Fashion
Vintage Swimwear Is The Ultimate It-Girl Power Move
Now more than ever, stars want to stand out — and a holy-grail Y2K runway bikini will do just that.
The choices for outfitting your beach-and-boat vacation are seemingly endless in 2025. If it’s not a covetable Khy collaboration with Frankies Bikinis, it’s one of several (hundred) Instagram brands and hot-girl must-haves flooding your feed with two-pieces and little swim skirts for days. Some of our favorite dressers, however, are turning to vintage and secondhand swimwear to stand out and own rare pieces that aren’t lurking around every corner of Southampton or Ibiza.
Kylie Jenner took to the Mediterranean for weeks spent popping into Greek restaurants and French beach clubs, and a few of her swimsuits were from the golden era of runway swimwear, aka the late ‘90s and early ‘00s. She sourced a John Galliano-era Dior bikini from Opulent Addict, a popular celebrity vintage source run by Anita Todorova. Todorova tells NYLON she finds her pieces “everywhere… collectors, dealers, auction houses, resale sites, other vintage stores, sample sales, and estate sales. We’ve even bought items previously owned by celebrities when they come on the market.” For those worried about purchasing two-pieces worn by someone else, Todorova says they try to source the majority of their pieces unworn or in excellent condition; they clean every piece that isn’t new with tags.
The rise in vintage runway finds on red carpets is also reflected in the way stars are dressing for their yachting and private-beach-clubbing. Todorova says the most popular pieces are from Gucci by Tom Ford (she lent the monokini seen on Tate McRae in her “Just Keep Watching” music video), Roberto Cavalli, Jean Paul Gaultier, Dolce & Gabbana, and Christian Dior. Hailey Bieber chose a two-piece Pucci set complete with a matching cropped cardigan and capris for her Balearic getaway to launch Rhode’s Lemontini Peptide Lip Tint.
As for specific pieces stylists and their A-list clients are after? Todorova says the Versace Spring 2005 gold monokini is a personal favorite of hers (did you get that, Kylie?), but the most requested collections are Gucci by Tom Ford (shocking). As far as styles go, monokinis are the most requested of the summer as seen on McRae and Jenner, who was spotted wearing a Roberto Cavalli embellished blue-and-white monokini. When it comes down to it, though, the stars are open to people like Todorova and trust her taste, so much so that they may just be collecting themselves. “Our swim pieces are in such great condition, so that may be a reason for their trust and open-mindedness. We have a lot of collectors that purchase from us, so some of the pieces are never intended to be worn.”
Like any great vintage piece, the thrill is in the chase. Secondhand dealers like Todorova revel in the hunt and elate in the placement on a celebrity as much as finding a permanent home for pieces like a Spring 1997 thong logo bikini from Tom Ford’s Gucci runway. If you’re weary of seeing the same silhouettes and trends on your For You page and in your closet, consider diving into the search yourself. The price tag might be hefty, but the resale value on the other side (and aura points you’ll get with the right crowd) will justify any bidding war you enter.
