Don’t sweat the small stuff—and this summer, it’s gonna be small

We are fast approaching that delicious time of year when getting dressed involves nothing more than stepping into a brand-new bathing suit and slapping on some sunscreen before heading down to the beach.
Of course, you still love your bikini from last summer. But that suit is probably faded, scrubby-looking, and balled up in the bottom of your dresser drawer. Time to move on. Lucky for you, designers have knocked themselves out this year trying to develop something fresh and functional that will inspire you to wear it to shreds just like you did last year.
For those of you who hoped and prayed that the booty-baring Brazilian cut swimsuit trend had withered away, too bad. Designers have seemingly embraced those tiny bottoms with greater gusto; expect to see even more girls romping around on the beach this summer with their buns hanging out (i.e. not that half of the population has a problem with that). And whilethere is no question Brazilian bottoms are revealing, many designers argue that fit females enjoy the opportunity to showcase their strength and slenderness.
“Girls are realizing that the coverage in an American bikini is just not that attractive,” said Mike Beltran of San Diego-based swimwear company Bunny Bikini. “It doesn’t accentuate anything, whereas a Brazilian style bathing suit acts like a push-up bra for the butt. I’m on a crusade. No more diaper-butt on my watch.”
And although it seems counterintuitive, you can definitely still surf in a Brazilian bikini: the cut is smaller, but also tighter than a traditional cut. This is important because  if some heavy surf finishes off, you might not want to have to walk from the water like Britney Spears gets out of a car.
Another design element to look for this year: fixed tri-halters—which don’t scoot around like string bikini triangle tops often can. Fixed halters often tie around the neck, but fasten in the back with a clasp. String bikinis look great on fit frames, but can cut into your skin if you have a little extra meat on your bones. A few other design add-ons to look for: nautical braiding, belting, crochet, and cutesy ruffling and smocking (an ideal look for anyone looking to emulate to look of a five-year-old) ).
Designers are packing lots of colorful punch into this year’s lines. Raisins features lots of classic, bright, tropical prints. OP is going for sexy, catchy stripes on solid backgrounds. Hurley has plenty of black and white contrasting graphics for a complicated, urban look. Other designers are throwing sorbet-looking colors like lime, purple, yellow and coral up against rich chocolate and cool opal-grey neutrals.
“You will be seeing lots of graphic oversized florals, modern geometric prints, retro stripes and still more dots,” said Leslia Tobia, vice president of design for Roxy swimwear. “There will be a lot of fun bright colors mixed with white, brown and black. Navy will continue to be important.”
In past summers, bikinis featured plenty of embellishments such as chains, hoops, feathers, beads and belts. This summer, some designers are banking on a “back to basics” mentality from girls who don’t want to look like an overdone Christmas tree.
“I’m shooting for all solids this summer,” Beltran said. “A lot of companies had started to add bling-bling, and I thought it was starting to get a bit much.”
However, these points considered, there’sood news for label whores: high end designers ranging from Betsey Johnson, Dolce & Gabbana, and Juicy Couture are gunning to cash-in even more on the swimwear market. So expect them to continue to develop their own, rather expensive swimwear designs.  
In any case, the bottom line is: select a suit that you love, because hopefully, you’ll be spending a lot of time in it. Pick something that complements your fashion style and makes sense for your favorite activities.“When you are surfing, you want to be comfortable, and you don’t want your suits moving around or having hardware jabbing into you,” Tobia said. “Comfort and function is number one.”