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The Social Swim
“Let the party-hopping begin!” Shala Monroque announced at Interview magazine’s Thursday night cocktail bash at the Mondrian. “I’m checking off my first box for the evening.” Like the rest of the Art Basel Miami Beach crew, Monroque had at least three more parties to get to, though Interview‘s event remained fully (if not over-) subscribed. “We just extended the cocktail hour another hour,” the magazine’s editor at large, Christopher Bollen, explained. “Turns out we don’t have as many seats for dinner as we have people here, so we’re counting on some people leaving—or at least sticking to liquids for the rest of the night.” Also keeping the crowd on its feet was a live a cappella performance by the Scandinavian singer Nils Bech. What with all the socializing and cocktailing and art-gawking, it’s easy to forget that this is a beach town, but some guests have been taking advantage of the local attractions. “You’ll go mad if you come down here and don’t enjoy Miami,” said Ryan McGinley. “I just got out of the water—look, my hair is still wet!”
True party overload, meanwhile, was going into effect at the recently opened W on Collins Avenue. Three affairs were packed onto the hotel’s ground floor, all taking off at the same time: Aby Rosen, Alberto Mugrabi, and Peter Brant‘s super-casual outdoor buffet; Cartier’s rather more formal sit-down at Mr. Chow; and a rowdy dance party at the Wall, hosted by Stavros Niarchos, Alex Dellal, and Vito Schnabel. “I think everyone I know in Miami is here tonight,” Brant smiled as he greeted the likes of Naomi Campbell, Calvin Klein, and Stephen Dorff. “Which isn’t to say that I know everyone here. But as long as everyone is having fun, I’m happy.” Over in the mirrored and disco-lighted Wall nightclub, the young hosts were feigning a bit of party anxiety. Schnabel teased Niarchos about following up on his RSVPs, and Dellal offered to drag in some people off the street. Not that they had anything to worry about: The place was soon packed with good-time girls like Nicky Hilton, China Chow, and Lauren Santo Domingo. Back at the Cartier dinner, Eva Chow was contemplating the specially constructed glass cases showing millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds. “This isn’t how the restaurant typically is decorated,” she reflected. “Which is a good thing. I don’t think my husband would want me looking at this too often.”
plus: that’s not all, folks—pics and scoop from miami bashes for the whitney and pucci >
—Derek Blasberg Continue reading
Mixed Media
You don’t need an excuse to throw a party at Art Basel Miami Beach, but as it happens, the Whitney Museum of American Art is celebrating 75 years of Biennials. Tennis-ace-turned-art-dealer John McEnroe, party co-host Beth Rudin DeWoody, and a solid contingent of major artists descended on the Standard Spa to wish the museum well. Were the hotel’s bayside deck to collapse at that moment, Whitney director Adam Weinberg surmised, “the art world would be a lot poorer.” Surveying a crowd that didn’t just include the usual groupies but major artists like Chuck Close and Alex Katz, he added, “I don’t mean financially, I mean artistically.” Art advisor Elizabeth von Guttman made the short trip over from her room. A Raleigh regular, she’s staying at the Standard this year. “I have to be loyal” to hotelier André Balazs, who sold the Raleigh last fall, she explained.
A little later, she was sipping cocktails with the likes of Naomi Campbell and Lauren Santo Domingo on the rooftop of the Webster. The three-floor boutique hosted a dinner for Pucci’s Norwegian-born creative director, Peter Dundas, who loves the Florida heat. “I could live on the beach,” he said, and mentioned that he’d only met the store’s Frederic Dechnik a month ago, on the way back from a Key Largo diving trip. The success of Pucci’s new Marquise bag had been “a super Christmas present,” Dundas added. Then he joined Pharrell Williams, Stefano Tonchi, and about 50 other guests on the third floor for blini and caviar.
—Darrell Hartman Continue reading
The Basel Brigade
Tuesday had its smattering of early-bird private dinners and art-fair previews, but Wednesday was Art Basel Miami Beach’s first true night of parties. At the Standard, François Nars celebrated his 15X15 celebrity-portrait book, and Naomi Campbell, who appears between its covers, was there to testify to the makeup maestro’s genius. “He transforms you into different characters, and that’s what’s so challenging in modeling—to do things that are outside of you,” said Campbell, who met the face painter more than two decades ago on a New York shoot with Steven Meisel. “I trust him unconditionally.” Nars threw some love right back at her: “Sometimes today the new models, they don’t really enjoy makeup. They don’t love to be photographed,” he said. “Naomi loves makeup and loves to be photographed, so it’s great.” Anyone who wanted a snap of her at the Standard, of course, was obliged to ask her towering bodyguard to step out of the way.
Over on Miami Beach, Another Magazine held a rooftop bash at the Delano, putatively for its new art editions. Truth be told, it’s editor Jefferson Hack‘s first time at Art Basel, and, he explained, “having a party just seemed the best way to meet everyone in one go.” Plenty of Brits were there to lend Hack their support, including his co-host, the U.K. art-world mandarin (and former exhibitions director of the Royal Academy) Sir Norman Rosenthal. “This is the British player par excellence,” Rosenthal announced, as White Cube gallery’s Jay Jopling approached, then offered a seasoned vet’s sum-up of Art Basel: “It’s another big, enormous art fair with lots of stuff and a few good things.”
