Cheeky Swimwear

Cheeky Swimwear

What Cheeky Means

Cheeky swimwear names a coverage measurement rather than a style, which is why the same word turns up on very different-looking bottoms. Ranked from most covered to least, four terms cover the whole range.

• Full brief — covers the seat completely, with the leg opening sitting low and straight.
• Cheeky — covers most of the seat, leaving the lower curve exposed. The leg opening curves upward at the side.
• Brazilian — covers less again, with a narrower back panel.
• Thong — minimal rear coverage.

Everything in this range stops at cheeky. If you want less than that, the brazilian cut is as far as the range goes.

Worth knowing before you order: the same cut can be labelled differently by two brands, and the label is not standardised anywhere. The reliable check is the product photograph taken from the back — where the leg opening meets the seat tells you more than any name on the listing does.

Why It Became the Default

The usual explanation is that people wanted to show more, and that is not quite what happened.

Before cheeky became a standard cut, there was essentially one way to reduce coverage: raise the leg opening. But raising the leg changes the whole line of the leg at the same time, and it puts the highest point of the bottom right at the widest part of the thigh — which is why plenty of people found the trade unacceptable and stayed with a full brief.

Cheeky takes fabric from the seat and leaves the leg line where it was. That is the whole innovation, and it is why it became the middle setting almost everybody defaults to: it was the first option that let you reduce coverage without redrawing the leg. Super cheeky is the same move taken further, with a narrower rear panel that sits closer to a thong.

Cheeky With a High Waist

The combination that surprises people, and the most useful thing on this page. A cheeky back paired with a high front is not a contradiction — the two are doing opposite jobs and they balance each other.

The high waistband covers the stomach, sits at the narrowest part of the torso, and holds its position when you sit down. The cheeky back keeps the leg line long rather than cutting straight across the widest part of the thigh, which a full brief with the same rise would do. The result covers more at the front than a standard bikini bottom while showing more at the back, and for a lot of people that is exactly the trade they would choose.

What goes on top follows from that. A longer top over a high-waisted cheeky bottom covers the middle completely while keeping the leg line open, which is the combination most people arrive at once they stop shopping by category name. A shorter top with the same bottom leaves the waistband visible and reads as a deliberate look rather than an accident.

Mid-rise versions do the same thing less dramatically. Our high waisted bottoms include cuts across this whole spread, and the full bottoms range shows how each rise behaves.

Cheeky or Brazilian?

The practical difference is not how much they cover standing still — it is what happens when you move.

A cheeky cut has enough fabric across the seat to hold its position through sitting, walking and getting out of the water. A brazilian has less, so it shifts more and needs resettling more often. If you spend the day in and out of a pool rather than lying still, that difference is the whole decision.

Fit follows the same logic. What holds a cheeky bottom in position is the leg opening rather than the waistband — a bottom creeping up at the back means that opening is slack, and taking the whole size up loosens it further. Every cut here runs through to 6XL; the plus size range carries them, and tops sell separately in the swim tops range.