Parties

The Sarabande Foundation Kicked off Miami Basel With an Art-Filled Dinner

November 29, 2022

Last night at The Standard Spa on Miami Beach, the Sarabande Foundation made a splash with an evening that could be considered the unofficial welcome of Art Week 2022. It was only appropriate that the organization, which was founded by the late Lee Alexander McQueen in 2010 to offer scholarships, residencies, and so much more to a creative community of creators and artisans, host a dreamy yet elegant fundraising dinner the night before the art fairs open to the public.

The jet-set and art-loving crowd included the foundation’s president Francesca Amfitheatrof (who also serves as artistic director of watches jewelry at Louis Vuitton), renowned gallerist Marianne Boesky, and artist Michaela Yearwood-Dan.

While sipping on cocktails before performing, 27-year-old multidisciplinary artist Izaak Brandt, who was a recipient of their residency program in London in 2020, shared, “Sarabande elevated everything in my working and professional life in so many ways, and they have just changed my world.” And then he broke it down. Literally. Known to use his body as a starting point for his works, whether it be sculpture, film, painting, or performance, his masterpiece of the evening was breathtaking.

Having installed nearly one-hundred white mesh sneakers that were suspended using fish wire (the Standard removed their hammocks just for Brandt), with taped cardboard strategically placed over the limestone to make the experience possible, this international dancer was able to activate his talents using his sculptures as a backdrop, beneath the starry sky.

Shortly after, a family-style dinner was served. On two long and formally decorated tables sat gifts for all the attendees: a beautifully boxed Peter Reed bespoke pillowcase that is subsequently ‘By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen,’ everybody also took home a black and white limited-edition plate that was created for Sarabande (by Sir Ridley Scott, Jake Chapman, Alexander McQueen, or Francesca Amfitheatrof).

“We have had a long friendship between the foundation and SoHo House worldwide,” shared Kate Bryan, the global director of art for SoHo House Worldwide. “I have found that it s incredibly important to champion these artists, and I have added them to the ever-growing collections at every property, and to my personal collection, too,” she laughs. “And the truth is that Lee was an extraordinary visionary to have merged art and fashion, sculpture and painting—well, I am just an advocate who loves to watch this important organization manifest itself in all of its ways!”