Photos provided to Shanghai Star.

Judging from their one-sentence responses about "dream swimsuit", it sounded as if they were picking a dream girl rather than a swimsuit. (They all wanted a well-proportioned woman, some calling for "long legs and large breasts".)

One wise interviewee wrote: "The only thing that matters, actually, is who is wearing it."

Another said the ideal swimsuit is very much along the lines of the edible outfit of pop star Katy Perry. More than one respondent attached photos of celebrities and models in bikinis in their email response to our poll.

Almost unanimously, our male pollers liked cheerful and bright colors, and bikinis that did not have patterns on them.

On this page, you may not see a color board of plain, but brightly colored bikinis, but we've tailored our selection to swimsuits that will make you look more shapely, including that conservative one-piece.

Shi Jing, Yu Ran and Wu Tong contibuted to the story.

Where did the bikini come from?	Bikini vs one-piece: The verdict is in	Last-minute rescue