Love Letter 001: My Favourite Bikini

My favourite cotton bikini isn’t one I designed.

This may seem odd to admit as the owner of a cotton bikini brand, but it is the truth. 

My favourite cotton bikini is pink with red stripes and I think I’ve worn it over 100 times since I first bought it during the summer of 2022. It has been stuffed in my suitcase and travelled with me to the pebbly beaches of the Italian coast and almost flew off me when I dove off the back of a boat in Coral Bay in Western Australia. It is my favorite bikini to suntan in, for long days at the beach, to wear under my dress when running errands before heading to the pool.

Without a doubt it is my most worn bikini, and the one that (until starting my own bikini brand) I always reached for on a sunny day or packing for a trip. 

It is the bikini that made me want to start Palmette.  

There are a million and one ways I could position Palmette, from low-tox wellness to microplastic free eco-consciousness. But the one that resonates the most with me, and the reason that I really started the brand was because I wanted to make something that felt beautiful to wear, and that you would want to wear time and time and time again. 

I wanted to create your favourite bikini.

A couple of years ago, I read a wonderful book by the brilliant fashion writer Lucienne Tonti called Sundressed. Tonti dedicates each chapter of the book to a different natural fiber, exploring their promise as the “future of fashion.” Rather than jumping straight into extolling the virtues of regenerative farming, or the natural thermoregulating qualities of wool and cotton, Tonti begins each chapter with a love letter to a particular garment that she owns, made of each fabric. 

Here is an excerpt from the opening chapter…

One April, I was in Milan for a week for work. At the time, I was working for an Italian designer. It was a particularly warm spring. The sky was a faultless blue – perfect weather for the designer’s clothes.

Each morning I pulled on one of her shirtdresses or kaftans and slid my feet into leather sandals. Over the course of the day, I felt the light fabric wick moisture from my skin as I ran between our temporary store and various exhibitions or aperitifs on the sprawling terraces Milan is famous for.

The dresses had deep pockets and long, wide sleeves that could be rolled up or down, depending on the breeze. They were both utilitarian and sophisticated, which meant they could be worn from breakfast to dinner. They were soft and airy, and so comfortable I felt present, in my body and relaxed, like I was on holiday.

It is to our detriment that mass production and the abundant supply of cheap clothing has desensitised us to the connection between our clothes and their origins, between our clothes and the land. Take the example of the dresses I was wearing in Milan: they were made of cotton.

When buying clothes, we think about something looking beautiful or flattering or sexy, but I think we underestimate the way that clothes feel. Not just the way they make us feel, but how they physically feel on our bodies. 

I created Palmette because of the way my pink and red striped bikini felt on my skin. 

I love the feeling of cotton on my skin when wet. There is a sensuality to it. Think kissing in the rain, running under the sprinklers in the summer, or for the more bold.. a wet t-shirt contest. Sure, it may take a little longer to dry, which just means you lay on the beach in the sun for that moment longer.

In a less prosaic sense, when it is dry, cotton is hypoallergenic, breathable, and absorbent meaning that unlike synthetic fabrics, it doesn’t trap heat or cause skin irritation.

But feeling wasn’t just about something tactile, it was also emotion. Before I even knew how the bikinis would look, I made a moodboard of what I wanted wearing my bikinis to feel like. My vision was clear: long days at the beach, getting a sandwich and a milkshake at the kiosk. Eating watermelon and spitting out the seeds. Big sunglasses and long suntanned legs by a swimming pool. Afternoon picnic in the park with a beer. Something nostalgic without being retro. Romantic. 

I want wearing Palmette to be a romantic experience. Romance is ultimately about paying attention. With your Palmette bikini, I want you to pay attention to how it feels different on your skin when it is wet and when it is dry. Enjoy the attentive ritual of handwashing your bikini with a fresh detergent and letting it line drying it in the sun. Pay attention to how it makes you feel.

Sustainability requires attentiveness and care as opposed to disposability. There is certainly a romance to that.