Dinner Party for Celebrating Erdem Moralioglu

Art Basel Miami Beach can feel a bit like Groundhog Day: same people, same parties, new year. A day after the fair’s VIP preview, however, it’s clear there’s one major difference this year: The recent arrival of Uber in Miami, which practically enables people to be in multiple places at once.

The day began with a celebration of conscious consumerism at the Soho Beach House. “Fashion is the second most polluting industry, second only to oil,” model Lily Kwong explained at the celebration for Maison de Mode, the ethical fashion pop-up shop organized annually by Miami habitué Hassan Pierre. The brands Pierre stocks Suno, Stella McCartney, and Edie Parker, among them each maintain commitments to effecting positive change in the community, whether they use environmentally sustainable materials, make their products in America, or support artisanal communities abroad. It would be hard not to love the offerings, even if penthouse views of crystalline water weren’t distracting from the taco luncheon at hand.

A few hours later, the newly landed Miami outpost of Ian Schrager’s Edition hotel was making its presence hard to avoid, hosting simultaneous parties for the winning Los Angeles gallerist (and Jeffrey Deitch protégé) Michelle Papillion in a poolside cabana, a new Ferragamo tome in the residences upstairs, and a Marilyn Minter book signing down by the beach. Even the ground floor was a scene. Salon 94’s Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn swept through the lobby side by side with Alex Rodriguez en route to pay homage to Minter as an auburn-haired Jena Malone was strolling out the giant front doors to her awaiting car. (We’ll bet it was an Uber).

Around eight, Basel’s unofficial welcome dinner hosted by Maria Baibakova at her father’s La Gorce Island home began several miles away at the Sunset Harbour Yacht Club. There, peckish guests were welcomed ten at a time on board VanDutch yachts (think of a less severe, equally modern version of the Wally) and ferried at breakneck speed to the dinner. Aboard the fire-engine-red vessel that picked me up, Adam Weinberg took the liberty of serving champagne, his entertaining instincts having immediately kicked in. “Beware, I might ask you for a donation!” the Whitney Museum director announced.

Arriving dockside at the Baibakovas’ Spanish Colonial pile, its façade lit up in jewel tones like a Moorish crown, while being serenaded by a phalanx of mariachi bands, felt like stepping into a Hollywood visionary’s dream of Miami grandeur. “I hope that is a good thing!” our hostess said with a laugh and a swish of her dreamy Marc Jacobs frock before greeting Tamara Mellon. It was a very good thing. Carlos Souza declared the white truffle risotto better than anything in Milan as Mia Moretti DJ’d across the vibrant turquoise swimming pool where Baibakova ended her evening (according to Instagram). Valerie Boster, Claire Distenfeld, Alexandra Chemla, and Casey Fremont Crowe were among the many guests who toured the portion of the Baibakova collection on view, which reads like a roster of auction-house all-stars: Stingel, Sherman, Ruby, Kruger, Hirst, Prince, and Gursky oh my! In retrospect, the housewarming party could be best described as an impossible amalgam of Moscow and Venice rather than anything Miami normally has to offer.

Across the bay, hotelier Alan Faena hosted a “celebration of art and architecture” alongside Len Blavatnik, Faena’s partner in the ambitious real estate complex that will soon occupy several blocks of Collins Avenue (where their first hotel, Casa Claridge, is up and running). The project’s creative director, Baz Luhrmann, was on hand after spending all day at the convention center, where he and his wife, Catherine Martin, have curated the most beautifully installed booth of the whole fair for Galerie Gmurzynska. (Do not miss Booth B02 if you’re in town.) Back in the Design District, Wendi Murdoch swanned at Artsy’s dance party, a somewhat fitting setting for an exhibition of work by choreographer Shen Wei (though his works aren’t often set to deafeningly loud house music).