Just like there’s a Baywatch for every generation (although fans of the original might object), there’s a one-piece swimsuit for every generation. The current era’s preferred style? High-cut, preferably with broad straps and maybe a scoop back or a bit of contrast piping, very much like the one that Pamela Anderson wore as she ran along the Pacific Palisades coastline.
The return of this classic one-piece silhouette isn’t an isolated incident. Call it the Love Story effect and our continued obsession with fashion icons from the ’90s. I’m talking about everyone from Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, who was photographed wearing a white one-piece swimsuit, to that iconic image of Princess Diana dolefully sitting on the edge of a diving board on a yacht that was captured in 1997. Even Baywatch is back on our feeds as the reboot began filming on Venice Beach, throwing up images of the new cast in the original red one-piece.
These references have filtered into the fashion world too. Take Saint Laurent’s latest spring/summer 2026 campaign, starring Hailey Bieber in a teal swimsuit with a mustard-yellow trim. Clean, sporty and effortless, everything that ’90s minimalism is all about. Skims’s latest swimwear drop includes one-piece swimsuits in multiple colourways, including a bright carmine with a plunging square neck. No mention of swimwear is complete, though, without the summer’s most talked-about swimwear drop: a collaboration between Burberry and London-based label Hunza G. The collection includes the Hunza G’s classic square-neck one-piece silhouette in black and crimson trimmed with Burberry’s signature check. Our new fashion icon and DWP2 star Simone Ashley is in the campaign and It-girls nationwide have probably already packed their favourite colourway in their bags for the holidays.
Beyond the nostalgia, what makes the ’90s one-piece feel current is that it works on its own terms. The high-cut leg adds length. The low back is restrained from the front and revealing from behind. Critically, it’s something that works even off the beach: worn as a bodysuit under linen trousers, tucked into high-waist denim shorts, layered with a silk scarf. Swimwear designed for the whole day, not just the swim.
