Vanity Fair and Frederic Malle's Art Basel Celebration at Miami Beach Botanical Garden

Art Basel Miami Beach can feel like a never-ending hotel lobby, one refurbished art deco reception area blending into another, amid the wild spree of cocktail parties and dinners. Sometimes there is a tent on the beach, which is always nice, but more often, many, many events are held in hotel lobbies and restaurants, some of which are eerie facsimiles of hot spots in New York and Los Angeles. Every once in a while, you’ll get to experience the ultra-private confines of a Miami Beach collector, enjoying trees by the infinity pool that offer the smallest peek into the city’s native flora.

So what a treat it was to walk into the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, which is as close as you’ll get to experiencing the natural Caribbean-esque landscape of South Florida in the insanity of South Beach. On Monday evening, Vanity Fair teamed up with Frederic Malle for a kickoff party at one of the most legendary locales in the entire city. No shade on the fancy hotels or Manhattan steakhouse outposts, but there’s nothing quite like spending an evening during Art Basel Miami Beach surrounded by orchids, mangroves, palm trees, pond apples, and cycads.

Harley Wertheimer and Sebastian Gladstone

Kelsey Isaacs and Jordan Barse

Marco Brambilla and Benjamin Godsill

Most guests said they’d never been to the Botanical Garden, this untouched lot of pure Florida that exists just steps away from the convention center. But Vincenzo de Bellis, global director of Art Basel Fairs, told me at the party that the Miami fair has historically held its end-of-week celebration for the exhibitors in the botanical gardens—a reward only afforded to those who stick it out until the end.

Among the first to arrive at the Garden was the great artist Jack Pierson, who has an incredible show at The Bass Museum, smack-dab in the middle of South Beach, opening this week. He came with his Los Angeles dealer, Shaun Caley Regen—her LA gallery, Regen Projects, is also showing at the fair. Within minutes, the entire lush garden was full of Miami faithfuls, including collectors Jason and Michelle Rubell, and Sarah Harrelson, the editor in chief of Cultured magazine. Also among the crowd was Gordon VeneKlasen, who that morning announced he’s amicably splitting with Michael Werner, in whose gallery he’s worked for 35 years, and starting a new one, VeneKlasen. Art Basel Miami Beach director Bridget Finn has a busy week ahead, but she managed to swing by for a cocktail in the hours before the fair opened.

Adrian Pia and David Kordansky

Lara Bjork (Right)

There were directors from Art Basel–showing galleries, such as David Zwirner, Gladstone, Gagosian, Karma, Olney Gleason, Andrew Kreps, Matthew Marks, 47 Canal, Bortolami, François Ghebaly, Paula Cooper Gallery, Broadway, Pace Gallery, Galerie Max Hetzler, Sean Kelly, and so many others.

Matthew Brown, who’s showing in the main fair, was there, as was David Kordansky, of David Kordansky Gallery. Sebastian Gladstone, whose eponymous gallery is showing in the Survey sector of the main fair, was in attendance. Three dealers who founded galleries in the Positions sector—56 Henry’s Ellie Rines, Lomex’s Alexander Shulan, and Theta’s Jordan Barse—were there as well. Many came from the convention center, literally steps away, after installing their booths. Other dealers representing galleries, such as Amanita and Gratin, were readying booths set to open at Nada today.

Marc Quinn

Gordon Veneklasen, Marc Spiegler and Nate Freeman.

The party in the Garden was the eye at the center of a whirlwind of stuff going down, with the Monday before the fair proving just as busy as the traditional party later in the week. A large contingent of attendees came from dinners at Joe’s Stone Crab, the Miami Beach institution beloved by locals and visiting art dealers alike. Others showed up on the early side, before attending sit-down dinners for organizations, including YoungArts and the ICA.

Regardless of when everyone arrived, cocktails made with Johnnie Walker Blue Label were flowing—you could get an old-fashioned, or you could get a Blue Label espresso martini, if it’s that kind of night—and there was a full-on olfactory experience put together by Frederic Malle, their scent, Portrait of a Lady, wafting through the air. Though the event was set to wrap at 10 p.m., the crowd stayed put, not willing to leave. But eventually everyone relented. After all, it was just Monday, and the fair runs for nearly another week.

Jacqueline Tran

Sarah Harrelson and Georges Coupet

Astrid Hill and Lauren Kelly

Mike Homer (Left) and Romain Dauriac (Right).

Adrian Pia