Synchronised Swimming - Embellishment Ideas and Tips for Costumes

Synchronised swimming is a wonderful, challenging sport that combines some of the most difficult elements of swimming, dance and gymnastics. It requires flexibility, co-ordination and dedication in addition to intense physical fitness. Swimmers need to be able to hold their breath and perform difficult bodily manoeuvres, all whilst moving in timed co-ordination with the rest of their team.

What Is A Synchronised Swimsuit?

Swimmers work hard in the pool to achieve winning formations, styles and routines. But an often-overlooked element of the sport are the synchronised swimming costumes. A quality synchronised swimming costume will be eye-catching, bright, colourful and shining with embellishments. Usually this involves a good design idea, match up with the song or story you have choreographed and perhaps most importantly: quality materials. But we’ll get to those later.

First, let’s get some ideas!

How do you match a synchronised swimming costume to your routine? Well, it is important to consider the feel of the song that will be choreographed and the story that the group intends to tell by that song.

Is your team moving to something upbeat and funky? Consider vibrant colours and embellishments that shine and accentuate that sound. Or maybe you have chosen something more reserved or moody; that could be highlighted by some darker colours along with fewer rhinestones (but still enough to catch the attention of your viewers, around 200 rhinestones is a good idea as a minimum to keep your team sparkling).

Australian Synchronised Swimming Costumes

Looking to the highest level of competitors in synchronised swimming can be a great way to get ideas for your costumes. You might remember the indigenous themed performance of the full Australian team at the Rio Olympics in 2016. The attention of everyone was instantly grabbed even before they entered the pool.

Their costume was mainly bright red, reflecting the Outback, with tendrils of shining gold and white covering mostly the lower half of the swimsuit. Their synchronised swimming costumes were covered in rhinestones and gems that were intended to recall indigenous dot-painting designs.

Or looking back even further to the 2012 Olympic games in London, the full Australian team took a more rocking and patriotic approach to their performance. They were swimming to a medley of one of Australia’s most recognisable and beloved rock bands of all time, AC/DC. Their costumes needed to reflect the energy and the patriotism embodied in the songs (Thunderstruck & Back in Black).

Their synchronised swimming costumes were a mixture of red and gold on the front with a large thunderbolt (like the AC/DC logo) down the middle of the chest. Across the breast (within the thunderbolt) was the union jack with the southern cross lurking below it. On the rear side of the swimsuit was a picture of an electric guitar.

Are you starting to see how your synchronised swimming costume can reflect your routine?

Best Costumes for Synchronised Swimming

Choosing the BEST synchronised swimming costume can be difficult, because there are many options to keep in mind. Whether you go for a custom-made costume or one that is store-bought and then customised with embellishments like sequins and rhinestones as to your liking can be a tough choice. The price is usually a big factor in which to choose and therefore you should consider the level at which your swimmers are competing. If you or your swim group are in the less competitive levels of synchro swimming, it is generally better and more affordable to go for store-bought costumes that you can embellish to make it stand out and catch the eyes of the viewers and judges. There are online retailers like Delfina and Catfish that operate in Australia and produce bright, colourful designs for your swimmers. Once you or your team are graduated to the more competitive levels of synchronised swimming it’s time to consider a set of custom-made swimsuits. In addition to matching your routine better, a custom-made synchronised swimsuit matches the bodies of your team better to ensure more freedom of movement and therefore a better performance! As far as custom-made synchronised swimming costumes go, Delfina and Catfish also offer customisation services.

Embellishments Options for Swimsuits

When choosing embellishments, like the other aspects of your swimsuit (design, colours, producer), it can be tough knowing where to start. Crystals or gemstones, rhinestones, pearls and sequins are your main categories of embellishments. But knowing where to get them and from whom can be challenging.

Generally considered to be at the top of the crystal providers is Swarovski (Austrian), Chrisanne (Czech) and then Radiance (British), in descending order of quality. These are all options to consider if price is no object and you don’t mind going directly to the top end of expense. But skimping out and going for cheap Chinese knock-off crystals can result in your synchronised swimming costume looking exactly that: cheap.

