The American Male Swim Trunk Dilemma

Photographs by Mark Veltman for The New York Times; photographed at Hotel QT


MaddyBeesh and I went to Gran Canaria in March for a couple of weeks to frolic in the sun with the beautiful euro-men.

The dilemma: we needed new swimwear.

Wearing huge sagging trunks from A&F was akin to wearing a dead albatross around our necks with a sign attached: "We're American (and we like surfing.)" And of course we were much cooler than that.

We found it impossible to find a good selection of box-cut trunks ANYWHERE... except for the International Male catalog and eBay (and the quality was highly questionable.)

Solution: we bought our swimwear when we got to GC. Great selections in the stores over there, and the best part was that no one really gave a damn... no pretentions over bodies, etc, as it was just the norm to wear speedos or boxcuts. I found that Adidas makes really cute box-cuts.

Result: great tan lines!

Read on: NYT Article: Redefining Your Level of Comfort (NYT 05182006)