Miami, FL, June 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Miami is built on a particular relationship with the sun. Vampire Surf Club proposed a different one.
Rena Wang walks the runway for Vampire Surf Club during the RISE by Paraiso Miami Swim Week at the Surfcomber Hotel on May 29, 2026 in Miami Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jason Koerner/Getty Images for RISE By Paraiso)
The Venice, California-based surf and swimwear label made its runway debut at RISE by Paraiso Miami Swim Week, presenting 20 looks that turned sun protection into a style statement and brought a designer’s perspective to a space historically driven by utility.
ON THE NIGHT
The catwalk was built over the pool at Miami Beach’s Kimpton Surfcomber Hotel. On Friday at 8 PM, as the sun set, a black-and-white film by Aljaž Babnik played on the screen, cutting a solar eclipse against footage of surfers in the brand’s hooded rashguards.
Darkness fell with the opening walk. The soundtrack moved from Else’s Paris into Shake by Habitaat featuring Blimes, closing on Sevdaliza’s Messiah. A diverse casting brought the brand’s inclusive point of view onto the runway.
The lineup moved through hooded rashguards and springsuits, long-sleeved swimsuits, a full-length bodysuit with a plunging neckline, and triangle bikini tops paired with leggings and shorts.
THE BRAND STARTED WITH A SUNBURN
Vampire Surf Club began with a problem its founder couldn’t solve in the existing market. Nicola Morgan spent years designing haute couture and ready-to-wear in Paris before moving to California and learning to surf. She went looking for a women’s hooded rashguard and couldn’t find one. So she designed it herself and built a brand around it.
Vampire Surf Club isn’t the first label to take sun protection seriously. What sets it apart is the design eye behind it: a luxury fashion sensibility applied to technical surfwear and swimwear.
THE COLLECTION
The runway presented two collections: Spring/Summer 2026, available now at vampiresurfclub.com, and a first look at Fall 2026.
Black anchored the show as the brand’s signature, moving through long-sleeved swimsuits, hooded rashguards for men and women, and a full-length bodysuit with a plunging neckline. Coverage is built to be modular: rashguards, bikini tops, leggings, and shorts read as separates, each piece deliberate, with the degree of coverage left to the wearer.
Spring/Summer 2026 introduced a signature hazy floral print drawn from a long-exposure photograph, designed by Morgan’s close friend Torunn Myklebust of No More Mondays design studio in Paris. Myklebust and Morgan first worked together at Givenchy and have remained close collaborators ever since.
Fall 2026 introduced surf shorts, shorty suits and a long-sleeved set in off-white and graphic black-and-white gingham. The presentation also offered a first look at the brand’s neoprene direction: slick second-skin silhouettes, punctuated by the brand’s signature long-sleeve and scoop-back swimsuits in Siren red.
SHOW DETAILS
Event: Vampire Surf Club at RISE by Paraiso, Miami Swim Week
Date: Friday, May 29, 2026
Time: 8:00 PM
Location: Miami, Florida
ABOUT VAMPIRE SURF CLUB
Vampire Surf Club is a Venice Beach–based surfwear brand redefining sun-protective surfwear.
Founder Nicola Morgan — with fifteen years of luxury fashion experience including design tenures at Givenchy, Lanvin and The Row — brings a designer’s perspective to a category historically driven by utility. Her lived experience of countless hours in the lineup informs every design decision: cut, proportion, and detail are treated as an obsession.
The collection centers around UPF50+ surfwear and swimwear cut from Italian fabric with ECONYL® regenerated nylon yarn and Japanese limestone-based neoprene. Silhouettes expand the definition of swimwear, with hooded rashguards, springsuits, and full-length bodysuits as brand signatures. Each piece is developed slowly, tested extensively, and produced in limited runs, balancing technical performance with a refined aesthetic.
Women-first in design, gender-inclusive in approach, Vampire Surf Club sits at the intersection of surf performance and luxury fashion.
The brand philosophy: True luxury is empty waves and nowhere else to be.
Vampire Surf Club collaborates with skin cancer awareness nonprofit Spot the Dot to bring medically reviewed sun protection content to its audience, and is currently in post-production on a melanoma awareness documentary.
The brand is self-funded and operates independently from Venice, California.
vampiresurfclub.com / @vampiresurfclub
ABOUT PARAISO MIAMI SWIM WEEK
PARAISO Miami Swim Week, widely known as Miami Swim Week, has been the epicenter of swim and resort wear for over 20 years. PARAISO has established itself as the unrivaled pinnacle of the swim and resort wear industry worldwide. In July 2018, PARAISO unveiled a brand new experiential festival that creatively united the world’s favorite fashion, wellness, beauty, and lifestyle brands through a roster of experiential events. The multi-day fashion fair is centralized in Collins Park and stretches across all Miami Beach. PARAISO champions the core values of innovation, originality, and discovery through must-see events, imaginative activations, exclusive launches, runway presentations, and collaborations in design, music, wellness, art, and social media. In 2026, PARAISO Miami Swim Week is celebrating the sophomore edition of SIHOF: Swimwear Icons Hall of Fame, a dedication and celebration of the swimwear industry, its tastemakers, and trailblazers, as well as the debut of ‘RISE’, its standout production concept for up-and-coming brands. The week’s lineup of special events kicked off on Wednesday, May 27, and ran through Sunday, May 31, with a star-studded roster of top-tier talent, designers, and industry creators.
OFFICIAL SOCIAL HANDLES: #ParaisoMB @paraisomiamibeach
IMAGERY
Runway imagery is available via Getty Images here: https://www.gettyimages.in/search/2/image?phrase=vampire%20surf%20club
Additional images available on request.
Mia Hannah walks the runway for Vampire Surf Club during the RISE by Paraiso Miami Swim Week at the Surfcomber Hotel on May 29, 2026 in Miami Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jason Koerner/Getty Images for RISE By Paraiso)
About Vampire Surf Club
Vampire Surf Club is a Venice Beach–based surfwear brand turning sun protection into a style statement. Founder Nicola Morgan — with fifteen years of luxury fashion experience including design tenures at Givenchy, Lanvin and The Row — brings a designer's perspective to a space historically driven by utility. Her lived experience of countless hours in the lineup informs every design decision: cut, proportion and detail are treated as an obsession. The collection centers around UPF50+ surfwear and swimwear cut from Italian fabric with ECONYL® regenerated nylon yarn and Japanese limestone-based neoprene. Silhouettes expand the definition of swimwear, with hooded rashguards, springsuits, and full-length bodysuits as brand signatures. Each piece is developed slowly, tested extensively, and produced in limited runs, balancing technical performance with a refined aesthetic. Women-first in design, gender-inclusive in approach, Vampire Surf Club sits at the intersection of surf performance and luxury fashion. The aesthetic is sophisticated, edgy, and editorial. The brand philosophy: True luxury is empty waves and nowhere else to be. We're just making it easier to stay out there.
Press Inquiries
Jen
hello [at] vampiresurfclub.com
https://vampiresurfclub.com/