We at Zahira were well versed in the frustrations that come with sourcing quality embellishments without breaking the bank prior to founding this company. Many local providers prioritise price over quality, or visa versa. We at Zahira instead insist upon providing competition level crystals, rhinestones, trimmings and pearls at a highly competitive price. Our rhinestones and gems are highly reflective and lustrous, producing a brilliant shine through their 16-facets, even rivalling the quality of Swarovski.

In addition to producing and selling the highest quality rhinestones (both flatback and sew-on), we also ensure our gemstones and pearls are highly refractive, eye-catching and of the highest standard. In short: we stock embellishments that will ensure your team walk out at their next competition standing tall, proud and ready to perform to the best of their ability.

How to decorate synchronised swimming costumes?

When it comes to decorating the synchronised swimming costumes for your team you can elect to try it out yourself or to have a professional do it for you. If you choose to have a professional embellish your swimsuits, it is recommended to have it done by the provider of those embellishments. This is because nobody knows how to fix those embellishments like the company that made them. Unfortunately, many providers, like Swarovski, do not offer these services.

But where Swarovski and most other providers fail, we at Zahira are proud to offer embellishment services to go along with our world class rhinestones, gemstones, trimmings and pearls. Simply get in contact with us today to discuss your vision and how we can help you to reach it!

On the other hand, you might choose also to decorate your synchronised swimming costumes yourself. The most important things to remember when decorating your own synchronised swimsuits are the quality of your materials and to use a proper fixing method (otherwise your team might end up with no embellishments attached at the end of their performance).

In case you’ve not read the earlier parts of this article, you can secure the highest quality embellishments at a highly competitive price right here! We offer reflective and lustrous 16-facet rhinestones, gorgeous gemstones, shining pearls of various colours and trimmings that can meet any design idea you might have. Our embellishments are competitive with Swarovski quality, minus the eye-watering price tag.

Now you’ve got the source for your embellishments, it’s time to fix them to the costumes!

How to decorate synchronised swimsuits with hot-fix & non-hot fix rhinestones?

Whether you go with hotfix or non-hotfix crystals or rhinestones is really up to you. However it is important to remember that hotfix rhinestones and gemstones are a lot easier to apply in bulk, because the glue is already present on the stones, you simply need to use a hotfix applicator to heat the crystals, activate the glue and them apply with precision!

If you choose to go for non-hotfix, just remember to make sure your glue is both clear and water resistant. For maximum precision with less worrying about smudging glue around, fix on your embellishments with a pair of tweezers. Some glues require you to hold the stone in place for a few moments until the glue has set.

Also available are sew-on rhinestones, which can be fixed by needle and thread. This is a more time-consuming method but will make sure that your rhinestones stick on and stay on.

Where can you order synchronised swimming costume Pearls?

Many costume designers focus mainly on gemstones and rhinestones for their synchronised swimming costumes, but pearls can add an extra degree of colour, texture and shine to your beautiful costumes. The only problem is finding a source that isn’t jaw-droppingly expensive and stocks a wide range of colours (or at least the colours that fit your design to its best).

As luck would have it, we at Zahira also stock flat-back pearls in many different shades and combinations of shades. Whatever the colour, texture, feel and emotions you want to capture in your team’s costumes we can help you get there!

Do you want to know more about how to design & decorate your swimsuit garment?

Still feeling a little lost on where to go about getting your costume embellished or designed? It’s not easy to co-ordinate gemstone and rhinestone colours with your suit. Sometimes it can be difficult to move from an idea in your mind to putting it to paper and then reality.

We welcome anyone and everyone to get in contact to see how we can assist in making your team’s dream synchronised swimming costumes into a reality. Our background in competitive dance gives us the edge in providing expert advice on design ideas in addition to helping select which of our high-quality products will suit your ideas best! Consult our contact us page to reach us directly. We can even offer face-to-face meetings to best meet you and your team’s needs.

Get in contact now to see how we can best help you!