Parke & Ronen S/S 2014

My my my, how times flies by! I can remember being in Miami for swim week and this line showed roughly 10 years ago and look at Parke & Ronen now! What was once swim suits for men has now turned into a full scale mens wear line which they have been doing for a few years now and from the looks they showed; they might have hit the fashion daily double!

Some of the suits might be aimed for the "boys club" but many of their other looks work well for the straight fashion conscious men out there, I know there are not many, but they do exist. One thing that's positive is their price point, it's current trend style clothing that does not break the bank and is easily digestible for men in general. Furthermore it's nice to see this line still chugging along since mens wear in general is a very tough market.

  Photos: R.Spiegel

Caffe Swimwear S/S 2014

Caffe Swimwear showed a collection inspired by beaches, jungles, tropical colors and animal prints. Designer Paula Saavedra seems to go beyond just swimsuits and has incorporated bags and long/short kaftans into the line.

The colors of the collection and bold and quite striking but a few of her prints left me a tad confused, with a one-piece which went from animal print to abstract color, in short a rough design transition. Morphing different prints is not a easy task but with her offerings of bags which came in many different colors and her loungewear, she has more than enough to satisfy.

Beach Bunny Swimwear 2011

The Beach Bunny Swim 2011 fashion show is a lesson in creative collaborations with celebrities like the Kardashian sisters who attached their name to this venture. The show consisted of 57 looks and hit on many points which left the crowd of fashion editors a tad bewildered. A correction to this would have been a better edit but this is the Kardashian sisters and they do want to give you more than enough options, even if they are not swim wear related. Case in point would be the black lace lingerie pieces towards the end of the show. In the end the line will be priced accordingly and should perform quite well, but let’s remember this is swim wear and the market is fierce all around.
Photos:Edward James

Mara Hoffman Swim 2010

Mara Hoffman a long standing fixture on the New York runway scene shipped down to South Beach to show what we feel is her first swim collection. In short this was a gate to wire win for Hoffman and was no question the best show of the week! For Mara it's all about color and there was a vast selection of colors and prints to make her suits stand out above the rest. These standout designs make a statement and should be a signal for other designers in the swim suit field. The amount of variety will certainly land her loads of editorial coverage where other designers fell short in this department. In our opinion she's one to watch.

CIA.MARITIMA Swim 2010

Designer Benny Rosset for CIA MARITIMA showed one of the best collections to date, we have been following this designer for some time, but for this season his collection demonstrated two key factors. For one it was a collection that had a theme and vision and was fluid in design where most of the looks flowed consistently. The second point was the use of gold accessories such as cuffs and neck pieces which made his suits just pop off the runway. It seems the inspiration for the collection was Greek, with Greek key patterns adorning a good amount of the suits. Another factor which helped tremendously was the use of models who "filled" the suits.

Swimwear like any other market is stiff competition but when you see a designer who has vision and knows his customer it makes viewing this collection a pleasure! One of the best shows we saw all week.

Marysia Swim 2010

The last show for Mercedes-Benz fashion week swim for the first night was Marysia swim and being shown last was a rushed show. This first time started who has never shown in South Beach provided the audience with a strictly retro collection with swim caps  and ruffles for the majority of the looks shown. 

Fashion by tradition is about moving forward, providing something new and fresh for consumers not delving into the past. According to the designer herself it was "Ballerina Punk", for us it was a throw back to the 20's and 30's. For Marysia Swim it was only their second collection so it may be a case of trying to find their customer, but if there was a retro movie being filmed this designer would fit the bill due to the costume nature of the collection. Today's women we feel wants to look good, sophisticated and polished, unfortunately this was not the case here.

Pistol Panties swim 2009

The Pistol Panties 2009 swim collection can be best described as “hit & miss”. On the hit front we really liked the graphic print suits they sent out but for the misses we found the polka-dot suits dated and the jewled adorned suits bringing us back to the Fall season of New York fashion week 2007. It seems they took the current jewlery trend of chunky crystal stones and used it on the suits and it just didn’t seem to work. The over-sized hats were a distraction and not needed. Never the less we feel its a company to watch and see how they evolve over time.

Photos: Corinna Lecca Mercedes Benz

Zimmermann Swim 2009

“life is so strange when you don’t know. How can you tell where your going to?”~Missing Persons

Zimmermann’s 2009 swim collection seemed like a shot in the dark design wise. Once again we see that they are still trying to find the zimmermann girl offering many choices in their suits. As for the styling of the models the jewlery was way to heavy and seemed thrown on. We feel that no woman would go out to the pool with 10 pounds of necklaces and heavy stones.

The one suit we did like was look #23 a Black Kaleidoscope 1 piece. But with only leaning on this one piece it seems like this collection is destination unknown.

Photos: Corinna Lecca Mercedes Benz

Vix Swim 2009

We had never heard of vix swim wear before but for a first time on the Miami runway this design company is certainly one to watch. There seems to be nothing outlandish going on here but just really well constructed suits done in simple patterns. The white enamel details on a few of the suits adds a touch of class not seen by other designers. The color choices as well are vast, allowing a wide degree of selection, the one piece black suit we loved. Yet again we see another swim suit line playing it safe and delivering a great collection for 2009.

Photos: Corinna Lecca for Mercedes Benz