Is Art Basel Miami Beach Still Popping?
After the intensity — celeb-wise — of last year’s fair week, this year’s tried to stay calmer.
That doesn’t mean it was without its moments, though.
BY LEIGH NORDSTROM AND KRISTEN TAUER PHOTOGRAPHS BY LEXIE MORELAND AND ANDREW MORALES
Last year's Art Basel Miami Beach blowout invoked the question of burnout — was it "over?" Had the celebrity and party dominance turned the art fair into a mini New York Fashion Week for once and for all?
Perhaps the art community could sense that — as this year sung a tamer note. There was Paris Hilton, yes, but no Diplo (a ubiquitous scenster in general but particularly during last year's Basel) and minimal Virgil Abloh sightings (last year WWD spotted him out and about 12 times).
“I thought it was getting increasingly Coachella-esque, and I was like why are there ‘Walgreens x Adidas x Vitamin Water presenting A$AP Rocky's cover of a Marina Abramovic' — like why? Why is that needed?” said Chloe Wise, who exhibited at the New Art Dealers Alliance during the week and threw a dinner with Whitewall Friday at the Edition. “So I thought it was getting more and more mainstream and losing the actual point, which is that it's supposed to be about actual art. But I feel like this year — maybe because I'm old now and I'm not invited to the really fun messy hip-hop stuff — but it feels like this year is actually a little bit less popping.”
Wise noted that the one big performance she'd heard of, Young Thug, was one she'd sadly be missing due to her dinner. Though if she hurried through dessert she might've made it: Thug took the stage at the Nautilus hotel over an hour after his scheduled time with a bottle in hand, out of which he poured sips for those wishing to photograph him.
The week's other big performance was a surprise in the form of Lil Wayne over at the Confidante, where The Surf Lodge was popped up all week. Decked in diamonds and Gucci, he performed a 30-minute set. Pacing back and forth with his eyes closed, the rapper closed out the night with his hit "Uproar," featuring Swizz Beatz (a fixture throughout the week), from his new album. The party might have been over by 11 p.m. but, as Mr. Carter puts it best on the track, "the night is young though."
A stack of big performances aside, the week drew as many fashion collaborations as in recent years. Prada set up shop at the Freehand hotel for Prada Mode, which wrapped Thursday night with a performance by Theaster Gates.
Luka Sabbat and his Hot Mess creative partner Noah Dillon arrived with Chloë Sevigny, both in trucker hats. (Sabbat's read "hookers & cocaine" while Dillon went for the message of "when I die bury me upside down so the whole world can kiss my ass.")
The evening drew many fellow artists, who've been making the Basel rounds, including Mikalene Thomas, Fab 5 Freddy and Raúl de Nieves, as well as many a celeb: Kanye West, Emma Roberts, Venus Williams and Sevigny breezed through the party over the course of the night, following previous nights' appearances by Naomi Campbell and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Over at the Versace Mansion — known now as Villa Casa Casuarina — Tessa Thompson was on hand for hosting duties for Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series finale party, “dressed as a loofah — a Marc Jacobs loofah by the way, so, don't play." The actress was joined by Teyana Taylor, Laura Harrier, Devon Windsor, Sasha Lane, Shaun Ross, Kevin Garnett and more for the night.
CR Fashion Book chose Miami as the destination for its second calendar launch, which was celebrated with dinner on Thursday.
“Miami has a different crowd from New York, than from everywhere, so we thought it would be good,” Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld said.