Thou Art Deco

Take Art Deco out of Miami, and the city is just urban sprawl with a few Mediterranean-style porticos. Deco is our claim to charm. It’s our proof of history. So in celebration of the Colony Hotel’s rounded corners and eyebrows (the shelf-like structures above its windows), the Miami Design Preservation...

By Amanda McCorquodale

January 6, 2011

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Take Art Deco out of Miami, and the city is just urban sprawl with a few Mediterranean-style porticos. Deco is our claim to charm. It’s our proof of history. So in celebration of the Colony Hotel’s rounded corners and eyebrows (the shelf-like structures above its windows), the Miami Design Preservation League is hosting the 34th annual Art Deco Weekend. This Friday through Sunday, the design and architecture party will fill Ocean Drive between Fifth and 15th Streets. Throughout the weekend, enjoy one of nearly 50 tours, including the standard Ocean Drive and Beyond Tour and niche walks such as the Fifth St. Gymnasium Tour (taking place where Muhammad Ali once trained) and Cocktails With a Twist Tour. To help explore this year’s theme, “Selling Glamour & Style,” the Wolfsonian will host three lectures on the influence of Art Deco on marketing, and free films will screen at the Art Deco Welcome Center. Miami’s design boutiques will transform the welcome center’s interior into flashbacks from the heyday of Art Deco and Mid-Century modernism. On Saturday, look for an Art Deco fashion show. Miami University of Art and Design students will showcase couture gowns inspired by South Beach’s Deco hotels. The climax event is Saturday’s Art Deco Weekend Ocean Drive Parade with drag-diva Elaine Lancaster as grand marshall. The strut includes the Arf Deco Dog Parade, where canines and their owners are encouraged to dress with Fantasy Fest-like flare. Art Deco Weekend opens at noon on Friday and closes at 8 p.m. on Sunday. With all the attention on South Beach, we hope MiMo doesn’t get jealous.
Fri., Jan. 14, noon, 2011

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