On a night that felt straight out of a Faena fairy tale, Grace Faena greeted Vogue100 in the shadow of Damien Hirst’s gilded woolly mammoth skeleton encased in a glass vitrine. As the sun slipped low over Mid Beach, the party had a cinematic feel as guests gathered beneath the palms on the lawn of Faena Hotel Miami Beach—the jewel of Miami’s Faena District and, to borrow founder Alan Faena’s own phrase, “a total work of art”—for farewell cocktails and a dinner to close out Miami Art Basel.
Flutes of Ruinart in hand, attendees raised a toast to Grace—fashion designer and curator of the hotel’s Big Bang Boutique—who welcomed Vogue100 “to my home on such a special weekend,” the mammoth’s bones glowing behind her, not dissimilar to her own dazzling liquid gold halter and cascading skirt.
A long banquet table unfurled across the lawn, set with Christofle gold-rimmed china, gleaming silver, and pirouetting candelabras punctuated by tight pavés of roses in silver julep cups; a tableau worthy of a film still. Overhead, strings of café lights laced the palm canopy, turning the tropical garden into an open-air salon. Beyond the foliage, Es Devlin’s Library of Us—a revolving, 20-foot-high triangular library of thousands of books installed on Faena Beach for Miami Art Basel—glinted in the distance. Commissioned by Faena Art, Library of Us serves as both an al fresco reading room and a beacon for the district; a reminder that the hotel’s cultural life extends far beyond its walls.
During dinner, waiters flowed to the table with plates of pink grapefruit and orange salad in a glossy citrus dressing, yellowfin tuna tartare, and wood-oven empanadas sizzling from the hearth. From the copper grill came a parrillada of skirt steak, branzino, chicken, and chorizo, accompanied by bowls of chimichurri, criolla, and garlic aioli. The Ruinart was topped up as conversation moved between art, fashion, and favorite fair discoveries. Faena’s gold gown caught the light like filigree as she and Daniela Botero Saunders—in shimmering silver—spoke about Miami’s unique energy and why they chose to raise their children in the city, with Saunders’s husband, Brent, nodding in agreement. Faena’s mother, Monica Goldsmith, stopped by the table to say hello—a gracious cameo that made the evening feel less like dinner in a hotel and more like a gathering at the Faena family home.