When you think of sandy beaches and beautiful bikinis, there's no place that comes to mind as quickly as Brazil. So who better than Brazilian native and swimsuit designer Bruna Malucelli, to create a new line of size-inclusive swimsuits? Malucelli's namesake brand has long been a bright spot in the body-positivity conversation, and to help her bring her designs to women of all sizes, she teamed up with plus-size style influencer Katie Sturino and the fresh, size 10+ retail site CoEdition.
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Sturino, the brains, wit, and beauty behind the12ishstyle.com and beauty brand Mega Babe, has long been a proponent of truth-telling when it comes to the beauty and fashion industry. No photoshop, no fakeness; she won't have it, which makes her the perfect fit for a swim collaboration that's all the way real.
"I find it interesting that many of the messages I get are from women who are a size 6 or 8 and are struggling with body image," Sturino says. "If the women who are closer to the media's body ideal can't be happy with their weight, who can? That's why I tell women 'No one cares about what you look like at the pool. No one is looking at you wishing that you really hit the gym this winter. You are the only one punishing yourself, so stop. Buy a swimsuit you love. Stop obsessing over cellulite or things you cannot change. Enjoy the beach!'"
"This is the second collection we're doing in plus-size" says, Malucelli. "It was very organic when [we started expanding our sizes]. Katie's feedback on our last collection was amazing! She was the one who told about us Brooke Cundiff, of CoEdition, and then the rest is history. Brooke came up with the idea of this collaboration and we started developing [this collection] the next day."
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"Katie introduced me to Bruna and I fell in love with her designs", says Cundiff, Co-Founder & Chief Merchandising Officer of CoEdition. "They're fun, smart, sophisticated and spot-on of the moment. I wanted to give the CoEdition woman something special in swimwear, this was a natural segue. I also love Katie's style, so the ability to bring her eye and taste together with Bruna to give the CoEdition customer something that not only looks great on them, but is unique to CoEdition, was all too perfect."
This collection includes nine styles, all available in a fun assortment of bold stripes and colors that you're able to monogram with up to 13 letters. "I love the personalization," Sturino says. "It makes things feel like they were made just for us."
Other favorites of hers: "I'm a sucker for stripes and for anything colorful. I want suits that make me feel happy when I put them on, not something that looks like it is trying to hide my body."
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Each suit retails for $229 (with or without embroidery) and is available in sizes up to 4X/26 on coedition.com. Scroll down to check out some of our favorites!
