Miami Fashion Week 2017: What to Expect and New Trends

Miami Fashion Week 2017: What to Expect and New Trends

Every year, Miami Fashion Week is a true spectacle of Florida culture, beach life and today’s fashion stage. Florida is the swim fashion capital of the world, packing panoramic views, midday art walks and beachside displays. Soho Studios is proud to be in the mix, and we’re dishing out this year’s biggest arrivals. Miami Fashion Week hits on May 31, so get ready, gear up and get wild with these new trends, designers and events.

Art Basal

While Art Basal isn’t a fashion event, it still holds a heavy influence over fashion. Expect to see Dior, Chanel and Valentino. They roll into Miami each December, and they’re back to pack Art Basal with loads of fun. Bruce Weber and Terry Richardson will be there, too, photographing the event while signing books. Art Basal is expected to headline Miami Fashion Week, garnering attention up and down the street.

Funkshion Fashion Week

For your edgy pattern fix, we suggest Funkshion Fashion Week Miami Beach. It lasts four days, wrapping up Miami Fashion Week in the allure of music, a sizzling sartorial showcase, emerging designers and rad presentations. It’s established by providers like Chloé, but it’s contingent upon purchasing power. Show entires are free, and display items are available in nearby stores.

The First Faces Competition

On the event side of things, the First Faces Competition will highlight 2017’s hottest runway models, fashion statements and emergent styles. If you don’t see First Faces, you’re missing out. It pulls some of Fashion Week’s highlights to the forefront, giving you a dose of culture. Really, it summarizes this year’s greatest, most creative fashion choices. Don’t miss out.

The SwimShow & LingerieShow

Hosted in the Miami Beach Convention Center, the SwimShow & LingerieShow is a 400,000 square-foot exhibition. Stop by, and check out over 2,500 swim, resort, lifestyle and intimate apparel retailers. You’re bound to find interesting yearly additions here, and you can expect to see a variety of accessory designers tossed in, too. If you favor the beach-goer look, sandals and summery shades, you’ll be in the right place. Check out this year’s leading selections by Oscar de la Renta and Nanette Lepore, or get sporty with Oakley and Body Glove.

1,200 Jewelry Booths

Jewelry will be at this year’s forefront, too. The Jewelers International Showcase is one of the largest jewelry-based trade shows in America. Across its three trade shows, about 4,000 jewelry buyers will hit the Miami Beach Convention Center. Every year, the world’s largest venders—and some new ones—populate over 1,200 booths. They present new goods, introduce industry newcomers and offer low, mid and high-range purchasing options.

Miami Fashion Week, in many ways, promotes the area’s surrounding culture by giving consumers what they want: new, legendary collections. Even styles not native to Miami have a place. Because the event puts the purchasing power into the public’s hands, a slew of new fashion designers, businesses and creators have a place for expression. Check out this year’s alluring options, and navigate the high-end selections reserved for today’s hottest brands.

How L’Oréal Paris Keeps it Fresh with Consumers

L’Oréal Paris might be a beauty brand, but it has some DIY chops, too. In celebration of its newest product lines, the brand hosted a “Galentine’s Day” party in New York’s West Edge. February 13, the event’s day, was an unofficial holiday for L’Oréal Paris, featured on NBC’s Parks and Recreation. Centered on events for women, the faux holiday was powered by L’Oréal Paris spokeswoman, Blake Lively. High-fashion décor, activities and music were had, as well as Valentine’s Day card creation.

Design Elements and the Art of DIY

The event catered to jewelry-lovers, too. Attendees could have their necklaces engraved, check out new fashion options and compare styles. Cookie decoration highlighted the event’s sweet tooth touch, and a variety of celeb-hosted introductions brought the average consumer’s vision to life.

There were about 15 DIY stations. Guests could listen to DJ Vashtie songs, get their feet wet with crafts and check out classic clips gathered from a variety of memorable movies and television shows. All products on display, of course, were up for grabs. The combination of practical DIY and digital is a good one, and L’Oréal Paris decision makers took on several beauty influencers who snapped, posted and shared photos.

