Miami Swim Week

Miami Swim Week, also known as PARAISO Miami Beach, is an annual series of events held in Miami Beach showcasing and promoting international swimwear fashion collections to the swimwear industry, including buyers, the press, and the general public.

Overview

Since 2004, international swimwear businesses, media, and sales-oriented runway shows have been in Miami Beach. The events emphasize brand awareness, promotion of the swimwear industry, and finances. Diversity and inclusion became the focus of Miami Swim Week to celebrate body positivity and self-love.

Miami Swim Week encompasses three trade shows, Swim Show, Cabana Show, and Coterie's Destination Miami, and smaller production platforms that present up-and-coming swimwear designers, Art Hearts Fashion, and DC Swim Week: The Shows. Celebrity brands that presented collections on the PARAISO swim week runway include Siesta Key star Juliette Porter with JMP The Label and Jessie James Decker with Kittenish.

The following models appeared at the Miami Swim Week events, including Joy Corrigan, Hayley Hasselhoff, Denise and Katie Austin, Isabeli Fontana, Olivia Ponton, Charlie Jordan, Cydney Prado, Charlotte McKinney, Jasmine Sanders, Kara Del Toro, Valentina Ferrer, Nicole Williams English, Brooks Nader, Jasmine Sanders, Tabria Majors, and Camille Veronica Kostek. Musicians Doja Cat, Soffi Tukker, Ty Dolla $ign, Fatty Wap, DJ Chantel Jeffries, and DJ Vintage Culture performed at the event. Moreover, the celebrity attendees included singer Jason Derulo, Ryan Phillippe, Nicky, Jam, Sports Illustrated model Kate Bock, Leonardo DiCaprio, Scott Eastwood, Ashley Graham, Selling Sunset star Mary Fitzgerald, Irina Shayk, Shanina Shaik, Chanel Iman, and Barbie Blank. The event covered several collections, including Jonathan Simkhai, Badgley Mischka Swimwear, ViX Swimwear, Silvia Tcherassi, For Love and Lemons, Foster Grant® SUN LUV collection, Espacio VOGUE Swim Pop Up, Riot Swim, ACACIA, Poster Girl, Pretty Little Things. Luli Fama, Monday Swimwear, MIKOH, Agua Bendita, GiGi C Bikinis, Mara Hoffman, Just Bee Queen, Beach Bunny, Cupshe, VDM The Label, Origin Of Oceans. Alma Arena, Bahama Mama, Smeralda Swimwear, Bahia Maria, Palmacea Swimwear, Praia, Puntamar, Mola Mola, Mar De Lua, and PQ Swim,

Paraiso Miami Beach partner, brand ONEONE, owns and operates its factories in Colombia, making each order as it is processed by both the retailers and its consumers.

Miami Swim Week is held annually in July, typically for 4-5 days. The annual economic impact of Miami Swim Week upon Miami Beach is recognized through government support and grants by VCA Miami Beach that PARAISO Miami Beach receives each year. The primary location for Miami Swim Week is PARAISO Runway Tent in Collins Park, Miami Beach. Locations have included a waterfront runway tent, park activations, and over 20 satellite venues around Miami Beach.

History

In 1982, the first trade show event, Swim Show, was founded, which focused on wholesale and gathering of the swimwear industry professionals.

In 2004, Miami Swim Week, as we know it now, was born by two production companies, IMG Fashion, and FUNKSHION Productions, each offering platforms for swim designers to debut their resort collections. IMG Fashion's event was called Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim. It was designed to attract attention to swimwear brands and promote the industry to fashion journalists, buyers, and industry insiders. The event's swimwear fashion was featured in Vogue. By 2014, the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim event was canceled, and IMG left the production.

In July 2015, production company FUNKSHION Productions, LLC., took over the production of the whole event and held its first all-encompassing FUNKSHION: Swim Fashion Week, the 11th Annual Miami Swim Week. In 2018, FUNKSHION Productions, led by the founder Aleksandar Stojanovic and creative director Natalija Dedic Stojanovic rebranded the citywide event to PARAISO Miami Beach to create an elevated platform suitable for both resort wear and swimwear brands.

The 14th Miami Swim Week was held by staging the main runway in a custom-built white tent in Collins Park. The event was branded with the trademark Swim Fashion Week. In July 2018, SI Swimsuit model search finalist Mara Martin made waves at Miami Swim Week and became the first model to appear breastfeeding on the runway.

In 2019, Supermodel and designer Candice Swanepoel launched the upcoming collection for her brand Tropic of C. They appeared for an exclusive meet and greet event at the PARAISO pop-up in Collins Park.

The company founded the Upcycle Project in 2019, a design competition where a selected group of students are paired with design mentors, who in the past have included Becca McCharen-Tran of Chromat, along with the designers of Bondi Born, L Space, Gigi C, Beach Riot, and Vitamin A. The new season of the project is being worked on.

In July 2021, swimwear brand Bfyne owned by Buki Ade, the Nigerian American fashion designer, had the first model color-only cast at PARAISO Miami Beach runway, partnering with the organization Models of Color Matter to raise awareness on the importance of equal representation.

In 2022, PARAISO Miami Beach garnered 6.2 billion media impressions with its inclusive runways and expertly curated swim week program.

In June 2023, swim week runways in Miami will present designer collections to the media. The previews of Resort and Swim collections promote seasonal, branded content throughout the international swimwear industry season.

Paraiso Miami Beach and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit partnership event will present their swim week runway show in June 2023.

Attendance

Admission to shows at Miami Swim Week is typically in the form of accreditation, with specific events focused on invitations only for designers, celebrities, and social media influencers.