Bikini or swimsuit? Choose whichever makes you feel like your best self | Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion

On the beach, in the park and at the lido, a battle as old as time – or at least, as old as Brigitte Bardot – is back. Are you team swimsuit, or team bikini? The bikini is back in the game. For a few summers, the one-piece had the fashion momentum. But in fashion, as in life, change is the one thing you can bet on. So much so that it could be time to cross the floor.

I have always been a bikini person. This has less to do with fashion than with comfort. There are women in swimwear all around us – on adverts, in shop windows, on social media – which makes it easy to think of swimwear as an aesthetic choice. But it is not really – unless you are, or are likely to be, a Love Island contestant. For the rest of us, swimwear is only for rare days when we are very lucky with both the weather and our to-do list. Those days don’t come around all that often, so all that counts is that what you wear makes those days better.

I love a bikini because when it’s hot I want to jump in the water as much as possible, and I don’t like the feeling of sitting around in a wet swimsuit. So I am happier in a bikini, because I’m not soggy. And happier is the point. Also, I think bikinis suit me better. Nothing to do with body shape, but because as a shockingly inelegant swimmer I feel a sporty one-piece oversells my athletic ability. The only beach activity I am proficient at is reading novels.

There is another reason. When I was growing up, one-piece swimsuits were for squares (so were bikini tops, come to that) but the rise of athleisure and the decline of tan culture saw swimsuits leapfrog to the top of the fashion tree a few years ago. Complicated silhouettes – asymmetric, or with keyhole cutouts – made the one-piece directional, and the bikini merely practical. But with the revival of 90s and 2000s looks – boho being this year’s summer story – bikinis have heat again.

I have two useful questions to ask when you are choosing between swimwear options. The first is: what will you be comfortable in when you need to walk to the beach bar/stand at the edge of the sea and shout at your children about suncream. In other words: if you only feel good in it when you hold your tummy in, or while you are lying flat, pass. When you stand in front of the mirror, don’t look at your body; look yourself in the eye and gauge how confident and positive you feel about yourself at that moment – how happy, in other words – and be guided by that.

Second: what will work in the transitional moments when you want to put something on over your swimwear. A full change on the beach, with all the knicker and bra wrangling, is seldom elegant, so this matters. A one-piece might be helpful here, if you can wrap a sarong around it or throw on a shirt and be dressed enough for a picnic lunch. If you can muster a casual lunch look, that is a plus. I’m never entirely convinced by the swimsuit as a beach-to-bar eveningwear. Does anyone really do that? Isn’t it all sandy and gritty? What about the wet beach towels – don’t you need to get them back to the Airbnb to dry for tomorrow?

If you are in the market for a bikini rather than the excellent Ookioh one-piece you can see here (£100), I can vouch for the Hunza G popcorn-effect bikini – mine’s the Jean bandeau style, £165 for the set; they come in a bunch of great colours. (Also, Hunza G are one-size-fits-all, so no worrying if you are bigger or smaller than you were last summer. It happens.)

If you prefer a little more structure, a hard recommend for the M&S scalloped bikini in neoprene – I bought this style last year, but the same one is available now. Looks designer, costs £22.50 for the top and £15 for the matching bottoms. In fact, that style also comes in a scallop-edged one-piece, for £35. We’ve got you covered. Or as covered as you prefer, anyway. The choice is yours.

Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Hair and makeup: Sophie Higginson using Colour Wow and Chantecaille. Styling assistants: Sam Deaman and Nyima Jobe. Model: Kitty Su at Milk