The sexiest swimwear for summer: If you're hitting the beach, think urban - and urbane

You no longer have to choose between style and substance when it comes to fashionable swimwear

Swimsuit, £245, by Agent Provocateur (Louise Samuelsen)

Midsummer swimwear season is well and truly upon us – but diving in at the deep end is no excuse for shirking the style stakes.

In the past, fashionable swimwear felt like a paradox – if it was fashionable, you probably couldn't swim in it.

Imagine Joan Collins lounging beside a pool in some boned, buttressed and bedazzled confection and a pair of Manolo Blahnik sandals.

The implication was that stylish swimsuits negated swimming. They were dry land - and dry clean - only.

The difference today is that fashionable swimwear combines style and substance: it’s no longer an either/or decision between activity and aesthetics.

Established labels like Agent Provocateur are applying the techniques of lingerie, and their fashion nous, to swimwear, while a clutch of specialist labels such as Babajaan are focusing their attention purely on sleek swimwear that is both pretty and pretty practical.

Styling: Magdalena Bryk

Photographs: Louise Samuelsen

Model: Jennifer at M+P

Hair: Peter Beckett at Frank

Make-up: Philippe Miletto at The Factory

Stylist's assistant: Iza Rembisz

Photography: ONE Represents

Photographer's assistant: Michael Wickham