Over the last four years, the brand has been diversifying its range of products and for spring/summer 2013 it offers linen beach towels, short-sleeved cotton polo shirts and long-sleeved shirts in either cotton or linen, wood surfboards and sets to play Frescobol (the popular Brazilian beach sport that gave the name to the brand and is best described as a relaxed version of tennis or squash) comprising rubber balls and racquets hand-made from remnants of Brazilian woods used in the industrial production of furniture.

However, the highlight of Frescobol Carioca is undoubtedly its attractive swimwear. Bikini sets for women are offered in three styles of block colours, whereas men’s swimming trunks (named after popular Brazilian beaches) come as sports, tailored and limited edition styles, in a range of block colours or patterned versions.

For the moment, Frescobol Carioca is stocked in a select group of stores, resorts and beach clubs, including Harrods and Selfridges in London; The Conran Shop in London, Paris and Tokyo; Le Bon Marche in Paris; Lane Crawford in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing; Neiman Marcus in Miami, Palm Beach, Bal Habour, San Diego and Honolulu; and at the Copabana Palace hotel in its hometown of Rio de Janeiro. However, and as its popularity slowly increases, The Style Examiner expects Frescobol Carioca to garner many more followers worldwide.

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As a collective noun used to define clothes and accessories generally worn on casual occasions (normally holidays) by the swimming pool and the beach or on a boat or yacht at sea, beachwear is normally (and naturally) a more popular concept in seaside resorts that benefit from frequent warm weather. It follows, then, that the nebulous identity of beachwear as a category within the fashion industry is directly related to the geographical location and weather of the places where most fashion is created: consumers of designs originating from cities like London, Paris, Milan or New York (where cold seasons can be prolonged) may not see the need to purchase many items of beachwear; instead, they may only buy one or two swimsuits a year. As a consequence, very few designers tend to focus exclusively on beachwear and, therefore, it is not unusual for the majority of fashion weeks not to include collections devoted entirely to beachwear.

However, markets such as Latin America, Australia and parts of the USA (namely Florida) have witnessed a significant growth in this area, with prolific designers showcasing their beachwear collections during Miami and Rio de Janeiro fashion weeks. In Brazil, where beachwear is a sartorial force to reckon with and an individual consumer can purchase large quantities of different swimsuits and bikinis per season, many designers have focussed their collections on this fashion specialism. However, very few have attained the popularity and esteemed reputation for creativity achieved by Lenny Niemeyer.

Niemeyer started her career as a designer of bikinis and swimsuits for other brands in 1993. Ten years later, she founded her eponymous label and opened her first store in the affluent neighbourhood of Ipanema in Rio de Janeiro. Since then, she has developed a network of stockists that comprise 18 freestanding Lenny Niemeyer stores in Brazil and influential international retailers such as Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Au Bon Marche, Barneys New York, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. She started showing her collections on the runway of Fashion Rio in 1997, and has been a regular (and much anticipated) participant ever since.

For her Spring/Summer 2014 collection, shown during Fashion Rio in April 2013, Niemeyer found inspiration in the visual effects that light creates when it reflects on different textures. In addition to single-toned garments where white, black and caramel predominated, the collection featured prints with ombré effects and layers of colours and textures in Lycra fabrics worked across original asymmetric shapes. The result was a highly accomplished range of beachwear pieces with distinctive details such as ruffles on skirts and bikini tops, high collars and voluminous sleeves in swimsuits and dresses. Even though the most common opinion that followed the show was that the pieces displayed had been produced exclusively for the runway and not for her stores, there was no doubt that Lenny Niemeyer’s Spring/Summer 2014 collection went beyond having an advertorial purpose to ultimately confirm her most gifted creative talent as a fashion designer.

