What I wore on repeat in Grenada
What I wore on repeat in Grenada and an update on my Rent the Runway experience.
Note to readers: After a few heavier posts, I decided to shift into something a little lighter this week. I’ve been so grateful for the messages and thoughtful responses many of you shared. Thank you for keeping these conversations going 🙏. If you missed those earlier pieces, you can find them here and here.
After my recent spring break trip to Grenada, the most body-positive place I have ever visited, I had a few writing topics I was noodling. One was a “what I wore” recap that would include all the cute outfits. Except: I basically wore a few items over and over. In a good way. So why not talk about that? With summer coming up, it feels like the perfect time to talk about my most-worn item: the beach cover-up.
Now, the trip was blissful. We spent most of our time by, or in, the water. On the way to breakfast one morning, I joked to my husband, “My only real problem in life right now is deciding which cover-up to wear,” which was kind of true. This is when you know vacation is going right.
We did a split stay between the Spice Island Beach Resort, with walkout access to the famed Grand Anse Beach (I know, it’s a rough life), and Six Senses La Sagesse, which is on a much quieter beach on the other side of the island. Our villa there was nestled up on a hill and required a longer walk (or golf cart ride) to the pools and beaches.
I say all this because it basically meant that you had to wear something from your room to the pool or your room to breakfast. And if you’re already planning to wear a swimsuit most of the day, there’s no real reason for another full outfit.
The problem with cover-ups
Now, as a Taurus, I’m a practical girlie. (A finer-things-in-life-loving girlie, but practical nonetheless.) In my past life, I would not have typically worn something as frivolous as a beach cover-up when shorts or a light dress would do.
Part of that is living in Texas, where a cover-up is rarely just for the pool. It has to provide enough coverage for a last-minute stop at the gas station for drinks or a run into the grocery store or a Mexican martini at Chuy’s afterwards. My Austin people here know what I’m talking about. Most cover-ups just don’t pass that test.
And at least in Austin, the liquid payoff isn’t always a pool; it’s a lake or a river or a creek or a spring, and often requires sturdier shoes, which just doesn’t always mix with full-on glamazon cover-up vibes.
But the biggest problem with cover-ups in Texas is many of them just aren’t light enough for our heat. For some ungodly reason, most cover-ups seem to be super heavy or made of material that doesn’t breathe. Here’s the thing: No one wants to be sweating in their cover-up.
Getting out of my clothing comfort zone
Until this trip, I had never really found one that worked. But since we were resort hopping and so close to the beach, I decided I would test wearing them and see how it went. And since I was renting them (more on that later), I could splurge on two without an ounce of guilt.
I rented two pieces from Rent the Runway, both lightweight, black, and the perfect amount of see-through—still polished enough for breakfast, but sexy too. I felt like a queen in them. One was from Ramy Brook, the Kristen (retail $295); the other was Ronny Kobo x RTR (retail $355). Quick aside: Never would I ever pay those retail prices for a cover-up. It just seems beyond reason. But since I wasn’t, there was no need to fuss. They were perfect for transitioning to and from the water, walking along Grand Anse, and breakfasting at the resort.
What surprised me most was how wearable, flattering, and versatile they actually were.
I paired them with a couple of new swimsuits from Dillards, my first in over two years, both in black and white/cream, but they could easily have worked with brighter colors. One was more sporty, which I wore for snorkeling, and the other had a ruffled top that felt a bit more polished for pool days and drinks.
I also finally found a full-coverage UPF sun shirt that I absolutely love. This has been another one of those tricky items for me, because while I love the idea of full UPF coverage when I’m out in the sun all day, most of these types of shirts are heavy, unbreathable, and unflattering. Again: I have no interest in sweating through my clothing. (Really, we get enough of this in Texas.)
My search for the perfect UPF shirt was also a thing, but let me just say, after trying a few, including Wirecutter’s recommendations, and not loving them, I am relieved to have found the one. And will probably get it in different colors.
