For every piece of clothing, there’s at least one boutique fashion house in Europe doing a high-end version, and that includes men’s swimsuits. At the moment, it’s all about Orlebar Brown, the British store that’s turning highbrow photography into graphic print trunks. Last year’s collection put Slim Aarons’ iconic shot of Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc across a pair of boardshorts, which is cool. But a Ferrari F1 car blowing by sunbathers in Monaco would be even cooler.
The latter is now possible thanks to Orlebar Brown’s new besoke service, Design Your Own. Download the SnapShort 2.0 app, then select the size and length—Dane II (long), Bulldog (mid-length), Stetter (short), Springer or (shortest)—for your trunks. Next, upload a killer photo (for best results, stick with something fast driving somewhere exotic) and make adjustments to it in the configurator’s simple editing program. Boom. Three weeks later, you’ve got a set of custom-made trunks at your doorstep.
Of course, the whole premise here is a boutique fashion house in Europe doing high-end work. So these shorts ain’t cheap. Budget around $600, depending on what trunk length you need. Lucikly, playing with the configurator is 100 percent free. If nothing else, consider it some classy, interactive summertime window-shopping.