Carmen Marc Valvo Swimwear 2011

MEGAN - We are at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Swim, Hi Welcome!

CARMEN - Thank you

MEGAN - We wanted a comment on your new resort line that you're launching here tonight.

CARMEN - Yes, it's really exciting, really beautiful. We started here in Miami Fashion week about 5 years ago, with great success. The collection has grown by leaps and bounds over the years, and its the natural evolution, so this year we're introducing Carmen Marc Valvo Resort wear. What that is is basically a natural extension to swimwear.

You know there's always in swim, you have some sort of cover, but this season it's much more extensive. It's almost like 5 easy pieces, great anorak jackets, drawstring tops, little hooded jackets, cargo skirts, little jumpsuits, made out of water-proof fabrications that do breath, and also made out of tricot as well. You can get them wet, you can put them on a boat, and if you're traveling and going to an exotic place, such as Miami, very sexy, sophisticated, and you don't have to think about what I'm going to take. You can minimize your wardrobe nightmare "Oh should I take this, should I take that?" No, because the pieces are so easily interchangeable, based in black-and-white. They're easy additions to anybody's pre-existing wardrobe. They're wonderfully designed and I think you're really going to enjoy them.

MEGAN - What's the inspiration behind them?

CARMEN - The resort wear is really kind of has a safari shape to it. It's just kind of easy, you know cargo-pocketed pieces, draw string, metal detailing, zippers. And in the swim collection, of which it is an extension of, there's a lot of metal hardware as well, but it's treated in an ethnic feel. So I combined the metallic ethnicity of something that's maybe a chunky piece of African jewelry, then it goes on to a little kind of grommet detailing, and then on to the safari wear. So it's all kind of very cross-cultural, just beautifully working together, on a sophisticated palette of white and black.

MEGAN - Lot of white and black then?

CARMEN - Lot of white and black. There is color in the collection, but not so much in the resort wear. Though there may be a tunic that's offered in color, that's one tunic. It's very specific. It's for somebody that embraces color. But this collection should appeal to a broad spectrum of women in all ages. And again a collection should always be based on black-and-white when starting a new wardrobe, and it could be a nice base.

MEGAN - What about print? Are we going to see a lot of print, or is it a lot of black-and-white and a lot of solids?

CARMEN - No, it's a lot of prints. I love prints. You can't have everything black-and-white, then it becomes too graphic. But as I said, it has an ethnic feel to it. There's a lot of Balinese inspired prints, wood block prints done in black-and-white and shades of gray. One is fabulous - it must be almost 17-21 colors in the print. It goes from dark purples to magenta, to lavenders, to pale pink, then to a turk and to a soft baby blue, and it's so sophisticated because the print itself is beautiful, but the color flow it's beautiful.

MEGAN - So travel plays a very large role it seems in your collection?

CARMEN - Absolutely, I think in swimwear, you're dealing with such a small piece of fabric, so you need to come up with an interesting detail.

MEGAN - But now with resort wear you're going to have more fabric?

CARMEN - Yes but that's why there's black and white, and the detailing there is grommets and swimwear. You take a thing like Bali, so you can take that, and that way you can really excite yourself to creating something fresh, because the bathing suit's only this big.

MEGAN - Where have you traveled to lately?

CARMEN - The latest trip was probably the Maldives, which was two, three years ago actually. I try to take a big trip every two years, and then last year I was in Costa Rica, which is not so far away, but I fell in love with it so I've been there a couple of times.

MEGAN - And what's next for Carmen Marc Valvo?

CARMEN - We just launched Bridal Wear, that was very exciting, we just launched last week during Bridal fair. Furs are going to be launched with Birger Christensen this fall season.

MEGAN - From the beach to the cold, we're everywhere!

CARMEN - We go from Miami to Aspen to Beaver creek, we're all over the place.