PARAISO’s Poolside Runways Are Redefining Fashion Week Spectacle
By Runway Magazine Editorial Team | June 4, 2026
PARAISO Miami Swim Week celebrated its 22nd edition from May 28 through 31, 2026. The conversation it generated well exceeded the sum of its runway shows. Buyers, press, and industry members came from more than 60 countries. The signature PARAISO tent at Collins Park, steps from the Atlantic, anchored the week as the primary stage. Programming spread across four key additional venues: the Kimpton Surfcomber Hotel, the Delano Miami Beach, The Ritz-Carlton South Beach, and 1111 Lincoln Road. PARAISO Miami Swim Week has been answering a single question across 22 editions: how does a fashion week earn its global authority? The 2026 edition answered it through RISE — its new emerging-talent platform built literally over the the Surfcomber’s historic Art Deco pool. Beyond RISE, a broader programming strategy transformed four city blocks into a luxury fashion ecosystem.
Haute Living put the shift precisely: “Miami is no longer adjacent to the global luxury fashion conversation. It is the conversation — and PARAISO is the room where it happens.” That framing reflects how far PARAISO has traveled. Impact Wealth describes it as the place where fashion, music, and nightlife blend into “one sun-drenched spectacle.” The swimwear industry has followed.
RISE: The Over-the-Pool Runway That Changed the Week’s Scale
RISE was the most visually distinctive addition to this year’s PARAISO Miami Swim Week. This concept took the immersive fashion experience principle as far as possible without getting anyone’s feet wet. Its structure involved building a runway directly over the hotel’s historic pool — set within one of Miami Beach’s most celebrated Art Deco properties. The result was an aerial fashion show above the pool that generated some of the week’s most striking imagery. It established a format difficult to replicate and nearly impossible to ignore — a genuine advance in runway production.
RISE ran for three nights, May 28 through 30, showcasing more than 20 rising swimwear brands. The lineup included Suncillo, LA.AVANA, Belle D’Amour, 12th Tribe, Lascana, Aura Maris, Capsool, Salty Mermaid, SIGAL, Dianna Yacht Club, Huneys, Atelier Palacios, Nohre, AvidLove, and others. Haircare was by Moncho Moreno. Makeup was by Ere Perez. Immersive DJ sets provided the soundtrack. As a luxury fashion events platform, RISE created what Loammi described as “an intimate, immersive format closer to a cultural destination.”
Salty Mermaid: The Standout Moment
The standout RISE presentation came from Salty Mermaid. Presented as a See Now, Buy Now collection, the show leaned into bold, destination-ready identity — western-inspired swim styles, coastal neutrals, metallic accents, and feminine silhouettes. The Art Deco property’s runway gave the presentation a particular movement — from rugged coastal cowgirl energy toward softer, sunlit swimwear moments. That arc, played out above an Art Deco pool under Miami style culture’s most storied sky, is precisely the kind of event spectacle that neither a conventional runway nor a digital lookbook can produce. Being there physically changes both the experience and the image. For more on the luxury swimwear brands and collections defining Miami Swim Week 2026, explore Runway’s Monday Swimwear luxury resortwear coverage.
The Full PARAISO Ecosystem
The Collins Park Tent
The PARAISO Collins Park tent remained the heartbeat of the week. International brand presentations and major celebrity runway moments took place under the tent’s main roof, steps from the Atlantic. Luli Fama’s 20th anniversary show opened and closed with choreographed dance numbers. Oséree made its PARAISO debut. Monday Swimwear, which co-chaired the event alongside Natasha Oakley and Devin Brugman, opened the official show schedule. The AZULU runway featured a custom-wrapped MINI USA Countryman positioned at the tent’s entrance. Megan Thee Stallion walked the PARAISO runway for the second consecutive year on May 28 — one of the week’s most covered fashion week highlights.
The tent programming represented PARAISO’s established authority. Fashion influencers, Miami style coverage, international press, and buyers from 60+ countries filled the front-row seats. That concentration of commercial and editorial authority defines the commercial weight of a major fashion show — and it is why fashion influencers Miami attendance matters to a brand’s season strategy. The Collins Park tent, consequently, sits at the center of the swim industry calendar.
The Delano and The Ritz-Carlton
Beyond the main tent, PARAISO’s programming expanded significantly. The newly reimagined Delano Miami Beach hosted Ellen Von Unwerth’s photography exhibition alongside designer Sinesia Karol’s latest collection. That combination reflected PARAISO’s deliberate curation beyond the runway. A major photographer alongside an emerging designer, in a recently renovated hotel that reclaimed its cultural significance.
At The Ritz-Carlton South Beach, Montce presented a water ballerina performance with Aqualillies — in collaboration with PARAISO Swim Week. Synchronized aquatic performances paired with elevated swimwear against a backdrop of shimmering reflections and seaside sophistication. That is not a runway show. It is a fashion experience built on water, movement, and luxury setting — a South Beach fashion moment in its purest form. As a fashion venue, the Ritz-Carlton pool deck produced imagery that a conventional runway cannot approximate.
The Latin-Owned Designer Showcase
Karla Martinez De Salas, Editor-in-Chief at Vogue Mexico and Latin America, curated one of the week’s most culturally significant presentations. The presentation featured Sinesia Karol, SER x Andrea Agudelo, Castañer, Bee Surreal by Lola, and California Dream Montage — a mix of elegant, bold, artistic, and futuristic looks from Latin-owned swimwear designers. These designer swimwear shows demonstrated PARAISO’s investment in Latin design. The Latin-owned brand category is currently one of the most commercially vibrant in the the industry. For more on the Latin-owned swimwear brands leading this conversation, explore Runway’s Luli Fama 20th anniversary Miami Swim Week coverage.
Why PARAISO’s Spectacle Formula Is Working
The resort fashion trends conversation at Miami Swim Week 2026 was shaped by a single observation.
The Immersive Formula
Immersive fashion experiences generate both better press coverage and better social media content than traditional runway presentations. runway spectacle that uses a setting creates photographs and videos categorically different from model-on-catwalk content. A pool, a pool deck, a synchronized aquatic performance — each changes the image fundamentally. The difference in visual impact translates directly into engagement metrics. Engagement translates into brand awareness. Brand awareness translates into commercial outcomes.
The 2026 Push
PARAISO Miami Swim Week has understood this equation for years. However, the 2026 edition pushed the spectacle formula further than any previous edition. RISE introduced a runway-over-water format. The Ritz-Carlton water ballerina performance, meanwhile, replaced a runway entirely with an aquatic art event. The Delano Ellen Von Unwerth exhibition positioned fine art photography within a fashion week context. Agua Bendita brought a “Heatwave Truck” street activation into the programming mix. White Fox presented its “La Tropica” runway as a standalone event with its own identity. Miami fashion events consequently felt less like a trade calendar. Runway photography captured the Miami Beach fashion moment with unusual precision.
Fashion industry events conversations are changing — and resortwear fashion week in particular is being reshaped. The question for a major fashion week is no longer simply whether the clothes are strong. It is whether the event itself generates a cultural footprint worth attending and worth publishing. PARAISO’s 2026 answer to that question was affirmative and specific. As Haute Living’s PARAISO 2026 coverage confirms, the 22nd edition “reinforced Miami Beach as the global capital of swimwear and resort fashion,” drawing buyers, press, and industry from more than 60 countries. As Loammi’s PARAISO 2026 highlights confirms, RISE “expanded the traditional runway setting into something closer to a cultural destination.” For all the fashion, swimwear, and cultural event coverage that matters in 2026, trust Runway Magazine.
