If you’ve ever been to Miami, you know it’s a city of a lot of things — European and Latin influence, a big art scene (hello Art Basel!), The Webster…and rhinestone jean pockets. This is something I just figured out for myself after traveling there for the first time this last week. So now that we have this new travel section here on CCF, let’s welcome ourselves to Miami (although as of last night, it’s more like “welcome to the movie Frozen“).
Now I feel like I need this shirt…
I didn’t think I’d write a post about my trip, considering it wasn’t a work trip at all (strictly a vacation with the bf) but I feel like I learned so much, I couldn’t keep all this knowledge to myself! So what I already new about Miami is that it’s home to The Webster and Art Basel. That’s it. I’ve always wanted to go to Art Basel and of course the one time I actually book a trip to Miami, it’s less than two weeks before the festivities (maybe next year…) but at least I got to check out The Webster (both locations, might I add).
I appreciate any store that carries Chanel and Givenchy but I loved seeing designers like Marc Alary, Alison Lou, Olympia Le-Tan, Off-White, etc. Just brands I don’t see everywhere else. Besides the amazing selection and beautiful interior (especially at their main Collins Street location), I couldn’t help but notice the exterior…which seems to be a theme in South Beach. I never realized that just about every building in South Beach (where we stayed) looks like a 1950s movie theater. I don’t even see this many pastel colors at Easter time! But due to its history, I guess they like to keep everything OG here. I get it. Although it’s not all of Miami that’s like this…
So, yeah. South Beach is great. It’s quite touristy, but I like that you can walk everywhere and the fact that it’s home to both The Webster and Alchemist (another boutique that rocked my world) doesn’t hurt. But what about the rest of Miami? Did it too look like the set of Grease? No. No it did not.
One of my favorite parts of this trip was visiting the Wynwood Art District. Why? STREET ART. Duh. It’s everywhere — on the main road, the side streets, incorporated into just about every building. I seem to find the “street art hub” wherever I travel, and what’s great about this one is that most of these pieces of art aren’t tagged over. They’re pretty well-preserved and to see these things on such a large scale (many cover enormous walls, if not entire buildings) is really a sight to see.
Now back to South Beach. What baffles my mind is that you have these high end boutiques, this great art scene and yet there are stores like this (see below) and people still wearing bedazzled Bebe shirts and Juicy tracksuits (it was like a scene out of 2003!) If there’s not one already out there, someone needs to start a South Beach Street Style blog just to capture these amazing moments.
All that’s missing is a Von Dutch trucker hat (which I’m sure I saw but just tried to erase from my memory).
Also to my surprise, was the fact that it’s not always easy to get what you want without knowing some Spanish. After a visit to Little Havana, trying to get some cigars for my dad and order few pastries at Cafe Versailles…I can only imagine the disappointment of all my Spanish teachers over the years (I won’t tell you how long I took it for because it’s not reflective of how little of the language I know). Good thing I speak empanada…
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So those were just some highlights / interesting things I learned from visiting Miami. Although their style might not be reflective of my own, the weather is amazing (went from 85 to 25 degrees just last night…not ideal), the art scene is exciting (specifically all that street art in Wynwood), the food was incredible (Khong River House gets three thumbs up in my book)…all in all I’ll definitely be back (because who doesn’t love a good Throwback Thursday?)
In the mean time, if you want to pretend you’re not freezing / living it up at Art Basel, you can shop like you’re in Miami (because Alchemist and The Webster are on FarFetch…woo hoo!)
Images via MY IPHONE5 (upgrade coming soon)
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