Last night was the final show at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Miami, featuring the 2011 Swimwear collections. Here's a rundown of some of my favorites. Pix to follow soon.
Kooey, Lisa Blue, Aquarella, Lisa Maree...The Aussies came out in force at the Raleigh to show off their creations. It was a wonderful, graphic display in beach fashion. I Loved Kooey's use of their circular prints, as well as Lisa Blue's designs that incorporated the classic, Renaissance paintings. Aquarella did a killer orange and black bandeau that showed great structure and style.
Tyler Rose designer, Nicole Carroll, doesn't reinvent the bikini, but what she does do is reinvent what kinds of fabrics and trims that going into making the bikini. Ms. Carroll uses materials that you wouldn't normally find in swimwear and puts it all together to make some sweet, sexy, little swimsuits that show a ton of panache. This year was no exception...I really liked the woven ribbons used for ties, as well as the tiny, ruched bottoms and strappy details on many of her bikinis.
Watch out for Marysia Swimwear...they're doing everything right. This season, the collection was fabulous, showing class and sophistication, as well as some inventive details such as high waists that button down low, knit fabrics, unique underwires, and breezy cover-ups. The colors are soft and the the feminine styling is off on its own...no copycat pieces here. I think that this was my favorite designer of the day.
~ C.
Miami Swim Shows - Wrapping Things Up
Mercedes Benz Fasion Week Swim 2011 - Let's Review
Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Swim - Let's Review...
I would absolutely love to show you all the pix, but I’m doing it legal and waiting for permission to publish them. Until then, you’ll just have to trust me on my text depictions.
July
16th
Crystal Jin is a new line looking long, sleek, with satiny, Asian inspired fabrics. I liked this line. While maybe not earth shaking in design, the cuts looked clean, the swimsuits certainly fit the models well, and the designs were all very appealing. This is a line that is almost baked to perfection…try it now, or give it another year to mature and flourish.
OMG…watch out! Beach Bunny is going bawdy-glam again. Ya gotta love their burlesque themed bikinis with the over-the-top lingerie inspired swimsuits…lots of lace, lots of shine…lots of va-va-va-voom!
Swimwear Anywhere looks at swimsuits the way most of us should. They’re bringing purpose and practicality back to swimsuit fashion…and that’s all I’ll say about that.
17th
I love Mara Hoffman! Gawd…who doesn’t? She amazes me that she does such an excellent job with swimwear, when, in fact, she has several other divisions in her design repertoire that are equally impressive. Where does she find all that energy? As usual, Mara Hoffman Swimwear for 2011 takes the print to another level entirely and the same goes for her bodies. She's always going just to the edge, peering over, and coming back with something new for the rest of us that are not quite as brave as she. And while her models are certainly lovely, if not a bit quirky, (that right there tells you something about Ms. Hoffman,) they never upstage her designs. This season there’s lots of crisscross lattice straps, combined with her now famous Egyptian inspired prints. Strappy details, skinny pants and flowing caftans…oh my!
18th
Mr. Carter, please take a bow. Red Carter’s swimwear shows always reveal his flair for the theatric, but he also demonstrates his practical side. He has a knack of combining drama and classic wearability into all of his designs. For 2011, Red gives us some clever cut-outs, and straps going places that we never knew they could go. He also used lots of metallics, but punched it up with some eye-popping solids. I’m so glad to see that once again, his line is super strong this season. (Applause)
Cia.Maritima Swimwear is always so feminine, sexy and above all…Brazilian. It looks like a Samba sounds. This year, I instantly fell in love with the exotic butterfly prints used for the swimsuits and many of the cover-ups. I think that the line this year is just a touch more sophisticated than in the past. There was some serious thought that went into many of the cover-ups, designing them to go easily from beach to bazaar. (I especially like the long jumpsuits.) Cia.Maritima always gives us some variety, particularly with bikini bottoms that range from full coverage to miniscule backsides.
This is the second year that I’ve reviewed Caffé Swimwear. I think that they are still evolving and probably going somewhere…soon. This season there were lots of big, chunky accents, decorating a cool, summery palette. More to come on this newish label.
Tonight: Marysia, Nicolita, Tyler Rose Swimwear, An Aussie montage including Kooey, will be hitting the runways. I love all of these labels…I can hardly wait to tell you about them next time!
~ C.
Revving it Up at the Raleigh , Bass Museum & the W - Miami Swimwear Shows 2011
The Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week kicked off in Miami on Thursday evening with Trina Turk opening at the Cabana Grande. On Friday, White Sands, Beach Bunny, Dolores Cortes, Swell Suits, Ed Hardy and Crystal Jin hit the runways at the historic Raleigh hotel. Tonight, we're anxious to see what Mara Hoffman brings to the show, as well as Poko Pano and Aqua de Lara. Still to come, Red Carter, Marysia, Tyler Rose, Cia.Maritima and our Aussie friends from Kooey Swimwear. Pix to come soon!
Trina Turk Swimwear 2011 - Girly and Gossimer ...lots of cheerful, summery prints and lighter than air, shimmery cover-ups...great show, fabulous collection!
~ C.
