The weather is sweltering here in Connecticut - for now at least - but Miami is turning up serious heat on its own with Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week for Swim 2010. And while I'm happily content tucked away in the tents at the former home New York's Spring and Fall editions, Bryant Park, the oceanfront shows at the indulgently sexy and chic Raleigh Hotel (of André Balazs fame) in Miami are terribly tempting.
Collections scheduled: the flashier mall rat pack, Ed Hardy and True Religion, favorites of the young ladies who brunch, Tibi and Mara Hoffman, and several swimwear veterans and H20-friendly boutiques in the South Beach area.
While it might be a little too late to save your bikini bod this season, it's never too late to scoop up last minute summer sales and get ahead of the trends debuting in Miami this week, so next summer when you're friends are gushing about the latest swimwear craze - you can say, "Oh, that's so last season."
Boheme Boutiques opened the shows Wednesday on the pool deck and did not disappoint in living up to their namesake. Dreamy tie-dye and geometrical neon bikinis with crochet and metallic embellishments will tickle the fancy of many newbie hippies and hipsters alike. No signs of channeling to the pin-up stars of yore this time with under-wire and push-up's, just free love' and string ties.
Also, I must note that there was not a mockini in sight, so please, ditch those jockstraps before summer's end.
All this topped off with wide brim straw hats and over-sized sheer sheaths with plunging necklines that could easily take Miami girls from day to night.
Miami Fashion Week 2010 is scheduled to run through Sunday, July 19 2009 at the Raleigh Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida.