The Demi Moore photoshoot shows how prepping for the beach has changed since I was a teenager

Yes, Moore and her daughters have bodies not many ever achieve. But still, there is something a bit more self-possessed about them all, compared to the bikini ads of the past, writes Katy Brand

Summer holidays are approaching and so once again we turn our attention to the perils of buying a new swimming costume (EPA)

How old were you when you first realised that shopping for a new swimming costume was a stressful event?

It’s the moment you leave behind those carefree sandcastle-building days of childhood, where pulling on a slip of brightly coloured Lycra was merely an inconvenience before you sploshed into the sea.

Probably for most of us it begins around puberty. We start to notice other people’s bodies. In real life. And in magazines. And begin to compare them to our own, usually with an unnecessarily critical eye.