TREND Accessorize your swimsuit for summer fun

The movement started last year and has taken off this season.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- Colorful beads, sparkling rhinestones, polished jewels and wooden hoops adorn the season's swim fashions, especially bikinis, which are on store racks now. Hardware, such as a strings of beads for straps or gold-toned clasps, is the top trend in 2003 women's swimsuits.
"People are going with the style. The bigger and bulkier it is, the more they go for it," said Christian Todd, a sales associate at La Plage Swimwear in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Miss Bikini Wahine 2003.
The movement to affix accessory-like items to fabric started quietly last year but has taken off this season, Todd said. Fashion trends often begin in California, and cutting-edge clothing label Bebe led the style by adding beadwork to swimsuits, said La Plage manager Kris Clark. On the East Coast, Conway, S.C.-based designer Tara Grinna has added touches of hardware to suits for years. La Plage is owned by Tara Grinna and carries the line and Grinna's Limoncello label.
"She has always been a step ahead," Clark said.
The Tara Grinna label, which specializes in swim separates, this year features belts on low-hung bottoms and gold hoops on tops.
Found everywhere
Hardware on suits now can be found everywhere from mainstream department stores to specialty surf shops. Target's Mossimo has a black suit with wooden bamboo-style rings in the top's center and at the hips. The Xhiliaration line by Target includes turquoise beads on white suits and rhinestones on yellow fabric.
Swimsuit colors and jewels have borrowed from popular fall trends. Earth tones such as chocolate, tan and turquoise are the hip hues. Turquoise beads and other Southwestern-style jewelry took off in the fall but hold up for the beach, according to Todd and Clark.
Clark pointed to a brown, red and turquoise striped two-piece suit by Bebe. The boy short-style bottom is tied off with a flowing fringe belt similar to ones sold in accessory departments this fall. Ultra trendy women may also go for the matching skirt, a short brown fringe piece with a horseshoe shaped turquoise brooch that picks up colors from the bikini's top.
Don't worry about the beads, broaches and buttons falling apart after a few dips in the water.
"All of it is tested before they put it on suits," Todd said.
Even popular surfer labels Roxy and Quiksilver added small touches of jewels to this season's suits.
"Surfer girls are going to get less bells and whistles," said Aaron Frobase, buyer for Surf City in Myrtle Beach.
New item
One popular new item is a new short by Billabong, he said. The short is a cross between the boy short and a shorter board short. Women go for the style because of comfort and coverage, he said.
At the surf shop, earth tones are also popular with brown and cream adorning even the men's section. Guys this year will still go for going for classic board shorts.
"More of a '70s look is in," Frobase said.
Todd, who often wears various types of suits in her roles as Miss Bikini Wahine and a Tara Grinna model, likes a range of styles and colors. One of her favorites this year is an earthy orange bikini with raised cream embroidery. She also likes a cream, brown and gold Tara Grinna suit called Sexy RG. But at heart, she prefers the classic.
"Black or solid white," she said. "I love solid white."