I am 62, and this is the first swimsuit in years I have not hidden under a towel.

On the ocean-print one-piece with a gently holding high waist, crossed pleats that forgive, and cups that actually support — the swimsuit that got me from the lounger to the water without clutching a towel to my waist.

By Helen Barrett · Mooloolaba, Queensland

Posted October 3, 2026 · 6 min read

I am 62 years old, and I love the water. Aqua aerobics on Tuesday mornings at the pool here in Mooloolaba, a hotel pool on holiday, the sea when I can get to it. What I have never loved is the bit between the lounger and the steps.

For years my swimsuits either flattened everything and dug in, or they quietly gave up around the middle — so I did what half the women my age do. I kept a towel clamped firmly round my waist until the very last second.

What I wanted was simple to say and strangely hard to find: a swimsuit that does some actual work.

Support where I need it. Forgiveness where I want it. And a print cheerful enough to feel like a holiday.

Then a woman at aqua aerobics climbed out of the pool in the most beautiful ocean print I had seen in years, and she looked completely unbothered doing it.

I asked her about it before she had even picked up her towel.

She laughed and told me it was the Maisie from Hamilton Island Boutique.

That evening, I went looking for it myself.

Hamilton Island Boutique is a small Aussie boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for 22 years. And once I saw what they had done with this swimsuit, I understood why she liked it so much.

The clever bits are all in the construction

The waist is cut high, so it gently holds the middle in rather than surrendering to it.

The cups genuinely support — no readjusting after every length — and the straps adjust, so the fit is yours instead of approximate.

Best of all, the front has crossed wrap pleats, and that gathered drape is enormously forgiving. It skims over the parts I would rather it skimmed over.

And then there is the back — a neat little cut-out with a tie, so it looks like something somebody designed rather than something mass-produced.

The ocean print does the rest. It is busy in exactly the right way.

For the first time in years, I walked from the lounger to the pool without a towel clamped round me.

The proper test was a week away

I did the walk in front of everyone on the first morning — and by day three I had stopped thinking about it altogether, which is the whole point.

At aqua aerobics it stays comfortably in place through the session. I am not constantly stopping to pull something back where it belongs.

It is down to $64.99 from $131.99 in the sale.

Before ordering, I checked what would happen if the fit was wrong. You can return it within 30 days, and delivery is free, which made ordering my usual size feel like very little risk.

It goes from size 8 right up to 18, and I take my usual.

Why they're clearing it now

The Maisie originally launched at $131.99.

For Hamilton Island Boutique's 22 Year Anniversary, the remaining Maisie stock has been reduced to $64.99 while sizes last.

That is a 51% saving, so if your size is still there, I would not leave it too long.

When mine arrived, I tried it on immediately.

I have worn it more than any other swimsuit I own.

I do not usually write things like this.

But I spent too many summers sitting at the edge of the water with a towel round my waist, pretending I was happy to just watch.

This one quiet little swimsuit gave me the water back.

If that sounds like you, I hope you find your size before it clears.