Explore, Discover and Share

The event’s mantra was “explore, discover and share.” Non-traditional lighting, instrumentation and DIY stands certainly turned the age-old event participation approach on its head. Guests were urged to snap their best creations, creating environments capable of reaching high visibility on social media. Aside from L’Oréal Paris’s influencers, the event received attendance from a 300-plus crowd. V.I.P. members, of course, came out to play. L’Oréal Paris president, Tim Coolican, was one such memorable face. Other notable figures, like actress Robyn Lively, similarly attended.

Product Launches and Crafts

The arts-and-crafts area was covered by a lush, floral canopy. The area was outfitted by Tinsel & Twine and Agency, empowering the creativity of attendees. DIY card-making may not seem like a profitable event investment at first, but the event’s station packed plenty of embellishments capable of packing in personalized touches. Paper Fashion’s Katie Rodgers, meanwhile, offered highly customized guest illustrations. At every level, the event was attendee-centric.

When you combine Polaroid cameras, quirky props and several impromptu photo shoots, you’re set up for success. Take note: L’Oréal Paris has quickly become one of this year’s most notable DIY pop-up event providers, mostly due to their consumer dedication. In the world of event marketing, few brands get it better.

Toilet Paper Wall at New York Fashion Week

Even toilet-paper gets its kicks in fashion. This year, Cottonelle created a highly unique offshoot beauty lounge to spruce up New York Fashion Week and change up typically showcased brands. Both creative and memorable, the toilet-paper brand’s hosted lounge created a variety of excitement-packed options for event-goers.

Pampering in Style

The toilet-paper market is tough to market. It isn’t, however, exclusive to typical comfort commercials. Cottonelle’s approach, harnessing the triumvirate of promotional power—gifts, celebs and media—took Fashion Week by storm with a rather ornamental element.

Attendees were pampered, offered photo ops, gifted with Cottonelle gift bags and were given meetings with industry influencers. Taking place at SoHo’s Openhouse, Cottonelle’s beauty lounge created, yes, an entire wall out of toilet paper rolls. The rolls, designed and placed along the wall, created a photo booth backdrop to encourage hygiene-related poses.

The Method and the Meaning

Cottonelle’s toilet paper wall was created to boost its CleanRipple Texture toilet-paper—which is one of the brand’s own innovations. Designed to clean better, CleanRipple Texture toilet-paper definitely benefits from an “all hygiene, no nonsense” marketing effort.

Cottonelle’s approach worked, too. Senior associate brand manager, Jeremy DeWitt, considered the event to be a major success, setting Cottonelle apart from typically flat patterns, uninspired visitation booths and, of course, the brand’s leading competitors. The toilet-paper industry, itself, is difficult to compete in due to the product’s marketing monopoly on television time. That said, experiential approaches certainly exist—and Cottonelle has hit it right on the head.

More than a Showcase

Cottonelle’s display, in essence, was a consumer visual test for CleanRipple’s design. The product’s showcase, being out front and center, was a compelling feature reveal. While a highly forward approach to display marketing, the massive toilet-paper wall wasn’t necessarily off-putting. Here, the brand’s dedication to its beauty lounge takes the main stage. Its attention to consumer interaction—and not only detail—won its visitor population’s heart.

The Sponsors and Affiliates

Few experiential marketing efforts, today, are solo efforts. Cottonelle utilized its big-industry brand partners to breathe life into the event, backing a truly unique idea with truly resourceful entities. Corso Coffee, Pulsaderm, YouCam Makeup and Nonni’s Foods, all sponsors and partners, directly assisted the beauty lounge’s creation.

Integrating sponsors into experiential approaches can be difficult, but Cottonelle’s resounding support reveals quite a lot about its strategy. Primarily, it works. Secondarily, it displays an overarching inclination to try new things. Few marketing creators have the intensity, the openness and the creativity to display toilet paper on a wall, but Cottonelle’s display proves such a venture is, indeed, a successful one. The event’s success is likely attributed to its initially bizarre ideation, right alongside its solid approach to practical marketing.

Miami Swim Week 2016

There are always new and trendy events taking place in Miami and during the week of July 18, there was Miami Swim Week. This event has been running annually for a few years now, and is set amongst the trade show for swimwear. After all, where better to showcase all of the latest bikinis, tankinis, and one-pieces than near the beaches of Miami? Press and buyers alike flocked to Miami and the event took place for six fun-filled days of runways, dinners, and parties.

