For your next dip in the pool, glide into the water in a shiny metallic swimsuit. It’s a playful alternative to matte one-tone sets. The subtle shine style is even a 2022 swimwear trend, with celebrities like Kim and Khloé Kardashian, J.Lo, and Lizzo sporting their jazziest metallic swimsuits for the summer. In fact, R29’s fashion director reviewed a sparkling hot-pink one-shoulder from Good American, making it clear that metallic swimwear is a summer favorite you don’t want to sleep on.
It’s why we rounded up the eye-catching bikinis, monokinis, one-pieces, and tankinis below. Find a champagne bandeau set from Skims or a flirty teal green tankini from Cupshe. There’s a style for everyone in bronze, gold, and pastel hues. Also, if you want a bit more glitz, add a belly chain to top off the look. You’ll be decked out in the season’s trendiest attire. Just don’t forget a woven straw hat to protect you from the sun while you’re enjoying a cool breeze in your new glamorous swimsuit.
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Even before launching her namesake brand earlier this year, Puerto Rico-born designer Amanda Forastieri has used fashion as a tool of political and cultural expression. The Drexel University alum’s student collections, titled “La lucha de la Borincana” (A Puerto Rican’s fight) and “Utopia,” delved into themes like Puerto Rico’s femicide crisis and the human-nature relationship. Following her winning the 2020 Supima Design Competition, Forastieri is now intent on building a brand rooted in sustainability, decolonization, and transparency.
For the brand’s debut collection — titled “Fora,” a shortened version of the designer’s last name — Forastieri looked inward for inspiration. “This was the first time that I was able to create outside an academic or competition setting, so there was a lot of freedom,” she says. “Every part of the collection, visually and conceptually, is directly linked to a process of self-discovery.”
The eight-piece line — which includes a dress, a puff-sleeve top, a jumpsuit, a pair of high-waisted shorts, and three scarves — features Forastieri’s signature bold prints, including abstract geometrical shapes and psychedelic flowers, which are drawn by hand. Each garment is also named after an element of Forastieri’s brand mission: For example, the “Cuerpa” jumpsuit references a term queer communities in Puerto Rico have claimed to degenderize the masculine word for body. “[The collection] has a lot to do with emotional processes with other humans and nature, as well as transformation,” the designer explains.
While Forastieri got her design degree in Philadelphia and worked as a designer for other brands in cities like New York and Copenhagen, she says she wanted to come home for this collection — in more ways than one. That’s why Forastieri tapped the Cooperativa Industrial Creación de la Montaña in the town of Utuado in Puerto Rico to create the pieces, an unusual move for many of the archipelago’s creatives. (Although Puerto Rico has a long legacy of fashion designers — including New York Fashion Week alums like Stella Nolasco and Luis Antonio — few use local manufacturers to create their pieces, leaving garment workers to depend on government and military uniforms to maintain their operations.) “It was a new thing for both of us,” says Forastieri.
Amid a decade-long financial crisis and back-to-back natural disasters that have deepened Puerto Rico’s social and economic issues, many young creatives like Forastieri are using their craft to contribute to their homeland’s future and to “engage local communities for all aspects of the supply chain.”
“There are a lot of projects like mine developing in Puerto Rico,” she says, referring to spaces like the multi-designer sustainable fashion platform Modo Consciente. “It’s all about connecting to communities.”
Forastieri also leaned into sustainable practices, using natural dyes to create the larger-than-life prints the brand is known for. “I learned a lot about how wasteful dyeing with Pantone colors is,” she says of the collection, which includes some synthetic dyes. “So I tried to find a way to reduce that waste without sacrificing the vibrancy of the colors.” She partnered with other creatives for this pursuit: For example, for the magenta color in the “El Amanecer” (the dawn) top and pants, Forastieri tapped Brooklyn-based artist Cara Marie Piazza, who has previously worked with designers like Jason Wu, Eckhaus Latta, and Mara Hoffman, to create the shade from flowers. Forastieri says she’s looking for other ways to tap creatives in Puerto Rico who are using organic elements, like algae, to create original shades for future collections. “Those are alternatives that are much more in balance with our natural habitat,” she says.
While this is the first collection for the designer’s namesake brand, Forastieri is already looking for ways to expand, from handmade art to hand-drawn prints for other artists to use to new categories like swimwear. And though she entered the market through fashion, Forastieri emphasizes that the brand goes beyond clothes, aiming to be a project that connects communities with the clothes they wear.
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When Yen Pang first visited a Costco in 1999, during a trip from Australia, she was “blown away” by the sight of the vast warehouse filled with giant boxes, house appliances, good-deal electronics, and super-sized groceries: “It was like the best collection of products in one place.” But while Pang, who now lives in the San Francisco area, learned of Costco’s clothing selection soon after that first trip, she wasn’t as fast to jump aboard: “I remember thinking, Why would anyone buy clothes here?” she says. “In my twenties, I just really preferred going to the mall.”
