Buying Brigitte Swimwear comes down to a few checks you can do from the product page. Everything else is preference. Underwire and real cup sizing are the only things that give actual support. Anything under about 18 per cent elastane will go slack after a season. The groups below run from the decision that matters most to the ones you make afterwards.

What decides this is bust support, leg line and fabric weight. Everything else is preference. Two from the first group show the range: Summersalt's The Petal Sleeve One-Piece - Bouquet Carnival at $135, and Significant Other's Milou Mini Sarong at $220. The first is the easy entry point; the second is where the money goes. Underwire and real cup sizing are the only things that give actual support. Anything under about 18 per cent elastane will go slack after a season. A higher price mostly buys materials and finishing, and occasionally it buys nothing at all.

Buy the cover-up at the same time or you never wear the swimsuit off the sand. From the second group, Cynthia Rowley's Amalfi High Waist Bikini Bottom ($40) is the one that earns its place, because it works in more than one context without being restyled. The third group is smaller and deliberately narrower, swim pieces, for the decisions you make after the main one. None of this needs the whole group. One piece from each is usually enough.

There are 20 swim pieces here from 14 brands, $19 to $368, all in stock when this was written. We would not buy all of them, and neither should you. Roller Rabbit's Jemina Waverly Bikini at $19 is the low-risk way in, and Cult Gaia's NICCO SWIM SHORT - SADDLE at $368 only makes sense if this is a category you already use constantly. Read as a set, they get you close to Brigitte Swimwear without any single purchase being compulsory. Nothing here is included because it is famous, and price is not used as a proxy for quality anywhere on this page. If you take one thing away: one considered purchase beats three hedged ones.