What could be more daunting than shopping for a swimsuit?
After all, suit searching brings a woman face to mirror with every figure flaw she has-or thinks she has-be it the cottage cheese thighs or the mashed- potato backside. And there`s little place to hide anything, because so much of the hide is exposed.
Even petite women, such as Northbrook resident Linda Shact, are intimidated. ”I equated shopping for a swimsuit with going to the dentist.” Shact said she tried on 25 suits during a previous hunt for a suit at a department store ”and there was something wrong with each one.”
Shact finally found happiness at the Beach Club in Highland Park, which sells custom-designed, computer-fitted swimwear made right in the shop basement.
It is a shop where there are no ”if only`s.” No ”if only this leg line were not cut so high,” or ”if only this neckline did not plunge so low.”
Those details, and just about anything else about a suit including color, straps and fabric, can be picked to one`s fancy.
The shop was opened about a year ago by longtime friends Maureen Berger of Deerfield and Judy Gutwillig of Northbrook.
”We accent the positive and camouflage the negative,” Berger said. ”We can`t make a size 10 into a size 4, but with the right fit, we can make a figure appear more flattering.”
The magic starts when the customer selects a swimsuit from the approximately 28 styles hanging on the wall in basic black. These samples become a base from which to mold a suit that best fits the customer`s shape, coloring and taste. Panels can be added, ruffles subtracted, and so on.
Measurements are taken by computer, which, Berger said, is less humiliating than a tape measure, more accurate and a lot quicker. The customer`s image is projected onto the computer screen, which in about one minute adapts her measurements to the pattern size of the sample suit she chooses and reports any necessary alterations.
Prices for one-piece suits range from $70 to $122; two-piece suits range from $64 to $132.
———-
The Beach Club Ltd., 500 Central Ave., Highland Park, is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Phone 708-926-9110.
