Whatever suits you is hot at the beach

Brown is anything but boring for beachwear this summer.
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
If you're the type that wants to look like you just left the department store for the beach, here's what designers and buyers say is hot this summer.
Brown's the thing. Call it chocolate, cappuccino or espresso.
"I know it sounds boring, but it looks wonderful and rich and sophisticated," said Stephanie Solomon, fashion director of women's ready-to-wear for Bloomingdale's.
It's not just brown that's been lifted from nature's palette; it's the entire spectrum of the natural and the cool.
"It's very modern, minimalist looking," said Mariela Rovito, president of Eberjey, a lingerie and swimwear company in Miami whose bikinis are sold at Ritz-Carlton hotels and the Miami Beach boutique Caterina Lucci.
"For the most part, it's cool colors and prints in light surf, natural and black," Rovito said, "With tortoise touches and nature's jewelry."
Not real tortoise, which would be illegal -- the plastic kind used for bathing suit flourishes this summer.
J. Crew, for instance, is offering a tiny bikini bottom with faux tortoise rings at the hips and a matching top. Macy's wants to sell you a Christina Coconut Grove Tankini Set with imitation tortoise accents on the halter straps.
Also at Macy's, swimsuit flourishes that look like things you find on a beach.
"They're not so much like last year's sparkly embellishments," said Andrea Page, Macy's VP of division merchandise manager. "They're coconut shell or wood embellishments at the strap or on the bust or around the halter."
Mismatched formula
Rosa Cha, the Brazilian swimsuit designer with a Miami shop, has long combined different prints in a single suit, rather than sticking with the matchy-matchy formula of yesterday.
Now compatriot designer Fabiana Ferreira has produced a mismatched bikini for this summer -- and it's her bestseller this season, said her U.S. distributor, Karen Kramser, based in West Palm Beach, Fla.
"It's done really well," Kramser said.
The suit has a big floral design with a cream background on the top and a bud print against a black background on the bottom, both with orange crocheted fringes (and just like in ready-to-wear, crochet is another trend unto itself these days).
But you don't need a designer to figure out how to mix it up. Go through your old suits and come up with some dynamic combos yourself.
Structural wonders
You can't always tell a pricey swimsuit from a discount one, especially since so many of the prints look the same. But every now and then a bathing suit comes out with so much punch, it looks like a million dollars.
La Perla is best known for its exquisite lingerie. But the Italian design house is a master at bathing suits, too, because it knows how to play with negative space.
One particular stunner is a macrame bikini whose parts are connected with a swath down the center of the torso. It comes in yellow and brown, and is sold for about $613.
"The idea comes from the wish to develop the concepts typical of the corsetry and try to mix them with the shapes and the fabrics of beachwear," La Perla fashion coordinator Anna Masotti, whose parents own the company, explained in an e-mail.
If La Perla isn't in your budget, look for other suits with asymmetrical or quasi-one-piece shapes. Swimsuit designer Red Carter knows about fabulous cut-outs too, and his prices are lower. Find his stock at major department stores.
Ditch the trends
Take a cue from designer Sara Chiaramonte of Tashia London and go bright -- way bright.
Sold at select Neimans and other stores, Tashia packs an explosion of color into every piece this summer as is its signature.
"Prints are so strong in England now, and Tashia is about color," Chiaramonte said from her store in London. "I do completely see that the trend has moved on from being colorful, but I haven't paid too much attention to date."
Trend-setters have their moment, but there's a variety in swimsuit styles out there. At Bloomingdale's, for instance, you can get Juicy Couture's Terri Bikini in lollipop pink with red trim or Lea Gottlieb's Geometric Print in wild yellow, pink and blue.
Let your inner beach diva speak.