It was all about the parties at Miami Swim Week. There were a variety of organizations that brought a lineup of events to the schedule, such as Funkshion and Dive. There were other brands that also hosted some independent events, such as Monica Hansen and Camilla. There were even some larger companies that hosted lounges and poolside bungalows.

Runway shows typically ran for about an hour and a half, which allowed various designers to showcase what they had coming up in the world of swimwear. Some of the hosted dinners overshadowed the designs, simply because of the level of glamour and glitz given to them.

There’s one thing that was obvious throughout Swim Week: one pieces are always going to be a respectable option. So many people think that there is a trend moving away from the one piece. However, it was the one piece that was the big winner. They give off a “Baywatch vibe” according to Katharine Newman, who is one of the leaders behind Bikini.com.

Elle fashion magazine was present at Miami Swim Week 2016 and showed some of the latest styles that were presented. They also helped to define what a front was, something that has been released for a few years, though has not entirely caught on. A front is what looks like a leotard bottom and is a very high cut bikini. Some definite it as a thong for the front in terms of just how high cut it really is.

The swim industry plans to return to Miami once again in 2017. The city has a significant amount of relevance, particularly within luxury fashion. There will be many more runway shows appearing throughout the city and whether it is swimwear, cocktail dresses, or something else, the city will be happy to act as the host.

There are some amazing hotels and event spaces that are available throughout the Miami scene. This is what makes it all so exciting when there are events that come into the metropolitan city. Each one is capable of helping the event become a success, especially when organizers can come together to provide a phenomenal schedule that will keep everyone engaged throughout the time that they are there.

Funkshion Returns to Miami

One of Miami's favorite organizations, the Funkshion Fashion Show, returned to host their Fall/Winter fashion this March, and for the first time they chose right here in the Wynwood Arts District as their home base. Funkshion is Miami's Fashion Week, held three times throughout the year. Taking great pride in their Miami home, Funkshion believes in serving as a connecting force between the Latin American and US fashion markets. One thing many love about Funkshion, is how well they showcase both established and emerging names in fashion. And as their name suggests, in representing the fashion world in Miami, they set themselves apart from other fashion weeks around the world by always being sure to bring the funk. Music and art are integrated into the events, including live DJs at many of the shows to get the audience dancing in their seats.

The Winter/Fall show ran from March 16-19, 2016 with a packed schedule. Highlights included opening night's discussion, "DESIGNED IN MIAMI," with internationally celebrated designers based in Miami discussing what it takes to find success in the fashion world in Miami and beyond.  Friday's fashion event, "EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!" inspired by the Richard Linklater film in theaters now was also a great highlight. Stars of the film made an appearance, including Blake Jenner, Ryan Guzman and Tyler Hochelin. As with every fashion week that Funkshion hosts, one of the most beloved events is the Emerging Designer Series in which incredibly talented new designers who are just coming on to the scene are able to present their work in a high-profile show at no cost. March's show was no exception, with plenty of designers you'll surely be hearing from in the future.

Funkshion Events always welcomes the public to attend.  All of the events are free, one would just need to RSVP beforehand. As the Funkshion Fashion gears up for its next event this July, this is something to keep in mind. In true Miami style, they'll be celebrating swimwear in the event which runs from July 13-17, 2016. If you're a swimwear designer over the age of 21 then consider entering the Emerging Designer Series. One designer will be winning a trip to New York Fashion Week.

Funkshion Fashion Week is a great way to celebrate so much of what makes Miami great.  It brings established artists together with the newest talent and connects diverse cultures. The area is still buzzing from this event, and cannot wait to see what the next show has in store.

Kiwi's Boutique Holiday Ride in Style

Kiwi’s Boutique offers exclusive brand coverage during its December 13^th Holiday Ride in Style. A grand event for everything Kiwi’s, the Holiday Ride in Style promotes Kiwi’s clothing best offers, exclusive style and Chicago’s finest destinations. Genuine fashion lovers are provided with elite-level destination guidance and tip-top industry knowledge, facilitating a grand adventure capable of incorporating the Kiwi fashion trend.

