Heidi Klum’s New Swimwear Collection Won’t Give You Crazy Tan Lines
Most weeks are busy for Heidi Klum. The model turned media maven is the host, judge, and executive producer of Project Runway, host and judge of Germany’s Next Top Model, and a judge on America’s Got Talent. She also has her own lingerie line, Heidi Klum Intimates, which launched its first-ever swimwear collection on Wednesday, at an event at Bloomingdale’s 59th Street location in New York City. But the start of this week in particular was a big one for Klum, who threw her annual star-studded Halloween party on Monday. Before we sat down yesterday evening to chat about her latest effort, we found Klum sipping water in between interviews, a necessity, she said, “especially after Halloween.” And from what we know about how Heidi does Halloween, she needed all the hydration she could get.
Klum’s costumes are always extremely elaborate, and this year was no exception. Although she was dressed in what we would consider typical celeb party fare, she showed up with the ultimate #girlsquad — five women dressed as Klum clones. According to Klum, the process took 11 hours. “I went to the studio, where they were getting the girls ready at 12, and we left at 11 at night. We were running really behind,” she told Yahoo Style. Her costume this year was an ode to her busy lifestyle. “People always say, ‘How do you do it all? How do you juggle it all? You have four children, you have so many jobs…’ I do three TV shows a year. I always say I wish I could clone myself. And then I was thinking, “Wait, I can clone myself,” and so I did that for Halloween.”
Halloween fantasies aside, Klum is still just one woman doing a whole lot, and this swimwear line is only one of her many ventures. As daunting it sounds to launch a brand-new range, it wasn’t much of a stretch. “I’ve been designing lingerie now for the past two years, and been having a lot of fun with it. It was a natural fit to go from lingerie to swim, because a lot of the construction is very much the same — we’re covering the same body parts! It just has to get wet,” she said.
This collection was designed to appeal to women who take a no-fuss approach to swimwear. “Not everyone wants to have a crazy print with things bedazzled on them. Some want to have a great basic, so I wanted to do that too,” Klum said. “Have great one-piece basic pieces with a great fit, and then go all the way up to an itsy-bitsy triangle bikini.” One thing she definitely didn’t want was a swimsuit that ended up giving you crazy tan lines. “I don’t want to be that person who does the 5,000 straps, who does the complicated swimsuits you don’t know how to get into, or the one-shoulder madness. You know, you go from the beach, you change into a beautiful strapless dress, and you go out, and then you have all these crazy strap tan lines everywhere. Who wants that? No one does. You already have a little sunburn, and it looks weird. I think you can have it in fashion, but I don’t love it so much on the beach.”
Another thing Klum doesn’t love at the beach? Cold water. “If the temperature of the water is not hot, I’m not going in,” she dished. “If it is a pool, a shower, a bathtub, or an ocean, I’m not going in it. I see everyone jumping in, and it’s supposed to be good for your skin, but I’m like a land lizard. It needs to be warm. I’ll fly farther to have something hot!”
Klum’s favorite style in the collection is her Kiss by the Sea bikini, one of the more funky options in the range, a black bikini with a bright floral print and a confetti sprinkling of neon embellishments. “I go to M&J trimmings, I look at all the things you can bedazzle with, and then I do the prototype,” Klum said, explaining her design process. “Then it goes to the company, and they have to see if they can make it. A lot of times, they say, ‘Well, we have to do 10 less than what you wanted to put on, because otherwise it can’t be within the price point.'”
Klum’s swim collection is available online now, so if you’re looking for classic pieces that won’t give you tan lines from hell, her range is a pretty good bet. There are tankinis, bikinis, one-pieces, and cover-ups that you’ll look good in even if you don’t have mile-long legs, like Heidi does. And in case you want to show off your Klum swimsuit on social media, the model has a some tips for taking the perfect bikini shot: “Take more pictures than you think you need, and then edit,” she said. Another tip? Don’t be afraid to show off your curves. “If you pose in a bikini, arch and put your shoulders back, booty out. Show the curves! Make a nice S-shape.”
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