Make a splash this summer – from luxury vintage to sustainable fabrics, here's our smart guide to swimming in style.

It's at this time of year when images of Jane Birkin in a ring-fronted bikini or Brigitte Bardot in her classic frilled bikini bottoms resurface. Swimwear brands name their designs after iconic stars, with vintage styles reworked into modern pieces. Remember Julia Roberts' cut-out white and blue dress in Pretty Woman? Swimwear label Hunza G, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, created the garment from its trademark crinkle fabric.

Like swimwear's timeless styles, the environmental damage it causes also endures. The problem comes down to plastic. Swimsuits need to stretch, recover their shape, and be quick-drying. Therefore, synthetic fibres like nylon, polyester and elastane, which are derived from fossil fuels, are the most widely used materials, both for performance and low cost. But the washing of synthetic products leads to the accumulation of more than half a million tonnes of microplastics on the bottom of the oceans every year. And poor-quality bikinis don't last long, with the cheap, fast-fashion business model encouraging multiple consumption every time we go on holiday. It remains hugely difficult to recycle swimwear, so unwanted swimsuits contribute to the 100 billion items of clothing produced globally, of which 65% end up in landfill within 12 months.

It wasn't always like this. Until the 1930s, all bathing suits in the US and Europe were made from natural fibres, in particular wool, says Kevin L Jones, senior curator at ASU FIDM Museum in Los Angeles. "We even have some tightly-woven silk bathing suits in the museum," he tells the BBC. "But there was also a difference of mindset then. Materials were valued and utilised until they couldn't be used anymore. Only a small percentage of the very wealthy could replenish their wardrobes. Often, people made their own bathing suits."

As manufacturers grappled with the sagging element of wool once it became wet, the breakthrough came from the United States Rubber Company, says Jones, which introduced Lastex into the market, a type of elastic yarn that could be blended with other fabrics. "You couldn't patent wool, silk and hemp, but you could patent the technologies being developed," Jones explains. "And that's what led to the major boom industries within chemicals that have affected our clothing ever since. That's how we ended up with all the polyester and elastane, and with a throw-away mindset."

But the tide is turning again – albeit slowly, and not exactly in the same direction – as some swimwear brands and manufacturers innovate with better practices and materials. One such fabric is Econyl, made using synthetic waste such as discarded fishing nets, and then recycled and regenerated into new nylon fibre.

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Swimwear label Stay Wild is one of the brands making its........

© BBC