Chicago Streets as a Marketing Destination

Kiwi’s Boutique excels at sculpting a city-centric fashion profile. Its vision of providing a specific clientele with on-point trends, newsworthy updates, style information and budgeting options renders it a top selection for Chicago shoppers. Understandably, the Kiwi’s name is glued to Chicago urban lifestyle. Elite clientele, on-trend options and seasonal upgrades are constantly on the move.

The Kiwi’s Boutique Holiday Ride in Style brings Kiwi’s Boutique buyers to a destination worthy of dining and networking. The Mag Mile is littered with great deals, fashion destinations and hot avenues. Kiwi’s Boutique, shuttled via Five West Luxury Car Service, focuses on an upscale experience, using the Chiquita White name and approach to fashion. Chicago’s streets offer unique marketing utility in their design, as Kiwi’s Boutique riders are graced with the area’s biggest, boldest fashion appearances.

In-Depth Consumer Relationships

Kiwi’s Boutique is well-known for its deep consumer relationships. In the modern marketing world, prioritizing such relationships guarantees a business edge. Chiquita White, well-known to fashionistas, socialites and entrepreneurs, has fostered the Kiwi’s connection for many years.

Now, the Holiday Ride in Style guarantees a night of mingling, shopping, sightseeing and dining in Chicago’s best holiday landmarks. Networking during the event’s Mercedes Benz Sprinter glam ride is a must, and the Kiwi’s Boutique Sip n' Shop experience transports event-goers to the Ivy Hotel, where a red carpet experience with complimentary food, photos and tours are available. Experiential marketing, in the past, has scaled with buyer brackets—and Kiwi’s approach is no different. An upscale boutique, Kiwi’s caps off its tour with grandeur destinations like Winter Wonderland, the Magnificent Mile, Navy Pier and the Millennium Plaza.

The Kiwi’s Shopping Experience

Kiwi’s Boutique has a telling event marketing strategy. While its destinations and travel vehicles are bold, exquisite and provocative, the event’s content is surprisingly comfortable. While Chicago’s latest chic wear, trends and options are highlighted by Kiwi’s Boutique, the event creators have subscribed to a cozy environment. Such an environment promotes consumer relations while creating a unique shopping experience.

Kiwi’s Boutique is renowned for making buyers “feel at home.” Its endless styling options reduce purchasing stresses, and its complimentary services craft the boutique’s brand to the consumer’s decision. Kiwi’s Boutique is fully stocked to outfit the consumer from head to toe. Natural styles, accessories and lifestyle options are a Kiwi way of life, and they’re reflected by the Holiday Ride in Style’s grace and goodwill to others.

Boutiques rely heavily on word of mouth to garner attention, and Kiwi’s attention to trend details repeatedly grants it success among big-time Chicago businesses. The Holiday Ride in Style, undoubtedly, continues this trend.

Miami Beach Swim Fashion Week and Liliana Montoya SwimWear

From July 16 to July 19, Liliana Montoya SwimWear will benefit from Miami Beach Swim Fashion Week—promoting its retail brand while reaching high-fashion brackets alongside industry favorites. Funkshion, Miami’s lead fashion platform, hosts Miami Beach Swim Fashion Week to provide consumer visibility, brand awareness promotion and fashion reveals.

The Miami Beach Fashion Week

Miami’s annual event offers an innovative platform for both established and new designers, creating equal footing for industry connection. Insight is the fashion industry’s mainstay and profitability aspect, and Miami Beach Swim Fashion Week definitely procures excellent benefits from swimwear big-hitters and emerging brands in terms of visionary achievement.

Created for media showcasing, celebrity shows, emergent collection panels, style makers, market influence and integration opportunities, Funkshion’s Miami Beach Swim Fashion Week is unique in its industry approach. Its hosted swimwear environment promotes a variety of conventions and challenge overhauls—both reinventing the industry and playing upon its best fashion options.

