Vix Swimwear is available in the Swimwear Downtown Portland Boutique and the NE Portland Swimsuit Boutique.

It’s fitting that Vix is named for the stunning beach city of Vitoria in Brazil, where founder Paula Hermanny was brought up and dreamed her first dreams of the style she wanted to bring to women’s swimwear.  As a little girl, Paula would gaze up at the jets flying through the clear blue Brazillian sky and imagine a woman with classic, yet modern tastes — a woman who traveled around the world from Vitoria’s small, exotic, airport and turned heads wherever she went, from Monte Carlo to Bali.

That woman grew up as the inspiration for Vix Swimwear and Paula’s revolutionary and stunning designs.  Even today, as she crafts her latest collections, Paula still pictures her imaginary world traveler and, in her minds eye, dresses her with visions of elegance and beauty.

“When I’m designing, I picture that woman, who represents everything there is about style,” Hermanny said.  “One year I might see her in St. Barts and I can picture what she’s going to be wearing and that image becomes the basis for my collection.”

Each year, Paula designs collections that honor the Vix woman.  While that vision evolves, year by year, soaking in the hottest new innovations in swimwear, the Vix style remains true to its roots of timeless elegance.  Vix’s trademark gold and leather accessories complement Paula’s fashion-woward interpretation of the season’s latest trends, which she studies on trips to Europe, Brazil and the world’s most sophisticated beach resorts.

For each collection, Paula melds simple, stylish lines with the latest materials and prints to create a selection unlike any other in the world of swimwear.  She comlements her unique swimwaer with a variety of delightful dresses, accessories and intricately textured wraps.  And, each year, Paula designs the Vix collection with mixing-and- matching in mind, so that each customer can collect a treasure chest of the year’s most celebrated designs that will remain jewels long into the future.

The Vix woman can rest assured that she will never grow old in the eyes of fashion, as her style rides in the waves of Paula Hermanny’s imagination and creativity.

Here are a few looks from the Vix 2011 collection: