Miami, arty luxuriance

Ocean Drive, its beach, its palm trees, its promenade and its string of acid-coloured Art Deco hotels: for the whole world, the scene is incredibly familiar thanks to Miami Vice - Two cops in Miami and its two detectives in white linen suits and Ray-Ban glasses who, in the 1980s, tried to enforce the law. At the time, the run-down area of Miami Beach was home to more drug dealers than starlets; so much so that the creators of the TV series had to finance the painting of the buildings to be able to film their flamingo pink, aniseed green or lavender blue façades, essential elements in the aesthetics of their rock and glamour world.

Crime and drug trafficking, Miami Vice revealed a violent face of the city, but also showed a young, tanned population and a sexy atmosphere. As a result, the image of the Florida metropolis was transformed. The Art Deco District Preservation Association readily admits that the series has accelerated South Beach's comeback, which began in the early 90s.

Americans, who love acronyms, immediately renamed this extraordinary Riviera SoBe, and it wasn't long before all the trendsetters were flocking to it. Leading the way are the fashion photographers who claim that the light on Miami Beach is unique, enveloping their shots in a soft white halo.

Art deco meets ocean liners

SoBe is home to a few city blocks packed with Art Deco buildings, almost all of which were built between 1930 and 1940. This style, named after the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925, was the first architectural movement to spread across the globe, imposing its cubic volumes and rigorous lines everywhere from New York to Shanghai. In contact with Florida, it did not hesitate to become tropicalised, combining nautical and foral themes with traditional geometric motifs. The seaside environment also encouraged the development of the liner or "streamline" style, which rounded corners, flattened roofs and replaced windows with portholes.

The fusion of the two genres, the pastel hues of its stucco and the harsh lights of its neon, completes the originality of the whimsical parade of South Beach, a farandole of hotels, residences and theatres, sublime survivors of the crazy pre-war resort life. Later, it was here that the first Cuban exiles fleeing the Castro revolution ended up. Having become the "Cuba of America", the area fell into disrepair. It was not yet time for nostalgia, and entire blocks were demolished in the early 1970s. Fortunately, the creation in 1976 of the Miami Design Preservation League, the first of its kind, stopped the massacre: with more than 800 listed buildings, Miami Beach can boast the largest Art Deco district in the world.

Bling-Bling fashion show

Just off 11th Street, the News Cafe is a favourite stop-off point on Ocean Drive, once frequented by fashion designer Gianni Versace, who used to visit as a neighbour. The terrace of this trendy bistro has a front row seat to a fascinating procession of convertibles - preferably red - and Hummers blasting out the syncopated rhythms of the latest R & B hit, as well as Easy Rider-style bikers, young people in bikinis, surfers showing off their muscles, flamboyant drag queens and tourists in Bermuda shorts. On the other hand, there are hardly any pensioners left on this maritime boulevard, once dubbed "the antechamber to paradise". The locals shun it: it's too bling-bling. The action has moved north to Collins Avenue, where more sophisticated addresses attract the beautiful people, and to Lincoln Road, the fashionable pedestrian thoroughfare. Even the popular Washington Avenue is now considered more frequented than Ocean Drive, "O Ding"say the snobs.

Fashions come and go at breakneck speed in Miami Beach, where lines count for a lot, the red cords that separate VIPs from the masses, good taste from vulgarity. The current trend is SoFi, a triangle stretching from South to Fifth Street at the tip of the island of Miami Beach, where soulless contemporary towers with exceptional views have been snapped up by millionaires, especially Russians.

It used to be that the only reason you'd venture out here was to try the crab claws at Joe's Stone Crab, an institution since 1913, relying on the valet to look after your convertible. Now there are plenty of good restaurants to choose from. Between October and April, the best time to dine is at the weekend, when the garlanded cruise ships leaving the port for the Caribbean sail past. The terraces at Monty's, on the marina, and Smith & Wollensky, in South Pointe Park, offer fantastic views of this ballet of giants. On the ocean side, the Nikki Beach Club is a wild private beach that can be booked in advance, as its annual dance card is full.

Busy events calendar

For this is Miami, a concentration of energy that often plays to full houses. In the space of a decade, Art Basel Miami Beach, the first decentralisation of the world's most prestigious contemporary art fair, has totally transformed the city, a phenomenon that can only be compared to the "Guggenheim effect" in Bilbao. Aficionados book up year after year, and newcomers have little chance of finding a room during the fair, which is held in early December. The same thing happens in March, when the Winter Music Conference gives Miami Beach a little Ibiza vibe for ten days. In May, during the Memorial Day weekend, it's the turn of hip-hop fans to invade the beach. Outside of these periods, anything - and I mean anything - is possible in today's relaxed, commercial climate. "This is America, and every space in the city can be privatised. Even its streets, provided you have the means to do so."says Franck Bondrille, head of incentive agency Contact Events.

In the lift to the top of a building on Lincoln Road, this connoisseur of Miami makes no secret of his satisfaction at seeing the completion of the Skydeck development because, he says, "it's a real pleasure to be here.innovations of this type are still rare".
"Sony Music's offices were housed here and all DJs know this rooftop where memorable parties were held.It's an exceptional place for an evening under the stars," says owner Alain Zenatti, who has just brought it up to safety standards and installed a retractable roof to cope with tropical downpours. With a panoramic view over the Art Deco district and the Downtown skyline, it's a brand new, exceptional venue for an evening under the stars...