Swim Fashion Week’s innovative environment combines conventional appeal with new, enriched styles. A triannual event, Funkshion harnesses over 40 fashion shows, presentations and events. Those taking part in Miami Beach Swim Fashion Week have instant connections to other year-round presentations, infusing their brand with adjoined art, music and event scenes. Viewer emergence is a high priority, creating a healthy environment for creativity and design.

Liliana Montoya SwimWear and Exclusivity

Liliana Montoya SwimWear’s heavy visibility during Miami Beach Swim Fashion week will promote its newest Mermaids line alongside exclusive bathing suit brands created through Colombian Liliana Montoya. The brand’s captured mermaid enchantment has been an industry niche for years, and this summer’s Miami Beach Swim Fashion Week will generate additional brand outreach for Liliana Montoya SwimWear’s relatively specific market access point.

With a high dedication to realized shapes, prints, textures, colors, stones, sequential borders and Swarovski’s, Liliana Montoya's product line is well-placed in Miami Beach Swim Fashion Week. Seasonal offerings, signatures and emerging retail products will be featured, providing the event with high-fashion insight and industry favorite designs.

Miami Beach Swim Fashion Week’s Diversity

Traditional fashion requires ease-of-access when music, culture and diversity grow. Miami Beach’s growing cultural diversity plays a large role in Swarovski’s Liliana Montoya SwimWear’s market expansion, as visionary brands have become increasingly relevant and visible. Funkshion is renowned for its viewer submergence efforts, enhancing fashion’s draw from art and music.

Swarovski’s Liliana Montoya SwimWear is perfectly positioned to connect both Latin American and U.S markets, as Miami’s production brands have become more multicultural and more accessible. A company focusing on fashion specialization, presentation concept, innovative production and execution, Funkshion’s hosting will likely direct Liliana Montoya SwimWear’s in great directions.

Social Media Visibility

Strategic vision and life are also exposed to dynamic multimedia events, fashioning trends with state-of-the-art equipment, professional delivery and immediate connection to the world’s top-rated social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter. As multimedia plays a larger role in fashion brand extension, dynamic, client-branded environments are needed.

Miami Beach Swim Fashion Week intends to support brands while offering invaluable marketing resources. Any supported brand is equipped with visibility packages capable of being a “one-stop-shop”, media-wise. Swarovski’s Liliana Montoya SwimWear’s high-profile positioning, here, is a huge benefit.

The Vans Warped Tour

On July 19, Vans unleashes its iconic Warped Tour at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ. Well respected for its cultural additions, Vans has repeatedly underlined the indie, punk and skating industry with great music shows, unique events and rock and roll lifestyle. Warped Tour fans resonate with their favorite artists in a jam-packed day session built to please. Organized from the ground up, annual Warped Tours deliver intuitive design, the world’s favorite rock artists and highly accessible admittance.

The Vans Warped Tour Clientele

Warped Tour does cater to younger audiences, though their recent program changes admit free parents. Warped Tour offers a single, complimentary parental admission ticket to accompany a ticket-holder under the age of 18. Wise in both responsibility and brand exposure, Vans supports the 2015 Warped Tour admittance policy vita its centrally located, yellow-top Vans Warped Tour guest tent.

Located near the venue’s forefront, the Vans tent idealizes the event’s sponsorship while gathering the event’s primary consumer base and fiscally empowered parental consumer base, too. Non-transferable, patrons must show actual ticket proof to gain entrance. This selective clientele program is new, likely expanding the Vans brand to parents capable of supporting its primary youngsters—teens under age 18.

The Music Saves Lives Program

Additionally, the Vans Warped Tour brings something new, hearty and altruistic to the music scene. The nonprofit Music Saves Lives program offers free backstage wristbands for up to 100 ticket holders. The only requirement is a blood donation before Warped Tour’s event setup. Patrons can earn their Music Saves Lives voucher in an official Music Saves Lives tent, gaining backstage admittance for the event’s duration. Drives begin April 2015 and are active until July 19.

Free Giveaways and the Vans Sponsorship

While Vans has sponsored Warped Tour in the past, its newest hallmark exists within the many non-profit freebies accessible through the tour’s wheel-spin event. Games, vendor villages and associate brands are all there, and visitors meet the music industry’s lead impactors alongside the adjacent fashion industry’s hottest styles.

