposed midriff or a LOT of leg. I haven’t yet dipped into the world of the micro short because I haven’t seen it done on a mid-size or plus-size body, so I’m not sure how the execution would be, but color me intrigued!

Set is vintage via Depop; Necklace is me-made AND available for purchase in the All That shop! Swimsuit is J.Crew (and I don’t like it, lol). Out of stock in most sizes, but here it is in 32A; Flip flops are Havianas; Purse is thrifted.

Outfit #3 is probably the one I felt the least comfortable in. Maybe I would’ve felt more covered and thus more comfortable in a bando-style swim top, but the underwire top felt very bra-like and exposed the tig ole bitties more than I would’ve liked. Even still, the swimsuit-under-set lewk seems like quintessential beach wear to me, so perhaps I’ll swap swimsuits next time and try again!

I thrifted this purse during my last no-by month (February), but how could I resist when it’s got “Anna” embroidered on the back!? And it was only $1!!! Sometimes you gotta break your own rules.

Here are some additional lewks I donned last year at our annual RUF Summer Conference (our college ministry’s week-long beach retreat and the reason for our beach visit next week).

I do indeed have all my beachy outfits planned out for the upcoming beach week, and do not plan to spoil any of them here, but let’s just say flowy silhouettes, fun prints, and floral hair accessories are going to be in the mix!!!

Stay tuned for a roundup of next week’s fits on the ‘gram! I’ll be OOO for the entire week (the only week out of the whole year that I officially log off), but I’ll be back the following Monday with lots of good beach vibes and inspo!

And that’s All That She Wrote today, folks! Enjoy your weekend! If you need me next week, no you don’t.

-Anna Kristen