Further west, at 1111 Lincoln Road - pronounced "eleven, eleven" - a car park has been the talk of the town since it opened in 2010. Because in Miami, you can also marvel at a car park. The Swiss architectural duo Herzog & de Meuron have created a "new" structure that is a real eye-catcher.all muscle, no clothes, in the spirit of Miami Beach"In the words of Jacques Herzog himself. Like a huge loft with no outside walls. Designer boutiques at street level, a restaurant at the top: the place can even be emptied of its cars for a special event. "Very expensive"warns Franck Bondrille. A stone's throw away is Franck Gehry's New World Symphony, whose façade serves as a screen for popular outdoor night-time projections.

A true fifties fan

These bold, recent architectural achievements show that Miami, rightly proud of its Art Deco heritage, has never rested on its laurels and continues to innovate. It did so as early as the post-war period, with the MiMo - Miami Modern - style that characterises the hotels built in the northern part of Miami Beach by Morris Lapidus. The legendary Fontainebleau, for example, has recently undergone a lavish renovation that has put the spotlight back on a style that was underestimated until the 1950s. You can also follow the modernist trail on Biscayne Boulevard, "MiMo on BiBo", always the local taste for acronyms.

It's time to leave the beach for the city! Miami Beach and Miami proper, separated by an inlet, are two very different urban entities, united only by a few bridges. The first of these was inaugurated just over a hundred years ago, on the site of today's Venitian Causeway. This myth of art and entertainment is right on the water. A melting pot of influences at the crossroads of Europe, Latin America and the rest of the United States, New York in particular, Miami is constantly on the move.

At the mouth of the Miami River, the steel towers of the Icon Brickell, one of which houses the highly sophisticated Viceroy Hotel, symbolise the city's fragile yet resilient effervescence. This particularly expensive project, designed by Arquitectonica, the agency that has commissioned almost all the city's iconic buildings, and decorated by the indispensable Philippe Starck, was completed in 2008, just before the collapse in the autumn, forcing HSBC bank to regain control of the sale of its 1,300 or so condos.

Today, however, the limousine waltz has resumed in front of the Viceroy hotel, the pinnacle of baroque luxury with its floating pool on the 15th floor and its Club Fifty, perched on the 50th floor, the HQ of South American partygoers. All around, the cranes are once again at work, the crisis no longer a bad memory: in a few years' time, the Miami skyline, which still lacks a little panache, won't look quite the same. In the meantime, we've learned to have fun around here: the golden youth and white-collar workers frequent the bars and restaurants of Mary Brickell Village at after-work hour, while tourists and the working classes prefer the terraces of Bayfront Park, rehabilitated by Isamu Noguchi, where yachts and water taxis dock.

Design renovations

Further north, the areas of the city centre occupied by warehouses were anything but recommendable until recently. Like Downtown, however, the Design District emerged from its ghetto ten years ago, when artists began to take over abandoned furniture shops. These pioneers were soon joined by all the big names in design, followed by those in fashion, pushing the purists elsewhere. The fact remains that Craig Robbins, the developer who revitalised the area, is a major collector who commissions a work from a renowned artist every year. Since 2005, the atrium of the Moore Building has been adorned with a monumental sculpture by Zaha Hadid, a feature that makes holding a corporate event in this industrial showroom even more exciting. The superstar architect is also overseeing the construction of a futuristic skyscraper at 1000 Biscayne Boulevard.

Those who miss the growing consumerism of the Design District can head for Wynwood, a few blocks further south. Here, warehouses once used by the textile industry are enjoying a new lease of life. A renaissance that only began in 2009, when Tony Goldman, the man who revitalised New York's Soho, who died in September 2012, bought a few grimy buildings for a handful of dollars and invited street art stars to come and paint their walls during the Art Basel fair: backed by a trendy restaurant, the Wynwood Walls were launched. Since then, the area has been covered in colourful frescoes and is teeming with design studios, galleries and private collections of contemporary art.

The Rubell family's collection, considered to be one of the most accomplished, is housed in a former drug squad depot on the (current) border of the Art District. Like many others, this immense space is rented out for arty 100 % evenings, as the merchants of the temple are not yet established in Wynwood. "As a creative extension to a guided tour, we offer groups the chance to create their own fresco under the guidance of a local graffiti artist. They'll love it!"says Nadia Aribi, Head of Events and Incentives at Lizard IncentEvents.

The charms of the Biltmore

A new wave Miami, totally unimaginable just five years ago. The very first districts of the city, from Coconut Grove to Coral Gables, are inevitably the collateral victims, now a little 'off the tracks'. Travellers will still want to take a look around to marvel at the Mediterranean Revival-style coral palaces built here at the turn of the twentieth century, when Miami was dreaming of becoming a garden city. The highlight of the walk is the Biltmore Hotel, with its neo-Moorish tower that looks a little like a Seville Giralda and its opulent setting, the perfect backdrop for a sumptuous gala dinner. As you sip a long drink on its terrace overlooking the golf course, you can see just how far we've come since a few visionaries persuaded the railway to make a stop in what was still just a village surrounded by citrus groves: that was in 1896, an eternity by American standards. You'll definitely have to come back often to this cheerful and ever-changing town.