Calavera Swimwear suits are, hands down, the only and best suit to go surfing in. I have a LOT of swimsuits – and these suits stay on! No matter how burly the waves are or how gnarly you wipe out, you won’t have to worry about your suit wiping out with you. I’m not that great at surfing, so you can bet that I wipe out a lot! But I have never had a problem with function in a Calavera Swimwear suit. These suits look super cute on, too. Every year the line comes out with new fashion-forward designs and collaborations, and this year they came out with some cute prints and strappy-back halter styles.. This is the cutest performance active swimwear that you will find.
What Makes Calavera Swimwear Bottoms So Great?
The genius of Calavera Swimwear designs isn’t readily apparent to the eye. Their swimsuit bottoms have a drawstring, so you can tightly tie the bottoms on. The strings aren’t really elastic – they’re actual rope – so they can’t be stretched off when you encounter wave resistance. The Reversible Siren Bottom Aztec Print swim bottoms shown here are the newest style for 2016, and guess what? They’re reversible! One side has a fun print, and the other side is black. So, the black bottoms can effectively be worn with any other swimsuit top! I was a little surprised to see that the tie is turquoise. I paired these bottoms with a jade green top, but Calavera Swimwear carries many really beautiful turquoise top styles that would all look great with this print.
What Makes Calavera Swimwear Tops So Great?
The Calavera swimsuit tops are also functional. The Core Glam Top shown here has a twist bandeau top, with a cutout that not only looks cute but also allows water to flow out the suit. You won’t have any drag from your top. The string ties cross at the back, so they won’t pull on your neck, and then criss-cross twice in the back of the top fabric, corset-style, for extra security. Aaaand the key design feature that makes Calavera tops better is that the neck ties are elastic fabric covered ropes. The fabric will stretch, but the rope beneath really will not. So, they only stretch sooo much and then your top is not going to budge at all! This top is so perfect for catching waves on. I feel utterly safe when I wear it. There’s a matching Reversible Halter Top Aztec Print top to the print bottoms that I bought. I really love the functionality of the Core Glam Top, and don’t want a halter tanline, so I skipped it for now. I’m still eyeing it and will cave in and buy it eventually. Make sure to check out the halter design. I love the way that the Calavera Swimwear halter strappy-back is very unique from the other popular strappy-back styles that I see in yoga and swim styles.
Here’s a peek at what the back of the Core Glam Top looks like:
And here is the front:
Also shown are some other surfing essentials. First, there is a book I’m reading right now, Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life, which just won a Pulitzer Prize. I had been eyeing it for a while on Amazon, and when it won the Pulitzer I finally decided to bump it from my “To Read” list to my “Reading” list. It’s very good, but I’ll share more details when I post a review soon. It’s a really inspiring surf book for experienced surfers and newbies alike. William Finnegan, the author, describes how to read waves and surf culture in a way that is accessible to anyone.
The GoPro Hero4 Black is is the best camera for capturing surf trips on photo and video. It’s lightweight, high (enough) quality, durable, and mountable. Chris is the good surfer out of the two of us, so he has more reason to capture his waves than I do. He uses both the nose mount and the mouthpiece mount right now. I don’t like the mouthpiece mount much. It’s just too weird for me to have that in my mouth. But Chris loves the mouthpiece. It’s much easier for him to turn on and off the camera while he catches waves on his shortboard. And it floats! It’s so fun to see how different the waves look from a camera mounted at the nose of a surfboard. They’re so big, beautiful and blue! It’s a dream – I mean on my to-do list – to stitch these wave videos together and run them on our projector on one of our walls while we are at home, bringing a little beach atmosphere into the living room. This will happen!
I made these beaded bracelets. You can find these diy chakra bracelets in another article. The colorful cord bracelet is another DIY I made. It’s pretty similar to the Pura Vida bracelets that are so popular right now. I’d recommend buying the Pura Vida bracelets – they have such a great brand message! Also, theirs is waterproof. These bracelets all make such great gifts for friends. The bag is from Free People. It turns into a great tote for beaching or carrying groceries. And, of course, Copper Face Sunscreen. Never forget your sunscreen. No matter how cute your bikini is, it’s not worth it if the rest of you turns red!