Colleen Kelly Biography & Press

In the late 1990's, Colleen Kelly, and her friends, competed in bikini contests up and down the coast from Myrtle Beach to the Florida Keys. Known as the "circuit girls", their bikinis, or some interpretation thereof, had a huge impact on how well they did or didn't do in these contests. She became very interested in these bikinis...or perhaps “obsessed is a better word…with why some worked and some didn't, which ones looked best on who and why, etc. Having more ideas than dollars, she began to make her own swimsuits, and friends came to her for theirs. Soon it became less important to win the contest and more important that the winner was wearing Colleen Kelly’s designs.

Over the years, creating so many unique swimsuit styles for so many different girls taught her a lot about what works and what doesn't. As she puts it, “Something magical happens when the right swimsuit is on the right person... the face lights up, the posture straightens; the effect seems exponential.”

It wasn't long before the fitness industry took notice and her sexy swimsuits were featured in such magazines as Playboy, Muscle and Fitness, Oxygen, Flex, FHM, Stuff, and Ironman (which also featured her modeling in her bikinis for several years)… and so the company “Colleen Kelly Designs” was born.