It wasn’t until she had her daughter that she changed her mind, finding the store not only convenient for its one-stop-shop capabilities, but affordable and, yes, even stylish thanks to its large selection of T-shirts, leggings, and skorts. “It’s very practical clothing,” she says. “So it was just convenient for me to start buying clothes there.”
A person wearing a protective mask exits a Costco store in Richmond, California, U.S., on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. Costco Wholesale Corp. is schedule to release earnings figures on March 4. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Pang is one of many shoppers who have found themselves awakening to the unexpected appeal of Costco clothing since the warehouse-style store opened its doors in 1976. On social media, you will find plenty of customers trading recommendations and tips for buying clothes at Costco. On TikTok, the search term “Costco clothing finds” has grown nearly 2 billion views, while the hashtag #costcoclothes grew to over 4 million views, mostly through videos of clothing hauls that could rival those from Zara or Aritzia. Meanwhile, Facebook groups like “Today At Costco,” which was founded by Pang, have over 50,000 members.
While Costco fans thrive online, most sources interviewed for this story say they go to the store in person, and that’s because shopping at the warehouse is unlike any other retail experience. Usually located in the middle of the store, the clothing section spans dozens of tables with pieces piled on top of each other, topped by white-and-black signs with brand names like Nike, Adidas, and Eddie Bauer, as well as the company’s own label, Kirkland. The deals speak for themselves — Calvin Klein leggings at $19.99, Banana Republic shorts at $14.99, etc. — encompassing a shopping experience devoid of the decor, overly curated merchandising, and crowds ubiquitous in malls and boutiques. Yet, it’s all full of today’s biggest fashion trends: On a recent visit, I spotted low-rise cargo pants, skorts, and tracksuits. (Costco declined to comment on how they source their merchandise.)
“Costco’s really doing a great job keeping up with trends and keeping up with big-brand names that are in style,” says the Canada-based creator behind the Instagram and TikTok channel @jsapproved, who declined to disclose her full name for privacy concerns. “It’s really starting to cater more to a younger audience.” As a kid, the creator dreaded going to the warehouse with her parents, who bought everything from groceries and electronics to clothes there. Now, with over 24,000 followers on Instagram and nearly 200,000 on TikTok, where she posts about deals she finds on fashion and beauty at the store, the creator is preaching the Costco gospel one video at a time. “That’s probably some of the most popular content I post,” she says. “People are always interested in the fashion deals.”
Margaret Peel of Agoura shops for a shirt at Costco in Westlake Village. (Photo by Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Many of the sources interviewed for this article mentioned the pandemic as one of their main reasons for starting to shop at Costco. (The company declined to comment on whether the company has seen an uptick in sales for clothing since the pandemic started, yet, according to a report for investors, the company’s e-commerce saw 50%-plus increases in sales in 2020 as more people shopped online.)
Before 2020, California-based Tiffany Weis would have “never thought” to buy clothes at Costco, but, since she began working from home as a result of the pandemic, her style priorities have changed. “It’s all about comfort,” the 53-year-old says. “It’s kind of like a whole new mindset.” @jsapproved, too, shops for loungewear, a style that defined the lockdown period, at Costco, where multi-packs of tube socks and $10 sweatpants reign: “I love to dress up, but when I’m home and even when I’m running errands, I want to be comfortable.” She’s turned to Costco for matching sets, sweatpants, roomy bags, and leggings, many of which she finds are dupes of higher-end athleisure names.
But, while during the height of the pandemic, people’s lifestyles may have prompted Costco’s popularity, now, with inflation reaching 9% in June 2022, it’s the rising costs for food, gas, and other essential goods in the United States that may prompt shoppers to seek out Costco’s fashion. Even prior to 2020, people like Dee Bee, 40, co-administrator of the “Today At Costco” group, relied on Costco to keep household costs down. She first started shopping for clothes at Costco when her two kids were born because it offered her the ability to shop in bulk. In the past, she found deals like Eddie Bauer top-and-shorts sets for $15: “You can’t beat that.” (While Costco declined to comment on the company’s pricing strategy, according to Business Insider, membership, low-cost advertising, and its private brand figure in how the company is able to keep prices low.)
While social media and the current economic concerns have certainly prompted Costco shoppers to approach the store’s fashion finds in a new light, if people like Pang — who, nearly a decade after she first started shopping for her clothing at Costco, still finds herself drawn to the store’s apparel selection— are any indication, there will be a lasting effect to this phenomenon.
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Flash-fashion events are like lightning, only lasting a hot second before disappearing into the seasonal ether — but even such fleeting fads can leave a lasting mark. Welcome to Micro Trends, where we explore the latest and greatest of these blink-and-you’ll-miss-them style moments.
