Living in Australia, we celebrate our holiday season as the weather heats up meaning that if you wear a holdiay jumper during the holidays, you might expire from heat stroke. Although I find the idea of my holiday season being chilly rather romantic, the reality is I’m reaching for the deodorant and trying to stay out of the sun as much as I can. In saying this, it also makes the holiday season rather unique and one way of celebrating the current spooky season is by hitting the beach with my spider web swimsuit from Red Dolly Swimwear. Now we’ve reviewed Red Dolly before but I thought in spirit of the holiday season, a spooky beach vibe is something fun, unique and different. You may recognise this swimsuit from a recent pageant I did in Sydney and yes, it is the same swim and I love it so much, I had to give it it’s own feature.

On Red Dolly’s Etsy page, there is a similar swimsuit to mine with a few differences (click here for link). This particular swimsuit is closer to the original inspiration with the white back on the bikini top and bottoms as well as the bottoms being more of a mini skirt coverup rather that actual bikini bottoms. The similar swimsuit looks just as cute and I love the cute mini skirt idea. This swim can be found on their website so click this link to see it. For those wanting to know a bit about the brand Red Dolly, Red Dolly Swimwear is designed by Washington based designer, Heather Stepanik. “Heather graduated from The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles in 2004. From then she went on to become a bridal seamstress until 2008, at which point she started her own swimwear line, Red Dolly. Her fashion line has expanded to include baby and girls swimwear. The brand is continuing to grow and spread throughout the world”.  Red Dolly is inspired by vintage stylings, quality and a strive for uniqueness.

This spider web fantasy comes in two parts, the bikini top and the bikini bottom. The bikini top is held up by two adjustable black straps that go over the shoulders, has a lined bra and an elastic back. The top slides over the head and I personally found the fit to be pretty great; there was no cups in the bust but the lining pad was enough to stop the cups going see through when wet or having a nip stick out. I don’t have the fullest of busts but I do find this bikini fits quite well. It doesn’t have a push up or lifting feature but I suppose if you are clever enough with a sewing needle, you can add in some proper cups for your own lift and bra preferences. I love the spider print on the top as it features the top half of a spider web. The black background of the print isn’t very dark but in contrast to the white spider web lines, it works quite well. The straps of the bikini are adjustable and not very thick which can be a plus.

The bottoms are high waisted and fully lined. They reach up to my waist line which I love as it helps to hide my Endo belly. The bottoms are not gathered which is quite a nice change from a lot of other vintage style bathers and I think it works well in showing off the spider web print. The bottoms feature the centre of the spiders web but are aligned in such a way that the central point is slightly higher making it more flattering than being lower down which may excentuate lower belly pudge or Endo belly. I love how the bottoms don’t have a massive waistband and instead are just finished off with a strong seam. The back of both the bikini bottoms and top are plain black which is also quite a nice touch.

The customer service of Red Dolly is fantastic. When I was originally buying this swimsuit for the pageant, I was a little pressed for time. I ended up emailing Red Dolly to ask if they were able to express ship the bikini to me and they very kindly and quickly set that up for me. The bikini was here with time to spare and it was such a relief to have it before I left for the pageant. I found Red Dolly’s email communication to be quick, helpful and very friendly; I will definitely be shopping with them in the future and already have my eye on my next few bikini’s.

This swimsuit is fabulous for those what keep Halloween in their heart all year long, lovers of the spooky or those like myself who are celebrating Halloween somewhere warm and tropical. All Red Dolly swimsuits are available in sizes small to extra large and are made from 85% nylon, 15% spandex. They are hearty, sturdy and adorable. The perfect summer swimsuit for a vintage lover. Such a swim can be a lot of fun and a chance to express oneself and their likes. I found it fun to embrace my witchy side whilst somewhere tropical and find a new way to celebrate Halloween in a place that probably doesn’t really do Halloween as much as other countries.

The best thing about this swim is that it makes me feel cute and confident which is everything you need in a pair of bathers. October just so happened to be the month my husband and I decided to go on our proper honeymoon as a few life changes are happening for us soon and we might not get a chance to go for a while. So all the photos of this swimsuit are taken on the gorgeous island of Kani in the Maldives. Yes, on a luxury resort, I was strutting around in a spider bikini and a witches hat because Halloween is life. We had such a lovely time and really took time out to rest and relax which is just what I needed. I will have a full write up on my honeymoon soon so please check back.

If you’d like more Red Dolly reviews, check out this blog.
If you’d like a list of vintage inspired swimwear brands, check out this blog.

I am excited to announce that these images have recently been printed in Retro Lovely’s Halloween edition magazine. You can find a copy here.

Note: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions and thoughts expressed are solely my own and not influenced in any way. There are no affiliate links and I do not benefit from any link clicks or purchases made.