July may be nearing its end, but summer is still going strong. And model Paloma Elsesser’s new collaboration with indie brand Dos Swim is here to help the masses beat the season’s blazing temperatures in high style.
On Monday, the model announced her new partnership, titled “Heat Wave,” with New York City-based brand Dos Swim. Founded in 2019 by friends Paula Hess and Shay Johnson, the label is known for its edgy, downtown-cool vibe. “To work with @shayferd & @paupauhess from every minute detail of cup, cut, and color means the world to me,” Elsesser wrote on Instagram. “Normalize working with your friends & it being perfect.”
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Elsesser first promoted the brand in 2020, posting a photo of a brown bikini set from Dos Swim on Instagram. Ranging from sizes XS to 3XL, the collection is filled with summer’s biggest trends, including floss string bikinis and whale tails, as well as triangle bikinis and skort bottoms, in red, green, and pink colorways. The brand also created three original prints with the help of nail artist Madeline Poole, a backstage mainstay at fashion shows.
For Elsesser, a champion of body inclusivity and diversity, the collection is another way of bringing her message off the runway. Over the past few years, she’s been involved in a handful of initiatives to create spaces for marginalized voices in the fashion industry, such as being on the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund panel that awarded Black designer Christopher John Rogers the honor in 2019. Earlier this year, she became part of the new VS Collective, a set of ambassadors that will help Victoria’s Secret renew its decades-old Angels image with a more empowering approach. “For way too long, the plus-size industry has been all about being extremely sexy,” she told Refinery29 in 2020. “I really feel like instead of all that, we can just be cool, we can have nuance, we can be strange.”
Elsesser’s new collab fits right into the swimwear ecosystem this season, where Y2K trends are taking over bodies of water in the form of whale tails, floss string bikinis, halter tops, and chain belts. Earlier this month, Lady Gaga gave the floss string bikini her stamp of approval with a look from skin-baring brand Lali + Layla, while Dua Lipa donned her own version with a neon orange tailored suit for a night out. Whale tails, the classic exposed lingerie styling trick from the early aughts, have also caught fire over the past year with celebs like Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian donning the risqué trend. The next addition to a retro-racy movement, is here just in time for the August beach trips, available on DosSwim.com.
