Provecto Runway

In Colombia, designer Johanna Ortiz is building the Parsons of South America. Its students are all survivors.

- LEENA KIM

Ever since she was discovered by Lauren Santo Domingo nearly a decade ago, Johanna Ortiz has been the go-to designer for peripatetic swans around the world, amassing a chic posse of devotees with ultrafeminine silhouettes and exuberant tropical prints that perfectly capture their je ne sais quoi spirit. And their migratory patterns: An Ortiz dress is indispensable for summer in St.-Tropez, New Year’s in Cartagena (where Ortiz and Santo Domingo met, having run in the same circles for years), and every geotag hotspot in between. But while sultry South American glamour is a trademark of her collections, which she shows annually in Paris and New York, they have a higher calling than exquisite finery for a life of sybaritic leisure.