The rules and significance of swimming costumes are never straightforward. Even the terms ‘costumes’, ‘swimsuit’ and ‘bathing suit’ are in themselves peculiar. The blog image here is courtesy of Joe Stanhope from Jubilee Park swimming pool in Lincolnshire. Their ban on thongs drew substantial media attention and Joe mentioned to me that he had observed an increase in swimming in thongs which he put down to the ‘Love Island effect’. In this case, a pool is attempting to enforce a policy in line with its attempts to be family-friendly by, in effect, guarding against swimming in clothes that do not cover enough. ASw’s previous blog coverage of the burkini ban in France highlighted several pools where swimmers were banned from covering too much. Alternatively, my friend in Hvar, Croatia is a regular swimmer at the island’s swim spots and there, nude swimming or not covering anything, is the de rigueur. What do we put these rules down to? The vanity of small differences? Important etiquette which signals membership of in-groups? Cultural differences? What is apparent though is that these approaches to swimwear are not universal and can cause significant tension.