Fit for a King
Words: Michelle Wallace IG @my.michelle.w
Photography: Sergey Yusin @sergey_yusin
Wardrobe: Jaxson Maximus @jaxsonmaximus
Make-up: Julia Brig @juliabrigmia
style | June 01, 2021
A Day in the Design District
travel , August 1, 2021
Miami is very well-known for its iconic night life, star-spangled beaches featuring bewildering beauty, gigantic shopping malls and sprawling shopping districts, and is
also home to the most busiest cruise port in the world.
Thus is no surprise that Miami’s Design District would boast a life of its own. The Miami Design District is not just another tourist destination, it’s more of sensory experience altogether thanks to its artistic uniqueness. This niche is built in modern and upscale fashion with a striking architecture featuring a vast collection of art galleries and never-fore-seen artistic form and expression. Another exciting attribute is the variety of shopping opportunities which showcase high-end luxury fashion stores, complimented by a wide-ranging variety of dining options from successful food chains to concept restaurants perfected by expert chefs. That’s not all, the Miami Design District nourishes both your body and soul by a plethora of music, arts, culture and entertainment opportunities which are brimming almost all year around, especially during the winter holidays or summer vacations.
We are about to dive into the most coveted and must-do things that you simply can not miss whenever you find yourself in the Miami Design District. We’ve put together the very best in shopping, dining, cultural and entertainment opportunities. This spot serves as the best place to start your journey into one of the most vibrant cities in the whole world.
Shopping
The shopping scene is the dominance of luxury brand labels and is known to be one of the best luxury malls in the country. At first, it may feel a bit overwhelming with the plethora of stores that surround you, so it’s best to take a full day to simply peruse around from end to end and get lost in the world of Bvlgari, Dior, Valentino, Hermes, Gucci, Fendi, Louis Vuitton and so much more! The Fendi shop is known to have quite the artistic flare where every now and then the building gets repainted with bright colors. By now you must have noticed that Fendi is painted bright yellow with swirls of orange with a little pop-up surprise this summer (which we will get into very shortly). Be sure to head over and visit some top of the line designers including Max Mara, Celine, Marni, Chrome Hearts, Alice + Olivia and Isabel Marant.
Dining
As a city that only prides itself as one of the most popular tourist destinations in the whole world, it has also managed to earn the hearts and approval of its millions of visitors with its mouthwatering cuisine. The Miami Design District is home to some of the most trendy dining places and restaurant concepts, where you will find something for almost every kind of taste pallet. Be it breakfast, lunch or dinner, you will find every meal you have in the Miami Design District redefined from the ground up.
The first restaurant that we believe tops this list is a special recommendation for breakfast or even brunch. This restaurant is called “OTL” which is actually short for “out for lunch”. It is purely a Miami based concept restaurant where you can have delicious and freshly-prepared guacamole bowls or some nice and nutritious overnight oats. Or perhaps switch it all up for a mouth-watering and vegan-friendly black-bean burger which is definitely going to give any regular beef burger a long run for its money. Back to that little pop-up surprise. The Italian Fashion house, Fendi, housed the latest installation of Fendi Coffee in OLT, which ran until July 5 and become one of the most instagrammble summer spots in Miami for visitors and tourist alike.
The second restaurant is an award winning concept restaurant that drives its uniqueness through superior freshness of food and product sourced directly from nature and its seasons. Called “Michael’s
Genuine Food and Drink.” It is considered one of the best places to dine in the Miami Design District. Their menu changes seasonally as they fully believe in their simple yet effective formula of making fresh food with the finest ingredients and make it with care. It is probably why this restaurant is also one of the most crowded restaurants you will find in the area, so it would be wise to actually get a reservation made in advance.
For a laid back dinner, nothing hits the spot quite better than finely crafted and authentic Indian food by one of the most famous Indian cuisine chefs in the United States. “Ghee Indian Kitchen” by Chef Nivan Patel is the culmination of his past successes in starting an Indian food chain. What’s special about this restaurant is not its past success nor just the taste of the food. It’s rather how the vegetables used in the restaurant come directly from the chef’s own personal farm and the seafood is sourced directly from local fishermen, allowing them to give you the freshest Indian food experience of all time.
Music, Arts, Culture
The Design District is full of all sorts of art and culture at every corner of the area. One of the most famous public art places is the Buckminster Fuller Fly’s Eye Dome (situated in Palm Court) which is a technological marvel whose art can only be appreciated in person. Palm Court is no stranger to live performance series from orchestra performances to thrilling pop music. For the art lovers, this spot has art galas every now and then and also features mind-boggling sights such as the “Museum Garage”, which is a 400 foot installation of random but interconnected art made by four of the world’s most renowned designers and architects.