What is actually trending in swimwear for 2016?

At last week’s swimwear extravaganza in Miami where runways were installed under tents and above swimming pools at lavish and tourist-friendly South Beach hotels, models strutted down catwalks and posed for hours at a time, wearing known swim brands such as Beach Bunny, Maaji, Luli Fama, Tori Praver and more.

Watching back-to-back shows at Miami Swim Week can only tell people so much about what is truly trending in the swim world. How does one decide what swimsuit works best? We all want to wear the coolest swimsuit to the yacht party, you know – the one all the girls will ask you about.

Here are five styles of swimwear that are currently trending according to the runways of Miami Swim Week: 

1. Crochet 

Brand: Anna Kosturova

It may be uncomfortable to swim with, as wet crochet feels heavy, but it sure is cute to hang out in. 

2. Sporty and covered up

Brand: Lume Swimwear

Yep, believe it or not, the covered up, sporty, surfergirl style is trending a lot. 

3. Strapped up

Brand: Aguaclara

Designers went in and got super creative with the straps, combining them into figures and shapes: vertical, criss-cross, horizontal and whatever style comes to mind.

4. Off-the-shoulder

Brand: Luli Fama

We all know how big this trend is right now, but many of us didn’t know it would also be so influential and that it would make such a statement on this year’s runways, so there you have it. Off-the-shoulder tops up the wazoo. 

5. Funky one-pieces

Brand: Lee and Lani

Less is more right now in the swimwear world. Nothing is trending more that cool styles of one-pieces with ruffles, mesh, patches and in this case, a huge guitar. 

All photos by Simon Soong for Funkshion

This story was originally published July 23, 2016 at 10:07 PM.