Go Native

Pack your flip-flops  and get ready to give them a workout:  You can’t shop Sarasota in six-inch Christian Loboutins. Vacations and shopping go hand-in-hand, as you can tell from any travel guide to Paris, Hong Kong or Florence. But the real joy is finding something exquisitely made that’s also locally designed—and perhaps if you’re lucky, a store with a special expertise or concept you can’t find anywhere else in the world.

That said, consider this your guide to Sarasota’s insiders’ secrets, a tell-all exposé of the shopping haunts Frommer’s never heard of. We’ll take you to swimsuit
stores that know exactly how to fit you, shopping districts that rival the beach as attractions, and Sarasota-based jewelry and clothing designers with trend-setting, international styles.  

From Sports Illustrated to Siesta Key  

You’re on Siesta for the best white sand beach on the planet, so let’s begin with a swimsuit worthy of the setting. Sarasota’s own homegrown chain, Swim Mart/Swim City, has nine stores, all built on the premise that proper fit and great fashions aren’t mutually exclusive. “We specialize in separates,” explains owner Judy Johnson, whose mission is to fill every customer’s dream of a genuinely flattering swimsuit. But Johnson’s stores take separates to a new level—each 3,500 to 5,000-square-foot store has walls lined in separates as far as the eye can see.

“The ability to mix and match tops and bottoms solves the obvious issue of disproportionate hips and bosoms,” Johnson explains. But locals who live in bathing suits year-round demand perfection. “Our customers are flipping out over sophisticated separates that come in bra sizes,” she reports. Hot new names are Coco Rave for juniors and fashion-forward C Collection. Surprisingly chi-chi brands include Tara Grinna (bras to EE and bottoms to 18) and Sunsets (up to E bras) and adorable Palm Beach prints that are magnets for paparazzi (think Heidi Montag in Malibu and Heidi Klum in Sports Illustrated).

Johnson’s staff is trained to sift through racks with head-spinning designer names like Betsey Johnson, Trina Turk and Gottex to find the suit that will emphasize assets and camouflage figure flaws. Designed specifically to do just that are the ever-more fashion-forward Miracle Suit (would you believe you can lose 10 pounds in 10 seconds?) and Tommy Bahama, a best seller at Swim Mart and Swim City stores, which is also making waves with its own lifestyle store on St. Armands Circle.

To find out what makes Tommy suits so special, we went straight to the source: Lynne Koplin, president of Women’s, Tommy Bahama. “Our fit model has the perfect size specifications to ensure fit for a broad range of women, whether short or long torso, small or large-busted,” Koplin explains, noting that torso length, not height or weight, determines the right swimsuit size. “We’ve classified the four main body types and identified the key silhouettes in our inventory to accommodate them—our sales personnel are trained on which suits work for each body type,” she says.

Spectacular is the only body type that should wear Samba Brazilian Swimwear, and Sarasota-based designer Renata Swain has the physique to prove it (see photo insets, left). Swain’s fledgling brand shot to underground stardom at hip local stores like Stitch, T. Georgiano’s, CaliFlorida and Heather’s Closet. And though it’s just a year old, Samba is on its way to becoming a national brand with placements in boutiques in Cocoa Beach and Palm Beach and online stores with international customers.

A Sao Paulo native, Swain moved to Sarasota with her parents (former owners of the Chicken Pie Company on Gulf Gate) in 1992. But the samba beat is in her blood (her dad now owns the only Brazilian radio station in Florida, radiopompano.com), and Swain spotted an opportunity for her homeland’s best export when she noticed friends traveling to Miami to buy Brazilian bikinis.

“The Brazilian cut is one of a kind: It’s flattering on most women—smaller in back to show more skin. But it isn’t a G-string and it isn’t sleazy,” explains Swain, who has her designs fabricated in Sao Paulo in exclusive colors and fabrics. Most are $80 in local boutiques. “When a guy comes in with his wife or girlfriend, the stores know they will have a sale,” she confides. “Guys are the biggest fans.”