bluestocking
~in the spirit of miami beach
~italian designers at home
~pierre cardin evolution
c miami beach
Capturing the magnificent milieu of a city as vibrant
and multifarious as Miami Beach is like dancing a
sensuous samba that highlights the interplay of reality,
fantasy and, of course, fabulousness with every step.
David Leddick’s In the Spirit of Miami Beach examines
a locale often described as reflecting the state of the
imagination rather than the mood of the nation.
Purposefully, yet playfully, placed travel art of
graphic designer Barry Zaid and photographs by
Ethan Winslow and Petra Mason are interspersed with
vintage postcards, celebrity snapshots and souvenirs,
mimicking the chaotic fluidity of the oftentimes cheeky
narrative. And just as the best postcards combine an
idealized setting with personal anecdote, so too does
Leddick’s history, unfolding through a dialogue of the
public and private.
Playing the role of perfect host, he puts readers
instantly at ease with a dishy, yet determined,
description of this city of dreams, as he calls it—a
place for “those with the most talent, beauty and nerve.”
Camaraderie comes easy to the author, a former creative
director for Revlon. And it was his friendship with
Barbara Capitman (who’s credited with preserving and
reviving the Art Deco District) that propelled him into
the social pulse of artists, socialites and impresarios
responsible for transforming the sunspot in the mid-
’80s. He found himself among kindred spirits with
the adventurous redhead and designer extraordinaire
Lenny Horowitz, whose renovation of Leddick’s first
property won Best Art Deco Restoration in 1985 from
the National Architecture League.
