One of the few anxieties about beach weather is finding a cool, well-fitting swimsuit at an affordable price. It’s especially hard to pick one online, when you’re viewing it on the body of an airbrushed model—because even the model doesn’t look like that.
Enter Target’s latest swimwear catalog, which features four models with all different body types and absolutely no Photoshop.
Dancer Megan Batoon, pro skateboarder Lizzie Armanto, model and body positivity advocate Denise Bidot, and TV host Kamie Crawford were chosen for the campaign, and each prefers a different fit for a different reason—from having an active lifestyle to wanting to hug her curves in all the right ways.
In 2014, a study out of England concluded that what we wear helps dictate our moods and confidence levels. Interestingly enough, female participants in the study performed better on math tests while wearing a sweater than in a swimsuit.
Target has been working to change those attitudes. In November, Target introduced its new swimwear brand Shade & Shore, with real bra sizes from 32A to 38DDD, as opposed to letter sizes from XS to XL. Shade & Shore also offers four different fits for swim tops and four different fits for swim bottoms, offering affordable swimwear for more body types.
These actions of body inclusivity are a part of the company’s #TargetSwim campaign—which may be in response to a thigh-gap fail in 2014, when a Target catalog featured an obviously photoshopped junior swimsuit model.
