A swimsuit, bathing suit or swimming costume is an item of clothing designed to be worn for swimming. In New Zealand English and some areas of Australian English, swimsuits are usually called togs. This term is less common in other parts of the Commonwealth where it can also refer to clothes in general. Swimsuits can be skin-tight or loosely fitting and range from garments designed to preserve as much modesty as possible to garments designed to reveal as much of the body as possible without actual nudity. They are often lined with a fabric that prevents them from becoming transparent when wet.

Swimsuits types and styles

The monokini, a style of swimsuit that most often takes the form of a bikini bottom without the corresponding top, leaves a woman's breasts uncovered. Monokinis are quite common in many places throughout South AmericaFact: date=February 2007 and Europe due to the high instance of topless beaches, though due to taboos they are almost never seen in the United States, except in places with a strong European tourist influence. For pre-pubescent girls leaving the chest uncovered is sometimes considered acceptable.

Swimming without a bathing suit is a form of social nudity. Special nude beaches may be reserved for nude sunbathing and swimming. Swimming in the nude is also known by the slang term "skinny-dipping". As an alternative to a bathing suit, some people use their trousers, underpants or T-shirt as a make-shift swimsuit. At beaches, norms for this tend to be more relaxed than at swimming pools, which tend not to permit this because underwear is unlined, may become translucent, and may be perceived as unclean.

Swimsuits are also worn for the purpose of body display in beauty pageants. Magazines like Sports Illustrated's annual "swimsuit issue" feature models and sports personalities in swimsuits.

Women's swimsuits

One-piece swimsuits

• Tank suit, or simply one-piece: Probably the most common form of one-piece swimsuit, the tank suit form is inspiration for the subsequent creation of the tank top as a mainstream article of clothing. The name "tank suit" is also supposed to be derived from the term "swimming tank", an obsolete term for what is now called a swimming pool.
• Monokini: a term used for different styles of one-piece swimsuits inspired by the bikini style. A monokini is a bikini shaped that has been modified into one piece- for instance a monokini may be a bikini shape from the back, but with the torso covered in the front. Sling bikinis are sometimes, though not often, referred to as monokinis.
• Thong swimsuit: One-piece swimsuit with thong back, buttocks exposed, otherwise ordinary