Radiant Orchid: Pantone's Color of the Year 2014

There you have it, the much anticipated Pantone Color of the Year was announced as Radiant Orchid.  The color is a pinkish purple, somewhere between a pastel and bright tone.  Designers of all fields, trendwatchers and creative media have and are influenced by this announcement.

 Is it truly that important? Consider this, business leaders who otherwise have no opinion on color or design have been known to pull their investment from a brand for their lack of the color in their upcoming collections, thinking they are no longer relevant.  Ouch.

Besides the purple/pink color as the hue of 2014, the "orchid" part of the equation is also key.  When scrolling through my photo albums of New York Fashion Week, I found that designers who made this color a key component of their collections also incorporated it into bold patterns resembling tropical florals.

Desigual had huge over-sized painterly blossoms (clockwise from top left).  Custo Barcelona used the color ethnic, geometric prints.  Theia embroidered big blooms in sequins.  Dolores Cortes used it as an accent on a retro styled print.  Monique Lhuillier appliqued flowers in the orchid color onto elegant dresses.  Mordekai had the most literal interpretation, with a model in a purple bikini wrapped in orchids.

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MIAMI SWIM WEEK: Dolores Cortes Summer 2014

Bam! The Dolores Cortes girl is no wallflower.  The only flowers here are super bright, tropical and three-dimensional.  The Spanish designer displayed a very bold collection of swimwear for her Mecedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim show.

The solid colored suits had all sorts of twisted straps that wrapped around the body in sexy ways.  The prints were big and loud.  There were floral appliques on top of the tropical printed flowers just in case you "missed" them.  Just in case you thought these were too sweet and feminine, the collection was accessorized with big statement jewelry.  Gold spiked necklaces, cuffs, earrings acted like Wonder Woman's accouterments to the Amazonian models.

You know that messy, sticky, almost ratty hair you get after a day at the beach? Well, somehow the hairstylists made that look work on this runway.  The eyes on the models were well beyond 'smoky' and into 'raccoon' territory that they were so dark.  This worked on the most confident of models, but overwhelmed others.

Dolores herself looked like a proud Mom in her printed dress and statement necklace.  It's like the gold spiked bikini was her baby and she was releasing the warrior out into the world...

photos by Mariana Leung

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MIAMI FASHION WEEK: Dolores Cortes 2013

A rainbow and a wink.  The sassy models of the Dolores Cortes show had hair shaped into a high bouffant with brushstrokes of rainbow colors painted into the front.  With styling like this, it's rather difficult to take yourself too seriously.  The ladies winked and smirked their way through a bold collection Friday night at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Swim.  

The swimwear features bright, bold prints of cheetah and neon abstract paint strokes.  Teeny bikinis shared the runway with one-piece suits with all sorts of ingenious cutouts.  The same candy colored palette was used in a feather-like print that flattered the body's curves. 

This collection proved that you can be silly, sexy and sophisticated all at once.

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MIAMI SWIM WEEK: Dolores Cortes Spring 2011

White, grey, blue and purples defined the colors of the Dolores Cortes collection presentation at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Miami. The suits were smart and one of the few we saw that had a variety of silhouettes from bikinis to the one-piece. She kept the designs of one-piece silhouettes exciting with artful, asymmetrical cutouts and a shot of neon thru a standard leopard print. The designer used white as the backdrop for her prints and evoked some of great retro looks reminiscent of Charlie’s Angels. Great cover-up pieces easily doubled as elegant summer dresses for beach side dining and dancing.

Ms. Cortes has been a successful swim designer in Spain and chose Miami to present her debut in the US. This collection was one of the standouts shows. We think a Dolores Cortes is the suit to buy and keep, as her pieces were elegant and chic standouts in a sea of disposable swimwear.

From Dolores White Sand Beach Bunny Friday Miami Show

Photos and Story by Ritika W.

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