Miami style

Style in the City

Once America’s capital of showy wealth, Miami is sporting a sophisticated new look.

Words by Sally Howard

It’s difficult to imagine a better looking city than Miami.

From sweeping aquamarine waters and lush palm fronds fi dgeting against powder-blue skies to Ocean Drive’s racy art deco curves, this is a stylish metropolis. And, much like their city, the infamously body-conscious, cocoa-tanned Miamians—marvel at them in-line skating down South Beach in micro-bikinis—look as if they were born with the blooming rosette of “best in show” on their lapels.

However, there was always one solace for those of us less blessed in the lottery of life. Possibly as a result of the notorious “Miami Vice” aesthetic (rakish rolled-up sleeves, slip-ons and hunks of over-styled hair), Miami has never been a fi xture on the international haute couture map.

“It was always all about sexy, sexy, sexy in Miami,” sighs Cece Feinburg, a redheaded New York transplant whose raison d’être is to enliven Miami’s style scene. “You know, it’s necklines down to your knees, skirts up to your chin, super-bright colors, that sort of thing. If it’s any indication, the Marc Jacobs store in Miami always reported the worst sales nationally, while Dolce & Gabbana always logged, by far and away, the best across the brand.”

But times are changing on sun-licked SoBe. In January, Miami was named “world’s best city” by Wallpaper* magazine, the international design bible, which raved about its vigorous high art and culture. Indeed, each December, Miami now hosts one of the world’s leading arts fairs: Art Basel Miami Beach, sister to Art Basel Switzerland. The event sees celebrities and collectors gather for fi ve days of exhibitions and glitzy parties in downtown Miami’s revamped Design and Wynwood districts.

This young city is—indubitably—emerging as a mature and sophisticated destination. And it’s beginning to look the part, too. The area’s savvy, offbeat outlets, such as vintage clothing emporium C. Madeleine’s (dubbed “the Disneyland of fashion”), “lifestyle provider” BASE and quirky home accessories outfi t NiBa are riding the crest of this wave, offering Miamians a confi dent new look to refl ect their city’s remarkable cultural makeover.

A longtime must-see stop for savvy fashion editors and clothing collectors, C. Madeleine’s (13702 Biscayne Blvd, 305-954-7770) is an Aladdin’s cave of 120 years of fashion history. This oceanic yard-sale of a store is the life’s work of the eponymous Madeleine, a formidable 54-year-old fashion guru who changes her outfi t fi ve times a day (she’s on the brink of changing into a pair of bright Wolford tights and pedal pushers when I stroll in: “I still got the legs, you know”). Deliciously, Madeleine staunchly refuses to bow down to changing fashion whims, housing everything from furs (which she moisturizes by hand) to fl apper dresses (meticulously restored, bead by bead) to a peacock array of ’60s ball gowns and ’50s prom dresses, all arranged in glorious mood or theme vignettes.

“With the amount of sales I do on, say, Hawaii, people would say I’m a very bad businesswomen,” she confi des. “But it’s an important part of fashion history, and I never dispose of an area if a trend is gone. And guess what? Three months from now, it’ll be as hot as it can be.” Fashion’s cognoscenti certainly approve: Naomi Campbell spent fi ve hours in the store on her fi rst visit, and top designers have based entire collections on C. Madeleine fi nds.

Long strangled by the stealthy creep of mall culture and the development of an arterial road cutting through its heart, Miami’s downtown Design District started to fl ourish again in the early ‘90s. The buildings of this gritty-but-chic neighborhood are now home to designer decor and furniture warehouses and have become the hangout of in-the-know locals who’ve tired of the pleasures of South Beach. A resident of the area, Cece Feinberg exclaims in true fashionista style: “The one-off shops here are a great antidote to those design shops in malls made for people who have condos as opposed to taste.”

NiBa Home (39 NE 39th St, 305-573-1939), its name a contraction of Nisi Berryman and Beth Arrowood, the impeccably tanned partnership behind the store, is typical of the offbeat businesses around here. NiBa specializes in “fi nishing touches,” such as acid-pink Moroccan chandeliers or bespoke rugs woven in Nepal to your design, in a mélange of modern and retro that’s part slick Scandinavian, part pop art. To complete the picture of the District’s residents, you only need to stroll to nearby Genius Jones (49 NE 39th St, 305-571-2000), a funky children’s store that does a brisk trade in $2,000 limited-edition toys.

For visitors who can’t drag their slowly tanning limbs away from South Beach, Lincoln Road abounds with unique shopping opportunities. BASE (939 Lincoln Rd, 305-531-4982), which sees itself as a “lifestyle editor,” is great for men with its internationally sourced casual wear, CD bar with listening stations and in-house hair salon, Snip. Steven, who runs BASE with his partner Bruce, controls everything from the music mixes played in the store to the fragrance on entry—as well as maintaining a head of remarkably coiffed silver curls—for a shopping experience that assails you on all fronts. A favorite of area residents Calvin Klein and Lauren Hutton, BASE also stocks limited edition items by local designers such as Luis Morais, a Brazilian Miamian who introduces found objects and lucky charms into his funky jewelry.

Similarly sweet-smelling, Browne’s Apothecary (841 Lincoln Rd, 305-532-8703) is a much-loved beauty store, its wooden shelves and antique display cases stocked with more than 100 coveted beauty and bath lines, such as T. Le Clerc, Pixie, Delux Beauty and Fresh. Also fantastic for women is Chroma (920 Lincoln Rd, 305-695-8808), a “curated” collection of clothes featuring unusual pieces by local designers, such as Crelwear’s tattered-looking diaphanous woolens that look surprisingly fl attering off the hanger. Cameron Diaz is a big fan of another local designer stocked here, Jennifer Zeuner, who combines crochet with gold chain to produce truly unique jewelry.

So, when the big-screen revamp of Miami Vice hits our theaters next month, gone will be the original crime-fi ghting duo of Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, supplanted by shiny A-listers Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx in the lead roles. Gone too will be the 1980s-style Miami, as this revitalized city proves it has developed a classier cultural identity in the intervening decades. Pity about the demise of the pastel jackets and sockless slip-ons though, eh?