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The actual idea is from G-D, as I explained. "Night after night, I saw myself wearing one in the ocean for several consecutive nights. I saw the actual style and color to the finest detail. It may sound unreal, but it was authentic in my dreams. I dismissed the dream. "I have no time for this, I thought. At the time, I worked as a freelance designer for a company, creating curtains and bedding for home fashions. My children were still quite young. Upon recounting my dream to my husband, he encouraged me to go ahead and make it. He said:" Do not take such dreams lightly".

Before my father passed on many years ago, he said, "One day, you will create a design that will be very successful and useful to many people." I dismissed it at the time as I thought all fathers think so highly of their daughters. I never imagined that he had foreseen what I was beginning to embark upon.

As a Fashion Institute of Technology graduate, I was always immersed in design. I was growing in my observance of mitzvot and could not imagine giving up swimming as I always loved the water so much! It was also due to the simple fact that I needed one, and there was none in the market. The modest market lacked a garment that could be worn in water and look modest yet fashionable. Above all, the long cotton tee shirts they sold for swimming did not perform well in water. It was nothing short of a giant sponge. I proceeded to do some basic research at the Fashion Institute of Technology library as to what women wore in the days when modesty did matter. The study showed that women in the early 1900s wore their cotton petticoats into the water. The men would ride the wagon up to the shorefront. The women would undress down to their petticoats in the wagon. They exited the wagon, walked into the ocean, and swam. Afterward, they would return to the wagon soaking wet and go home.

Wool was incorporated as the fabric of choice among the first swimsuits designed in the day. I could not believe what I was reading. As the decades progressed and new fabrics came about, such as synthetic materials, women's suits became shorter and more revealing. I could not believe that modesty was disappearing from ladies' swimwear fashions with the advent of swimwear fabrics. I now knew I had a genuine mission to fulfill. To bring back modest swimwear fashion to women who needed one. I now realize that modest swimwear can only work if it incorporates the correct fabrics with the proper cut and style. (To view some of the research, visit our showroom in Brooklyn, NY).

Finally, I decided to go ahead and design one for myself. I purchased some swimwear fabric yardage, took it to a local pattern maker, and showed her the sketch of what I wanted the design to look like based on my dream. The first time I wore it at Belle Harbor Beach in Queens, NY, various women approached me and asked where I purchased it. I then told them I recently started designing and selling them. I gave them my phone number as I did not even have a business card, a website, or a production. Upon taking orders from them and various local stores in the N.Y. area, I began producing them at a local factory. The rest is history in the making. As the saying goes, "Necessity is the mother of all invention." With G-D as my partner, I knew I was bound for success! http://aquamodesta.com/