This one from Carve Designs is lightweight, an amazing color, and unzips from the bottom and top, which provides breathability and adjustable sexy. It was on heavy rotation in Grenada.
But back to the cover-ups. I got so much wear out of them that I decided to keep them.
This is one of the best things about Rent the Runway—when you find something you love, you can often buy it at a deeply discounted rate.
Where Rent the Runway falls short
I wish it was all rainbows and beach vibes with the clothing subscription service, but my experience with them lately has been more mixed.
You might remember I wrote about using Rent the Runway as a newly plus-size person and how positive that experience was. Having beautiful dresses that fit was one of the big ways I embraced this new body.
Well, I paused my membership last fall while trimming expenses, but then my husband gave me RTR credits for Christmas, so I started again. And in that small break, it seems like they have pulled back on their plus-size options. To be fair, they were never the most inclusive of the clothing rental services (they claim to offer 00–22), but they seem less so now.
I am set to search as a size 16, 18, and 20 on their site. But there are very few size 18 and 20 options, and they are almost exclusively in the special occasion rentals. And honestly, it feels like there are fewer 16s than there used to be. Dacy Gillespie wrote about Rent the Runway this week and flat out said it isn’t size-inclusive.
In early 2025, Rent the Runway’s founder and CEO Jenn Hyman announced the company was doubling its inventory (a frequent customer complaint) with more of customers’ most-favorited items, three to four times the inventory of favorite designers, and 90+ new designers.
Nowhere in that announcement was size inclusivity mentioned. Tellingly, among the brands highlighted, very few have offered extended sizing.
Now, that could have been a deliberate decision, but it may also simply reflect broader fashion trends. We saw a real expansion of size inclusivity in the height of body positivity. But now, in this GLP-1 era, many designers have reversed course and tightened sizing.
So while the overall inventory grew, it didn’t necessarily translate into more options for the mid-to-plus-size girlies. If anything, it feels like the opposite. I reached out to Rent the Runway to ask about this and have not heard back, but I will update this post if I do. All I can really speak to is my own experience.
As someone who checks the site regularly, I’m getting a fit score match on fewer and fewer items (despite my size being the same). The fit score, which estimates the likelihood something will fit based on your past rentals and other data points, is quite reliable. But if it doesn’t think something will fit you in any of the available sizes, it shows the message: “We’re still fetching feedback to recommend a size.” And I’m seeing that message more and more now, even on the size 16 and XL pieces.
To be clear, I have always been able to find items to wear on Rent the Runway. But as someone who is straddling the line between midsize and plus, I feel like I’m right at the cutoff. Someone solidly plus size would have a much harder time on the platform right now, which is disappointing.
I’ve written about this before, but one of the most frustrating parts about gaining weight is losing access to clothes that fit. I can’t easily wear most of the options offered by my favorite designers, including many I was initially introduced to via Rent the Runway, such as Cara Cara New York, Ulla Johnson, and Veronica Beard.
The bigger issue with size inclusivity
Having access to clothes that fit, and feel good, should be a basic human right. Instead, it remains a real issue for many women, and it’s not okay that it seems to be getting worse, not better.
That’s the bigger conversation, and one I’ll keep coming back to.
But this trip was a good reminder of something more immediate: how good it feels to have something easy to throw on, that fits, and that lets you just enjoy where you are. These cover-ups completely changed how I felt about tropical vacation dressing.
I’m still a practical girl. I’ve just expanded my options and have a clearer sense of what’s actually worth packing for vacation.
Now it’s your turn …
What’s your favorite go-to vacation piece? And where do you land on cover-ups: essential or unnecessary? Have a favorite cover-up brand? Please drop the name or link here?
Love this, and how interesting that we were both thinking about the same topic recently!
It’s interesting how that happens sometimes. I’m always surprised by that plus when someone writes something at the exact moment I really need to see it!