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Under the creative direction of Thomaz and Sharon Azulay (whose father David Azulay founded the label in the early 1970s by selling the original – and now iconic – side-tied bikini), the collection explored the combination of typically Brazilian fauna and flora with Baroque ornaments found in Portuguese tiles and palace architecture as a reflection of the historical period when the Portuguese court settled in Brazil to escape the Napoleonic invasions and made Rio de Janeiro the capital of the empire. The result achieved by Blue Man was an exciting range of swimwear, beachwear, footwear and accessories in bright colours and detailed patterns that, while combining Rio urban beach culture and historical references, will undoubtedly prove to become popular when they hit the stores later in the year.

For Spring/Summer 2014, Blue Man promises fluid pieces in transparent silk for lounging on the beach or by the pool that contrast with structured shoulder and waist lines in bathing suits, shirts and dresses. The influence of Hawaiian surf prints and the brand’s seminal relaxed approach to swimwear can be noticed in frayed denim bikinis and in bodysuits with vivid colours and patterns. And to anchor the lighter fabrics and cheerful designs, Lycra, denim and neoprene provide a successful balance to a collection that had the audience delirious and looking forward to another hot Rio Summer.

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The inspiration for the looks exhibited on the runway came from manifold sources: prints of leafs and highly textured plants stemmed from the work of Brazilian landscape architect and artist Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994); prints that evoked basket weaving and making were born out of a celebration of national folklore and the work of the Campana brothers (that, coincidently, curated the designs of this 35th edition of São Paulo Fashion Week); images of mangos, passion fruit and bananas reflected an appreciation of tropical flora, and drawings of birds such as macaws and toucans revealed the richness of Brazilian fauna. In addition, the country’s mineral (and financial) wealth could be witnessed in a variety of precious stones attached to swimsuits and bikinis that made some garments cost up to 12000 Reais (or nearly USD 6000).

In many ways, Liana Thomaz’s runway show to display her Spring/Summer 2014 collection for Água de Coco was a very Brazilian affair that confirmed that very few countries and their designers are able to confidently produce swimwear and lounge garments with such a stylish penchant.

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Inspired by the geometric shapes and monochromatic designs that characterized Art Deco architecture and design, Degreas opted to have her models strutting on a checked black and white carpet. This runway served not only as a way to mirror the colours chosen for the collection but also evoked tiling patterns in buildings designed by Rio de Janeiro architects inspired by their French counterparts during the 1920s and 1930s. This interpretation of a long-gone notion of high class pervaded an elegant collection that treated swimwear as an alluringly luxurious clothing form of its own accord.

In addition to swimsuits with see-through fabrics that allowed for coconut tree silhouettes to alternate with sharp geometric patterns in black or bright red, Adriana Degreas unveiled an elegant range of sleeveless and backless jumpsuits with deep V-neck lines, chiffon kaftans with silver embroideries in circular patterns, and flowing dresses that combined shimmering materials with silk elements. If there was a way to elevate swimwear to the realm of fashion, this was most certainly it.

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To address this dilemma, some swimwear companies have recently started producing tailored shorts that are simultaneously elegant but short and free-flowing enough to allow a good tan line and effortless swimming. Until recently, Aussiebum and Orlebar Brown seemed to dominate this market. However, there is now a new kid on the beach promenade that started producing what we, at The Style Examiner, started deeming one of the best swimwear currently available to men.

Designed and made in France, Swim-Ology’s swimming trunks are produced in plain colours or with discreet designs such as small skulls and bones, leaves, polka dots, plaid or stripes. We tried their Panama model and the verdict could not be more glowing. The shorts contain all the ingredients to make them ideal for swimming, lying on the beach, or walking around town: they are fastened by two buttons and zipped up in front, and include an internal net, an external back pocket fastened with a button, and side pockets. Most importantly, the waist line can be adjusted to the wearer’s body shape by two very secure side buckles, but always allowing for the shorts to sit comfortably at hip level. In essence, if you need to pack only one swim suit for your resort holiday, this is it!

