Live from Art Basel: Miami's Design District

We've tapped camera-wielding professional style spotter Anne Ziegler to bring us the best of Art Basel, underway now in Miami. Here, her report:

Gucci, Margiela, Fendi! Temporary shops have officially taken over Miami's Design District during Art Basel. I have to admit I am suffering from a mild case of of pop-up overkill, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to check out the scene (full disclosure: the Marni and Thomas Maier stores are located there too, and those never fail to disappoint, so it was really a win-win for me).

The list of designers with temporary stores this week is impressive--Cynthia Rowley, Jessica Trossman, Duncan Quinn, Stubbs & Wooten, and Margiela are only a small sample. After perusing many of the shops, I would like to award the MVP (Most Valuable Pop-up) award to Fendi.

Fendi, a major supporter of young designers, and one of the sponsors of Design Miami, created a "retail and cultural" environment in the lobby of the Moore building. The main draw is the limited edition Baguette Mezzo Punto, Fendi's customizable embroidered bag which won't available to the public until spring 2010.

If customizing a Fendi bag on your own sounds like risky business, fear not...Fendi grafitti artist Andre was on hand to paint designs on needlepoint panels. Local art and design students were hard at work meticulously stitching the needlepoint panels to complete the personalized Fendi experience. And of course, there were Roman craftsmen that Fendi flew in for the event (obviously!) to whip those canvases into bags in no time.

Yes, this is all true. Oh, and I almost forgot, the pop-up currently carries one of Fendi's latest treasures, a handbag made of 24 karat gold (only five were created). I'm told they are the first fashion house to extract gold into fabric - who knew!

Fendi Pop-Up, The Moore Building, 4040 NE 2nd Ave., Miami FL 33137

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