Trina Turk goes for gold at swim fashion week

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Designer Trina Turk is going for gold with her new swimwear collection.

The metallic shine was all over the runway at Turk's Thursday night show, which kicked off the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim 2011.

"It was just that we were feeling gold, and also in our swimwear we've been doing a lot of sort of complicated hardware. And it seems like our customers tend to prefer gold over silver ... against the tan," Turk said after the show.

She used gold hardware to embellish her bikinis and one-pieces. A model wore a black maillot with gold hardware placed at the plunging neckline. There was also a fuschia bandeau bathing suit top with gold hardware paired with a short multicolored skirt, accessorized with a chunky gold cuff bracelet and ring. Gold hardware also adorned a white bikini.

Turk sent a model down the runway wearing a gold one-shouldered long sleeve top paired with turquoise bikini bottoms. Another wore gold pants with a gold belt and a multicolored bandeau swim top, which also had gold hardware on it. Even the shoes, thong cork platforms, had some gold.

The collection — named "Acapulco Gold" — was inspired by Acapulco in the early 1970s "when it was the glamorous resort destination," Turk said. So there were a lot of bold prints with bright colors inspired by Mexico.

"Color is something that is very important to our brand. It's always, always about color," she said. "That's my favorite thing, is working on the color combinations for the textiles that we use."

There were also maillots, which Turk says are coming back into style. There was a low-cut white one with a print that had colors including red, lime green and blue. Hats added pizazz — perhaps something a stylish Mad Hatter would wear to the beach?

The fashion shows run through Monday night.