Dolores Cortes Spring 2009
Dolores Cortes Spring 2009

MADRID, Jan 12, 2009 / FW/ — Swimwear fashion of experimentalist inspiration, expressed via reinterpretations, the interaction of materials and own constructive techniques, the Dolores Cortes Spring 2009 collection developed into an eclectic mix of geometric and organic-vegetable shapes, which gradually changed into abstract, light, undulating motifs marked with warm, intense colors.

Thus, enthusiasm for the ornamental takes on another meaning, achieving something other than mere decoration. It now ceases to be a symptom to become a symbol: function converted into aesthetic pleasure.

Dolores Cortés has continued a 50-year-long family tradition in the design and manufacture of women’s swimwear.This experience even dates back to before the existence of present-day stretch fabrics, when the founder Dolores Cortés succeeded in innovating by creating a stretch swimsuit which adapted to the body without losing its shape, even when it was wet, and by also adding the aesthetic factor to a product which at the time was not considered as fashion.

In order to achieve this, she transformed a traditional sewing machine, adapting the reel which stores and regulates the usual thread so that she could sew using rubber. She topstitched on a plain fabric to achieve stretch and to ensure it would fall back into place.

The lines of the topstitching determined the direction of the elasticity: vertical, horizontal or square, depending on the areas. This was the basis for a gradual development in pattern design and ever better features and aesthetics. She began the traditional manufacture of these first swimsuits in the 50s and has continued with their design and manufacture in her workshop which has gradually expanded.

In keeping with this tradition, in the 1980s, her daughter Dolores Font Cortés joined the management and design, taking charge of the entire creation process of the collections and adopting the name Dolores Cortés as the firm for her designs as a tribute to the founder.

Since the outset, Dolores has taken pains to drive creativity, to make women’s swimwear a true fashion product, and to ensure it is recognized as such in an environment which, at the time, was rather skeptical about accepting it. This project was greatly supported by her experience at fashion shows, which began individually by participating in the Pasarela El Carmen in Valencia at its first edition in 1999 and continuing at Valencia Fashion Week.

From 2001, she continuously presented her Swimwear Collections at the Pasarela Gaudí in Barcelona up until the last edition. She has shown her collections at Pasarela Cibeles in Madrid since 2007. In 2008, she was invited to Moda Cálida in Gran Canaria. She is currently the President of the Designers’ Association of the Autonomous Region of Valencia.

Photos courtesy of Cibeles Madrid Fashion Week

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