Five Reasons Why You Should Get a Proper Swimsuit Fitting

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Swimsuit chain Everything But Water just opened its first Manhattan location on the Upper East Side, where it also offers special fittings with its in-store experts. Curious, what that entails, we scheduled one.

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• A Mara Hoffman bikini that's exclusive to the store
• And a matching Mara Hoffman exclusive coverup

The Everything But Water store on Madison Avenue opened this past weekend, despite the very unbeachy weather that plagued both Saturday and Sunday. The shop, the brand's first in New York City, fills a void in Manhattan: great standalone swimsuit shops. We stopped by earlier today for an appointment with one of the store's fit experts, and found that this is a hell of a lot better than going at it alone. After the jump, we've broken that down into five of the most crucial reasons why.

1. You could use a hand navigating the selection
There are a lot of suits to try on at Everything But Water, including one-pieces and two-pieces by Zimmermann, Mara Hoffmann, Lisa Marie Fernandez, and all the other swim staples. (There are also sarongs, resort wear, sandals, etc.) Had we walked in solo, it would have taken for-ev-er to sort through them all. Instead of walking in with ten, we walked in with five, and left with two.

2. You probably don't know your size
Swim suit shopping means fitting both your top and bottom in very little material, and if you're like most women, those parts of your body are probably two different sizes. This gets especially tricky when shopping at a multi-brand retailer, since you might not personally know if Zimmermann runs small and if Mara runs big. It was extremely helpful to find out that information ahead of time—it prevented a few dressing room meltdowns.

3. Mirrors are the worst, anyway
Sure, a mirror can tell you whether or not something fits you, but picking up on the slight nuances in your mannerisms is a different story. (For example, you might not notice if you're subconsciously covering your body, but they will. They'll also notice if you step out of the fitting room like you own the place.) If you do that, you should probably buy that suit.

4. It's good to shop with someone who doesn't love you as much as your mom.
Or your (impatient) best friend, or your boyfriend. (There are some things your significant other shouldn't bear witness to, like you grunting your way through bathing suit shopping.) Having an unbiased, third-party participant in this excursion should keep you from buying something that doesn't do you any favors. It might, however, make you buy more than I you planned, which isn't the worst thing that could happened.

5. And shopping with someone is a lot better than shopping alone.
Because you might need someone to talk you down from the ledge when that one-piece gets stuck around your thighs and just won't budge any further.
· Swim Shop Everything But Water Will Ease You Into Bikini Season [Racked NY]
· Thirteen Places to Shop for Bathing Suits in New York City [Racked NY]