by Eileen Sutton

Sometimes, life is a contradiction. On the one hand, you love the freedom and abandon of summer or a beach vacation; on the other hand, there's the unfortunate matter of buying (and wearing) a bathing suit. Yes, it can be painful. But no, you don't need cosmetic surgery to look great. Whether you worry about your bust, your thighs or your belly, buying a suit that looks and feels fabulous is completely possible.

The keys, says Donnamarie Mazzola, director of marketing for Cyberswim.com, are style and fabric. When it comes to style, Mazzola says, look for a bathing suit that draws attention to the parts of your body you want to maximize and keeps the eye away from the parts you don't. The right fabric can work with the style to enhance the effect, whether your goal is tucking in your tummy or reducing your rear view.

  • Trimming your waist. Surveys show that most women struggle with their waistline. To downplay your waist and slim your body, choose a suit with shirring or gathers at one side, draping that falls across the belly and hides any bulges, or side insets of a fabric like mesh, which work as visual cues that draw the eye to the center of your body and away from its outer edges. "A combination of the right, tight fabric and shirring will both pull in the waist and disguise any extra weight there," Mazzola says.

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