swim designers talk medianoches y summer year round

our friends at miamiandbeaches.com asked me to pen another little write-up for their site- this time for miamiswimshow.com their official portal site into what's going on for Miami Swim Fashion Week (which you may remember we covered last year thanks to some awesome spies on our editorial team). So, here it is nicers. 

By Patricia Guarch Wise

“To show on 18th street in the Cabana Grande during Fashion Week Swim - right by where I’d go to the beach with my family - is really amazing,” says Nicole Di Rocca, designer of Nicolita Swimwear. Di Rocca grew up spending her summers at her family apartment on South Beach, picking up Cuban sandwiches or medianoches, and heading to the beach, the place that would later inspire her work.

‘A little Cubanita’

“Combining passion, heritage, and fashion is a dream come true,” explains Di Rocca, “It’s always been about my search for what my Cuban heritage is. I imagined Nicolita as a ‘little Cubanita in 1949’ to try and bring back my parents’ Cuba of the 1950’s. I look at their old black and white photos and imagine how their life was there and design how I envision it.”

Di Rocco designs only for her character Nicolita and herself and doesn’t look at trend reports. Her pieces strike a balance between sexy and cute. They’re cut to show off curves of a real girl who has eaten at Latin American, Di Rocco’s favorite Miami hang for hearty Cuban dishes. Some of her prints even feature her favorite Cuban food, from plantains to mojitos.

Similarly, Keva J of KEVA by Keva J, a swimwear line favored by starlets like the Kardashians and featured everywhere from Project Runway to BET’s Rip the Runway, finds inspiration in both Miami, where she was born and raised, and her Jamaican heritage.

“When you’re driving over the bridge to South Beach and you see Star Island, something about it gives me inspiration,” says Keva. “On South Beach you’ll always have the funky boutiques for inspiration from the windows, the colors of the mannequins, the way things are placed....” she trails off, possibly imagining new colorful fabrics for her collection that ranges from traditional bikinis to edgy suits with cut-outs, ruffles, high rise bottoms, and strappy hybrids of the one-piece and the bikini.

Keva, whose newest collection will debut at Mondrian Miami on July 17, 2011, has some wise words for girls who are weary of a cut that strays from triangle tops or a solid one piece. “Just because it’s edgy doesn’t mean it’s not going to work for you. Yeah, they’re edgy, but they still work if they’re cut right.”

Swimwear Season Year Round

Miami is an ideal place for swimwear designers to work. “Miami, that’s where swimwear is,” says Keva, who’s currently living in New York to expand her brand, but looking forward to moving back. “If you’re going to do swimwear you have to do it in Miami because it’s swimwear season year round.”

Lila Nikole Rivera, the designer of her namesake collection Lila Nikole, has called the Miami area, specifically Miramar, home for about sixteen years. Her bright, eye-popping suits look best against the blue Miami waters, a good tan, and accessories from her own line including colored stone pendants and rings.

Inspiration is all over the city for Rivera. “Inspiration definitely comes from the people that come to Miami, the different nationalities and cultures that come to here,” she says. Her designs are used to costume the increasing number of film, editorials and television shot in Miami.

Lila Nikole will be showing a new collection with Funkshion during the Fashion Week Swim, where watchers can expect a departure from the softer, feminine designs she’s favored as of late into a more rock-and-roll look full of silvers and golds.

Nicolita, KEVA by Keva J, and Lila Nikole will be showing during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim.