Where Beauty Meets Edge: Neptunalia Launches Its Debut Swimwear Collection

Nedal Habany wanted to translate her idea of water as something both dangerous and comforting.

Photography by Gabrielle Jaylene, Modeled by Kassandra Marie Crespo

Rooted in her lifelong fascination with water, its beauty, danger, and depth, Nedal Habany launches Neptunalia, a swimwear brand based in NYC. With siren-inspired silhouettes, Habany’s debut collection brings a downtown New York City edge to the beach. Habany spoke with 1202 MAGAZINE to dive into Neptunalia’s story, its inspirations, and its future. 

Habany grew up in a fashion-forward household, where her mother sewed dresses for her and undertook frequent embroidery projects. She recalls her mother telling her never to use her fabric scissors for anything but fabric. Naturally, fashion has been an interest for Habany since a young age, drawing her biggest inspiration from musicians.

“Fashion and music are so intertwined as art forms, and a movement in one can spark a change in the other in a really harmonious way,” Habany says. While she’s always had a fascination with water and being in the sea, there’s a part of Habany that knows that it only gets more unfathomable and scarier the more you think about it. 

Photography by Gabrielle Jaylene, Modeled by Kassandra Marie Crespo

Years later, she decided to dive back into her interest in fashion and blend it with her connection to water to launch her swimwear brand, Neptunalia. “A lot of the time, if you like a bit of an edge or an alternative flair to your style, that tends to get lost on the beach and the focus becomes just on what’s flattering or traditionally sexy,” she says. Habany wanted to craft a swimwear line with a musical influence—“something you can wear either at the beach, or behind the DJ booth.”

The brand focuses on silhouettes reminiscent of a siren, and to Habany, “The whole idea of sirens is that they seduce you, but it’s because they want to crash your ship,” she says. “Even though more than half the world can’t swim and that there’s an element of danger, the moment we feel overwhelmed, there’s nothing we want more than to be next to a body of water.” With her debut collection, her aim is to convey an edgy femininity and confidence with details from everything, like men’s underwear to hardware.

She didn’t want to go the traditional sunny route that swimwear usually does. Instead, she wanted to translate her idea of water as something both dangerous and comforting into her collection. Because Neptunalia is based in NYC, the city is also very prominent in the brand’s DNA. Habany says that while Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens are surrounded by water, there’s always an urban touch about New Yorkers at the beach. The unmistakable edge that defines New York is represented in Neptunalia’s style. 

Photography by Gabrielle Jaylene, Modeled by Kassandra Marie Crespo

While she says she was once limited in what she could produce in the first collection, Habany hopes to incorporate more ambitious designs and limited runs of non-swim items. She believes that “more and more, swimwear will express individual personality and character while also giving people styles that they feel comfortable with.”

Habany believes that swim pieces will become increasingly incorporated into everyday wear, something we are already starting to see at concerts, like with the distinctive swimwear outfits in Bad Bunny’s famous Casita. Habany also emphasizes that sustainability should continue to be a factor, “not just in manufacturing, but in the way the swimsuit is used.” Because trends are moving faster than ever, people are wearing swimsuits for one trip rather than wear it for various purposes for years.

She strives to create a brand that will last, so that people can go back to investing in a swimsuit to wear it for years, whether they’re at the beach or mix and match it into their everyday outfits. Shaped by Habany’s inspirations that blend both beauty and a bit of danger, and driven by a desire to create something long-lasting, Neptunalia’s debut collection is now live at www.neptunalia.nyc.