By Traci Angel
Photograph by Guillermo Ruiz
For many women, swimsuit shopping is right up there with getting teeth pulled—necessary and painful. But St. Louisan Lori Coulter of Lori Coulter TrueMeasure uses a “virtual dressing room” to help them find a suit in a flattering style—foiling genetics, which can’t be controlled, with fabric and color, which can be.
Clients strip down to lingerie and walk into a photo booth where 12 anonymous cameras snap successive digital images. The result is a 3-D body image of the client on a computer screen, calculated from 135 digital body measurements. The program charts a client’s primary body shape (e.g. “pear”) and provides secondary characteristics (e.g. “long legs”). Then Coulter suggests a swimsuit style to enhance flattering features and downplay problem areas, and the client chooses from 24 fabric patterns and options like detachable straps, high-back tops, low-rise bottoms. The overall cost is $180, and wraps and cover-ups can also be matched.
Coulter has the suits made at a factory in Long Island City, N.Y. She started her company 18 months ago, but came across the digital technology while pursuing an MBA from Washington University in the late 1990s. “My mother said, ‘If only we could find a way to make swimsuits fit,’” Coulter recalls.
After setting up consulting centers, she hopes to expand to eveningwear, jeans and perhaps lingerie.
