Art Basel Party Parade Kicks Off With Beachside Bash

They say all’s fair in love and Art Basel. One of the most coveted invites of the party-studded week was to Chanel’s intimate dinner (intimate meaning 150 guests in the Miami Beach fair’s 11th year). The chance to rub elbows with guests like Demi Moore, Lenny Kravitz, Larry Gagosian and Wendi Murdoch had Soho House members camped out for a lengthy cocktail session beginning late afternoon.

Tobias Meyer led the live auction of works donated by artist Ryan McGinley and others to benefit the Dash Snow Initiative, which focuses on youth programs at the Boys & Girls Republic center in the artist’s downtown New York neighborhood.

Enjoying the art break and gorgeous weather were Dasha Zhukova, Carey Lowell, Lauren Santo Domingo, Karlie Kloss, Spencer Sweeney, Xin Li, Renee Rockefeller, Liz Goldwyn, Yvonne Force Villareal, Jamie Tisch and Stavros Niarchos, though all eyes were on Moore making her Basel debut.

“I don’t collect art and won’t walk the fair since it’s too overwhelming,” she said, only touching down in Miami on the way to another destination. “Unfortunately it isn’t a tropical one.” – WWD