Somewhere in an alternate universe, Steve Urkel is quaking in his oxfords. The calf-length ribbed crew sock, which had long been associated with the likes of, say, beloved TV nerds or certain sock-reliant athletes, has been fully embraced by the fashion crowd this summer. And, obviously, wearing visible crew socks isn’t a groundbreaking moment, but what seems to be the name of the game this particular summer is this: The higher the crew sock, the better. These sweltering temperatures are no sweat for the folks who are trading in their ankle-length or no-show socks for ribbed pairs that come up mid-calf or higher.
Street style stars from Bella Hadid to Emma Chamberlain have been pulling up these tube socks and pairing them with virtually every kind of footwear: chunky loafers, platform Mary Janes, ballet flats, and (of course) regular workout sneakers. And, with a dose of sartorial confidence, these outfits look anything but dorky — these mid-calf crew socks actually turn the most predictable of summer looks into something more unexpected. Planning to wear a mini dress with strappy sandals? Add a pair of crew socks for a sportier take! Thinking of styling high-waisted denim shorts with a vintage T-shirt tucked in? Pull up a pair of white ribbed socks with your Adidas Sambas for a throwback summer camp moment! Unabashedly leaning into this big sock energy — and having a joyous, playful time with it — can make even the most sock-adverse curious. Who could have predicted that grandpa-approved short shorts and compression socks could become such a coveted look?
While there are a plethora of ribbed crew socks you can buy (I also wrote about these surprisingly Amazon-viral, top-selling slouch socks last year), the mid-calf sock that people — both athletes and fashion people alike — seem to keep recommending is the best-selling Nike Everyday Cushioned and Nike Everyday Plus Cushioned socks, which are sweat-wicking, supportive, and comfortable for feet during intense workouts. (The “Plus” refers to the cushion level, not foot size, which has extra cushioning under the heel and forefoot.) There’s plushness at the heel, built-in arch support, and a snug band that doesn’t droop even during cardio drills. For those who are strictly style-oriented, the big bonus seems to be that these Nike socks aren’t overwhelmingly thick, meaning they’re relatively effortless to wear with all types of shoes.
For further investigation, I consulted Brooke Huseby, an NYC-based creative producer and self-proclaimed sock fanatic. She is often wearing Nike Everyday Cushioned socks with virtually every kind of outfit, whether it’s for the tennis courts or casually out on the town. “I’m a wearer of crew socks because they’re the most versatile. My legs are pretty long, and ankle socks or anything shorter than a mid-calf crew looks a little disproportionate,” Huseby says. “There’s also a little athletic element that might imply ‘I play sports.’ Crews are also really great because you can hide them under a trouser — no one would ever know the sock length — or pair with a skirt and expect them to be seen.”
When I asked if she had any theories on why these socks are having a bit of a moment, Huseby circled the trend back to sneaker fandom: “The hype over sneakers just continues on and on and on — look up any photo of Bella Hadid wearing sneakers or check out the line for Aimé Leon Dore New Balances whenever there’s a drop. Crew socks may just be the best way to showcase a sneaker, but when people see these trends come from sources like these, expect them to multiply.” In terms of styling the crew sock, Huseby’s current go-to pairings are with the UGG Tasman X, the Wales Bonner x Adidas collab, and the Maryam Nassir Zadeh Kiki boot, though she emphasizes how versatile these socks are with all shoes.
Rest assured, there are plenty of other MVP-level crew socks options if displaying the Nike logo isn’t your jam. Huseby also loves the Skims Sport Crew Sock, priced affordably at $10 a pair, which she says are super comfortable and lightweight. For a more elevated foot-swathing experience, the Comme Si Yves Trio, a three-pair pack for $85, is a fancy upgrade: “The Egyptian cotton is like a luxury hotel bed for your feet.”
Below, get a closer look at and shop these fan-fave Nike crew socks:
Best For: People who want a thinner sock with less cushioning The Hype: 4.5 out of 5 stars and 321 reviews What Customers Are Saying: “Great comfortable socks. [They] keep their shape and elasticity after many washings. I bought these over a year ago. I like socks that stay up and don’t slip down to my ankles. These are perfect.” —Reviewer sunglasskid22 atNike.com
Best For: People who want more cushioning in the heel and forefoot The Hype: 4.7 out of 5 stars and 661 reviews What Customers Are Saying: “They are really good! The color is strong and reaches about mid-calf. Sock is made out of very strong material, have had them for around 2 months now, and they are still in almost perfect condition. However, when I took them off for the first 2 – 3 times, fuzz would come out (padding) and get all over the floor. But after wearing them for a while, that doesn’t become a problem anymore. Will probably buy again.” —Reviewer JoshG555884242 atNike.com
At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. All product details reflect the price and availability at the time of publication. If you buy or click on something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.
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