The Real Bikini Models: Our Baby Boomer Models Show Off Their Suits

If you’re headed to a tropical destination this winter and are about to break out the trusty old swimsuit, we salute you—and want you to know that we baby boomers are can be bikini models, too.

When we ran our swimsuit story earlier this year, some of you did not like that we were showing thin young models. And you know what? We said, “Damn straight.” This got us to thinking why we—as mature women—have to look at these willowy teens (or just about) and try to imagine ourselves in their suits. We need real bikini models of our very own.

We put out the word and several of you responded by sending photos of yourselves by the beach or pool (or in the standard selfie pose in front of a bathroom mirror). In addition to model names, we’ve included the swimwear manufacturer, hoping this will help you know which brands have suits that might look good on you too.

While we’re enjoying this righteous indignation, let’s write to bathing suit manufacturers and tell them we want to see ourselves in their ads. They’ll get a lot of positive attention and some loyal fans. (And let’s reward the website Swimsuits for All for making progress in this area.)

We loved the spirited response we got to our modeling call and inspired by how confident our readers are in their bathing suits. We’ve included a slideshow of the whole BOLD group here. Click through to see your tribe in all their glory!

Here are websites for the manufacturers mentioned. Jantzen, Becca Etc., J.Crew, Victoria’s Secret, Carve Designs, H&M, Liz Claiborne, Tommy Bahama, Magic Suit Swimwear.

A version of this article was originally published in June 2018.