Latin Americans, such as Colombian-born Esteban Cortazar, still reign over Miami's fashion scene. But in a sunbaked city where skin is always in, designers who call the Caribbean home have fashioned a style niche in ready-to-wear, lightweight clothes with brand names and colors evoking their native islands' music and patois.

Caribbean style here is meant to be worn on a hot, sunny street, said Beth Sobol, founder of Miami Fashion Week, a spring event that draws designers from South America, Italy and Spain, among others.

Associated Press

Haitian brothers Patrick and Fabrice Tardieu at Bogosse in Doral, Fla. Tuesday, July 3, 2007. A growing acceptance of tropical hues and prints in menswear have boosted sales for the Tardieus and their Bogosse label.

Though other designers elsewhere occasionally mine the Caribbean's colors - a recent Christian Dior collection prominently featured the red, gold and green frequently identified with Marley, his reggae music and Jamaica - the look hasn't been adopted much beyond the islands or Miami. .

The Miami-based designers are succeeding, though, at building local brands aimed at closets within their own communities, Sobol said.

"A lot of T-shirts, little skirts, cargo-type things. It's more casual day wear, flowing cotton and silks," she said. "They design for themselves."

Lightweight luxury

Haizen

Miami's hot weather and body conscious attitude make it an extension of the nearby Caribbean, said Cuban-born designer Rene Ruiz. He found his lavish gowns and pret-a-porter collection had to not only fit well, but breathe.

"The couture, the clothes I make, is very lightweight. The suiting I do has a lot less inner lining," Ruiz said.

Miami also shares the Caribbean's more daring definition of glamour and elegance, said bridal and evening gown designer Angelique Terrelonge.

Women here demand the same luxury details found in other collections, but the trends have to be translated to fit a steamier scene, she said. The Jamaican-born designer wanted a collection in fur, but obviously there's no need here for an extra layer of warmth. Instead, she created a jacket made from fluffy pink ostrich feathers - she calls it "South Beach Fur."

"The price point isn't as high as a mink or fox or something like that," Terrelonge said. "It's a great overcoat or evening piece for Florida, California, that in-between before winter really hits in."

What fits in the tropics

Many local Caribbean-born designers are music fans who find the inspiration for, and the bodies to wear, their clothes at Miami's reggae clubs and kompas festivals.

Fede Prudhomme built his Compa Jeans line around an idle observation at a concert: His wife's jeans hugged her hips but gaped at her waist. He looked around the club at the other women dancing to the kompas music popular in his native Haiti - none of their designer jeans fit their hourglass proportions, either.

"That's when I realized, man, we need to come up with just the right specifications for these curvy women with big hips, rather big butts and very skinny waists," Prudhomme said.

So Compa Jeans hug a woman's hips, with a lower rise and a bit of stretch. Prudhomme played with the name of the upbeat dance music popular in Haiti so his jeans also would appeal to Spanish speakers recognizing a word for "rhythm" or a slang term for "friend."

"I realized all Caribbean and Latin women have that (fit) problem," he said.