Music has historically impacted fashion culture, and Vans has taken great leaps with its Warped tour build-up, design and attribution. Sponsorship prevailing, Vans will continue expressing its up-to-date identity with modern artist selection, new ticket selection options and its famous “compilation CD” downloads. Of course, Vans extends its patron services to online portals, where download links, ticket obtainment and event schedules are available.

The SideOne Dummy tent is available for visitors, creating a small economy for “everything Warped”. Warped Tour’s lineup varies per stop, though New Jersey’s featured event harnesses some of the brand’s newest, innovative options. The Warped Tour Fan Club has recently benefited from Vans, too, and its ticket holder line has become a primary mode for access—further expanding the Vans brand into primary, on-location ticket sales for eligible buyers.

Warped Tour is one of the music industry’s most memorable occasions, and its featured venues notoriously profit from its appearance and spillover marketing boons. Retaining its great inertia, Warped Tour will likely last years—Vans at the helm.

Salon Allure and Babalú at Hammock, a Miami Swim Week Tradeshow

Miami’s annual Swim Week undergoes several changes this year, and innovative brand promotion strategies offer a few insights to marketers. Salon Allure, one of Swim Week’s swimwear presentations, promotions and brand recognition efforts, is partnering with Babalú—one of Miami’s top-selling retail stores. This year’s trade show expansion combines well-known, brick-and-mortar retail products with idealistic marketing approaches to create something new, something fresh and something relatively unharnessed within the industry. Touching upon experimental marketing’s finest approaches, Salon Allure and Babalú’s new creation, called "Hammock", combines industry insight and brand awareness to scope out a wide array of industry favorites and newcomers.

Babalú's Exquisite Opportunity

A Miami boutique chain, Babalú will harness Salon Allure as creative partner, shaping new looks while determining Miami’s newest trends. Historically, Hammock featured approximately 80 brand exhibits, providing open-forum spaces for industry insiders and newcomers alike. Babalú’s partnership is expected to enhance the brand exhibit count by another 40 brands, expanding the event’s total outreach.

Babalú’s outreach will take place in pre-arranged appointments. Additionally, any adjacent brands seeking walk-around traffic can take place in the area’s enhanced forum space additions. Salon Allure will also offer lighting, showroom signings, divider walls and fixtures to encase the event—creating an artistic touch capable of framing Babalú and other brands.

IMG: Swim Week’s Producer

Of course, no trade show event succeeds without production power, and Babalú’s eminent success will be contingent upon IMG: Swim Week’s production company. A regular participant in runway fashion shows, IMG is a huge asset to Babalú’s outreach—an attachment to the high fashion exposition furthers the brand’s retail quality and consumer angle.

IMG has also partnered with LDJ Productions, another events company, to create additional runway events stationed at the W’s Wet Lounge and ballroom in 1 Hotel South Beach. Miami Beach is famous for its artistic swimwear, and its culture is a powerhouse resource for any retail chain seeking invigoration or new angles.

Recent Hits and Future Expansion

Babalú’s Swim Week appearance isn’t its only experimental marketing project. Recently, its creative retail experience, dubbed “Perfume Genie”, provided consumers with an interactive fragrance finder. A unique approach, Babalú’s Perfume Genie was stationed in the Lincoln Road marketplace to enhance swimwear buying processes while enhancing its side-by-side perfume-loving consumer market.

The Opening Night Party and Runway Party

Taking place between July 18 and July 20, Swim Week kicks off with an awesome runway show and opening night party. The establishment’s Wet Pool Lounge will, as per tradition, exhibit luxury brands and the Lycra Design Challenge—which prompts brands to create unique cover-ups and swimsuits. The Lycra Xtra Life fiber makes a potent appearance, here, as does an all-expenses paid fashion photo shoot for the resort’s 2016 collection.

The W South Beach Suites will likely become a cornerstone location for Babalú in the future. The annual Swim Week trade show offers many unique opportunities, and Babalú’s attachment to event creation will provide great market access. Participating brands also include Basta Surf, Anna Sui Swimwear, Mikoh, Ella Moss, Stone Fox Swim, Pacific and Driftwood, Nautica and more.