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

The metallic shine was all above 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 kind of complicated hardware. And it emerges like our customers tend to prefer gold over silver … against the tan,” Turk said after the show.

She used gold hardware to decorate her bikinis and one-pieces. A model wore a black maillot with gold hardware placed at the dipping neckline. There was also a fuchsia 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 ornamented a white bikini.

“Color is something that is extremely important to our brand. It’s always, perpetually about color,” she said. “That’s my favorite thing, is working on the color mixtures for the textiles that we use.”

The fashion shows run throughout Monday night.