The Fair:
WHERE: Miami Beach Convention Center.
WHAT: The contemporary-art world’s foremost American gathering.
WHEN: December 4–7.
HIGHLIGHTS: Twenty-five of the 250 exhibiting galleries are here for the first time, including Air de Paris and Greenberg Van Doren Gallery. • An endless slate of other art events scheduled to coincide with the Art Basel, including the smaller Nada, Pulse, Scope, and Design Miami fairs. • Art Basel Conversations will include such panelists as Vik Muniz, Thelma Golden, and Chuck Close, among others. • It’s a week full of countless parties. Some highlights include: The New York Times Magazine party hosted by Stefano Tonchi, Andre Balazs, and Ambra Medda at the Raleigh Penthouse (Dec. 2); Jeffrey Deitch’s party at the Raleigh featuring rock group The Gossip (Dec. 3); the opening night extravaganza for the exhibition “Russian Dreams…” at the Bass Museum of Art (Dec. 3); the launch of Visionaire magazine special issue 55 on the theme of “surprise” at a place to be announced (Dec. 4); the IFC Films screening of Che at Byron Theater, and afterparty at the Raleigh hosted by Steven Soderbergh, Benicio Del Toro, and Laura Bickford (Dec. 4); the Bruce Weber dinner and afterparty for the L'Uomo Vogue “Miami Issue,” which he shot, hosted by editor Franca Sozzani and Remo Ruffini at Casa Tua; and the opening cocktail party for the exhibition “Thoughts on Democracy” at the Wolfsonian (Dec. 5).
artbaselmiamibeach.com
Stay:
The Delano
This iconic Aztec-headdress-topped hotel, designed by Robert Swartzburg in 1947, has recently snatched back its share of the jet-set crowd, thanks in part to a room refit that retained its white-on-white aesthetic but upgraded the dated amenities with new mattresses and plasma televisions (Dita von Teese’s much-gossiped-about striptease here a couple of years ago didn’t hurt either.) A rooftop Agua Spa opened last year, along with a speakeasy-inspired lounge designed by onetime Miami mainstay Lenny Kravitz.
1685 Collins Ave.
305/672-2000
Rates: $435–605
morganshotelgroup.com
Fontainebleau
The cutting-edge curve on this Morris Lapidus–designed hotel provoked some outrage when it was completed in 1954; now the price of the remake ($1 billion) is doing the same. The 1,504 rooms (each with an oversize jet tub), 11 restaurants (including one from Alfred Portale of New York's Gotham Bar and Grill), and 40,000-square-foot spa are just the beginning. The renovation, which was completed in November, went to lengths to retain the original design details, like the circular ceilings and the lobby's "stairway to nowhere." Just in case you get bored, next door is another 1950s Lapidus hotel that reopened this fall: Eden Rock. Check out its rooftop terrace.
4441 Collins Ave.
800/573-6351
Rates: $310–710
fontainebleau.com
Gansevoort South
The Manhattan hotel’s Florida outpost opened in July in the former Roney Palace building. It includes a restaurant (by Philippe Chow) and a pool area where you’re likely to see art-world VIPs. Like the original, this hotel has a showy rooftop pool — with cocoa palms and cabanas. A second elevated oceanfront “pool plaza” has a Jacuzzi, bar, and café. The 334 charcoal gray–walled rooms are a nod to Miami’s heyday, with ’40s pinup photos and large balconies.
2377 Collins Ave.
305/604-1000
Rates: $395–795
gansevoortsouth.com
The Raleigh
Andre Balazs’s louche, luxe hotel has established itself as an art-world mainstay — it reliably hosts a bulk of the A-list parties. No one stays at the Raleigh for the rooms, though they’re comfortable and chic in a style you might call “Chateau Marmont goes to 1950s Cuba.” Rather, it’s the common areas, from the lovingly restored wood-paneled cocktail bar at the entrance to the curvaceous Esther Williams–era pool out back, that lure crowds.
1775 Collins Ave.
305/534-6300
Rates: $360–545
raleighhotel.com
Save to Del.icio.us
Digg this