STYLE NOTES: WHY ERES IS THE FRENCH SWIMWEAR EVERY WOMAN NEEDS

BY BOOTH MOORE

French luxury brand Eres, which pioneered the concept of swimwear as high fashion, has opened its first Orange County boutique at South Coast Plaza.

September 15, 2025

Jessica Alba in the Show Bandeau Top

Founded in Paris in 1968, Eres swimsuits are so luxe, they occupy space alongside the house of Chanel, which owns the brand.

Like Chanel, Eres is about timeless, impeccably crafted designs, which may be why the elegantly minimal black swimsuits have been compared to the very LBDs (little black dresses) that Coco Chanel popularized. The Aquarelle one-piece in classic black is iconic with its square neckline framed by delicate straps. So, too, are the brand’s two-pieces, which Eres began selling separately in the 1970s to respect the different sizes of the female form.

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SOUTH COAST PLAZA

BRAND HIGHLIGHT: ERES

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A Suit for the Modern Era

Iman Crop Top Bra and Cheryl High-Waisted Briefs

When the first modern bikini debuted in 1946, created by a French male engineer, it resembled the constraining bras of the time with elaborate boning, seaming and conical shaped tops. Even as the style started to go from scandalous to chic, earning pop culture cachet on bombshell Brigitte Bardot on the beach during the 1953 Cannes Film Festival, and on Ursula Andress emerging like a goddess from the deep in the 1962 film “Dr. No,” the look of bikinis was of heavy construction.

Enter Eres founder Irène Leroux, responding to the freedom of the Swinging Sixties, and the arrival of the jet setter. She made it her mission not only to offer women a new ease in swimwear, but to offer them swimwear year-round.

Designed with the Body in Mind

Eres freed women’s swimwear from the constraints of padding, logos and embellishment, focusing instead on soft body-sculpting and clean shapes, and laser cut flat-seam construction with the precision of fine tailoring. Key fabrics include Parachute which dries instantly, and Peau Douce, which means soft skin in English, and is made from a secret formula that makes it weightless.

An Investment Piece

Eres likes to boast that its swimwear can be passed down from mothers to daughters, which speaks not only to the classicism of the designs, but their durability. The suits go through rigorous testing at the studio in Paris, their fabrics stretched on a machine to spot defects and check recovery time, and the colors subjected to intense light simulating the sun for four days to make sure they don’t fade.

Swimwear Is Now Outerwear

On the runways, on influencers’ social media feeds, everywhere you look, women are wearing their swimwear as outerwear, and it’s gone way past the bikini as a bandeau top. One-pieces like Eres’ fine-lined Loulou suit, or the iconic Aquarelle which comes in an incredible 26 colors, can double as a bodysuit to wear with a skirt or pants, maybe even with a flower pin.

More Than Swimwear

Having perfected swimwear, Eres now designs lingerie, active and resort wear, including exquisite lace and jersey bodysuits, stretch tulle triangle bras and boy shorts, minimalist workout jumpsuits to go from yoga to brunch, and charming knitwear in a colorful tricolor psychedelic weave harking back to the brand’s origins in the 1960s.