—Darrell Hartman Continue reading
Carey on Caring
Traditionally speaking, major charities like UNICEF are dealing in major numbers. (This year, for example, nine million Ethiopian children have been immunized.) But the focus at last night’s Snowflake Ball was a much smaller sum: zero—as in zero preventable infant deaths. “Any number above that is unacceptable,” UNICEF’s president, Caryl Stern, explained, recounting a story about watching a child die in her parents’ arms because she wasn’t given a vaccine that cost seven cents. “I believe in zero, and that’s what we have to do.” One of the event’s junior chairs, Barbara Bush—who was joined at her table by sister Jenna, cousin Lauren Bush, and Lauren’s boyfriend, David Lauren—explained that the goal wasn’t out of the question: “This year the number of deaths per day has, for the first time ever, gone below 25,000. So with events like this, and with people like those in this room, zero is completely possible.”
After the dinner at Cipriani 42nd Street, the Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award was presented by the late actress’ son Sean Ferrer to UNICEF representative Ted Chaiban. (It was accepted by Chaiban’s wife, since he was unable to leave his post in Ethiopia.) The evening then went from international aid to international fame, as Mariah Carey made a surprise appearance to introduce the chairman of Island Def Jam Music Group, Antonio “L.A.” Reid, who received the Spirit of Compassion Award. Put mildly, Carey was in good spirits. “How you feelin’?” she asked the crowd, and then after mispronouncing the word philanthropic, joked, “I didn’t go to college! I was making records!” She then teased the attentive audience with the first lines of her hit “Hero” before abruptly breaking off: “Nah, I’m joking, y’all!” The injection of fun roused the crowd just in time—right before the live auction. Said Reid, “There’s lots of rich people in this room. Let’s shake ’em down and get a few million.”
—Derek Blasberg Continue reading
Million Dollar Babe
Reality show personalities and teen heartthrobs come and go as quickly as the tabloids that track their every move in our celebrity-obsessed age. But at last night’s Museum of the Moving Image salute to Clint Eastwood, people were reminded what a true star is. The crowd, which included Hilary Swank, Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, and Ralph Lauren, found plenty of superlatives for the still-going-strong 79-year-old, who is currently directing his 34th production. “Clint is a legend,” Marcia Gay Harden offered. “And gorgeous.” Morgan Freeman went further: “No matter what, you can’t stop looking at Clint,” he said. “And I’m straight.”
Despite all the compliments, the four-time Oscar winner was as humble as ever. “You’ve made a senior citizen very happy tonight,” Eastwood told the crowd during his speech. “Luck played a lot in my success. The only thing I’ve been good at is picking the people around me: casting, crew, and production.” He cracked a Dirty Harry smile and added: “And outliving everyone else.” But Matt Damon wasn’t going to let his Invictus director off that easy. “It’s embarrassing to talk about someone you admire when they’re here—and it’s probably double-embarrassing for him, since he’s such a modest guy,” Damon started. “But I judge directors by how my wife likes them. And my wife loves Clint Eastwood.” Kevin Bacon chimed in: “Every married man in this room has a wife who loves Clint Eastwood.”
—Derek Blasberg Continue reading
Paris Spectacular
“My favorite part was the geese.” Nadja Auermann was trying to isolate the most memorable segment of H&M’s jaw-droppingly spectacular celebration of its collaboration with Sonia Rykiel. “No, the girls on the swings.” Geese? Swings? Honestly, where do you start? A misty fantasy of an entranceway lined with giant mushrooms, huge white rabbits, and balloon trees set the tone for the evening. Alice in Grace Slick’s Wonderland was an appropriately disorienting introduction to a show that did indeed begin with a flock of geese parading jauntily down a facsimile of the Champs Élysées that had been re-created inside the Grand Palais. (A little artistic license on the part of set designer—and mad genius—Simon Costin also allowed for a light-bedecked Eiffel Tower, which reached into the shadowy recesses of the building’s massive dome.)
And, yes, one of the floats that made up the subsequent triumphal procession did feature models on swings, wearing the lingerie that Rykiel has designed for H&M. There were other floats, where the models writhed on satin sheets or pedaled furiously on bicycles (previewing the knitwear that will be Rykiel’s second offering for the retailer, in February), all to a soundtrack of the Swedish national anthem, a.k.a. ABBA’s greatest hits. There was also a corps of baton-twirling majorettes, not to mention Lily Cole, in black satin bra and briefs, determinedly piloting a huge horse’s head through a mock Arc de Triomphe, in a scenario that was irresistibly reminiscent of Cleopatra’s entry into Rome atop a sphinx, as assayed by Elizabeth Taylor in the role she was born to play.
Like Cleopatra, Rykiel enjoys something of an imperial status in her area of expertise, and the scale of H&M’s show, combined with a rumored budget of 6.5 million euros (almost $10 million!) was certainly fit for a queen. Le tout Paris, along with Auermann, Eva Herzigova, Zoe Cassavetes, Lou Doillon, Martine Sitbon, and a good number of H&M’s home team from Sweden, could only watch in awe. “Sublime,” gasped Jean Paul Gaultier. That surely stands as the perfect last word.
—Tim Blanks Continue reading