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It is undeniable that, throughout the history of fashion advertising, promotional campaigns have relied on superficial beauty and sexualised imagery to draw customers into stores. Traditionally, this enticement stops on the shop floor, with brands allowing consumers to experience their products from a personal viewpoint in a purposefully created sense of individuality. However, when brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, and Gilly Hicks openly embrace skin-deep beauty, physical perfection, and sexuality purely to sell basic garments, accessories, skin products and fragrances to teenagers and young adults before, during and after the purchase stage, we cannot help but finding this a very unsavoury development in the fashion world.

Proof of this state of affairs happened on 12 May 2012 in central London. On that day, the British capital was inflicted with the sights of dozens of attractive, well-built and nearly naked young men and women who paraded throughout the city as part of a marketing exercise to celebrate the opening of the flagships stores for Hollister and Gilly Hicks in London. If, on the surface, this revealed a commercially savvy strategy to promote a fashion brand, deep down it was evidence of an extremely problematic and dangerous view of the human body as marketing tool.

As part of the Abercrombie & Fitch group, Hollister and Gilly Hicks essentially rely on the unashamed promotion of beauty and sex to make money. The stores’ staff are clearly employed because of their looks and anyone will struggle to find sales assistants with excessive body fat or who could be deemed unattractive. To further show their flesh and entice customers, girls parade in short dresses with lace and floral patterns and boys walk around the stores entrances in swimming trunks and flip-flops, in a permanent fake haze of carefree and highly sexualised Summer days. Their greetings to any customer consist of insincere smiles and scripted idiotic utterances such as ‘Hi guys!’ and ‘How’s it going?’

The stores sell an unashamed lifestyle that is purely physical and related to the casual world of sports and outdoors activities such as surfing or sunbathing. This is a world where intellectual or emotional activity of any kind is repressed, a move that many customers of fashion easily buy into. The importance of the physical over the intellectual is at the essence of the Hollister and Gilly Hick shop in central London’s prestigious Regent Street, as well of consumers’ need to engage in easy satisfaction. It is very telling that the new retail space for the two brands is replacing what used to be National Geographic Magazine store, which had to close owing to lack of interest and profitability.

The interior of the new Hollister flagship store in central London (the 30th store of the brand in the UK) is bathed in images of water flowing and surfing as the brand intends to be known for selling a southern California lifestyle. At the same time, the dark wood that pervades all areas and the very dim lighting (which has garnered criticism from some consumers who have pointed out that they cannot see what they are buying) serve to display collections of clothes and accessories divided into a crude gender polarization between males (the ‘Dudes’) and females (the ‘Bettys’).

The fact that there is actually very little space to move inside the store is created with a sense of forceful urgency in mind that funnels customers through the shopping experience in close proximity to staff who look like models and products. The clothes seem to be of reasonably good quality and the design, if basic, is satisfactory. However, journalists and shoppers are told that no photographs can be taken on the inside of the store. In addition, finding images of the stores’ interiors has proven to be difficult. This has not only to do with the brand protection to avoid counterfeiting but mostly to preserve a controlled mystique of desirability to consumers who will have to go inside the store to experience the brand and part with money.

In the same building, and across the hall from Hollister, Gilly Hicks describes itself as ‘the cheeky cousin of Abercrombie & Fitch’. It provides underwear, swimwear and sleepwear for women at affordable prices and relying on a colourful formula. Gilly Hicks explores the phrase ‘Down Under’ in crassly literal and metaphorical ways and has added the word ‘Sydney’ to its branding, making this the only of the five Abercrombie & Fitch brands not to rely on symbols of Americana. Like Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch, the lifestyle that Gilly Hicks sells is centred on a pornographic view of fashion, where the fine line between sexy and soft-core porn is easily crossed.

There is little doubt that, with such enticing marketing, these stores will prove to be profitable and of interest to young British consumers. As for us, at The Style Examiner, when it comes to fashion we see very little creativity and the potential to celebrate individuality in the clothes and lifestyles engendered by the Abercrombie & Fitch brands. Even if the quality of the clothes could speak for itself, the overwhelming use of the body beautiful as a profitable commodity remains an extremely worrying fact and something that we find ourselves not able to endorse in any shape or form.

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