The Edit by Brett Graff
SocialMiami's editor reports on society and the surrounding lifestyle.
Community Leaders Honored at Ancient Spanish Monastery
The Ancient Spanish Monastery Foundation hosted it’s Diamond Gala honoring outstanding community leaders. This year, recognition went to Judge Brownwyn Miller, Richard Alton, Santra Denis, Simone Alicia, Edenia Hernandez, Hanah Baumgarten, Robert Bourne, Louise Irvine, Toni Diaz. The community came out in droves – and in winter coats, as it was among the season’s coldest evenings – to support the historic building and the prominent its leadership acknowleged.
Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens Hosts Splendor in the Garden
Miami’s most stylish and sophisticated philanthropists came out for Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens’ Splendor in the Garden luncheon and fashion show. Co-Chaired by Daysi Johansson and Lydia Touzet, the Philanthropic Chair was Suzy Buckley Woodward and Honorary Chair was Swanee DiMare. Proceeds from the event will benefit Fairchild’s school science and education programs.
Catch & Cut Opens in on Las Olas Boulevard
Former Joe’s Stone Crab executive chef André Bienvenu is now the managing partner and executive chef at the newly opened Catch & Cut on Las Olas Boulevard. The restaurant, offering seafood, premium stone crabs, sushi and USDA prime steaks from Allen Brothers, hosted a VIP opening to celebrate what it calls the art of old-school hospitality. The modern restaurant with clean white bars and bright blue accents – plus an upstairs space with an expanded dining and drinking areas – served to friends, family and community leaders it’s crispy wrapped shrimp, meatballs with lobster and meat, a variety of fresh caught fishes cut into sushi and served on rice, as well as oysters. The bars were open and pouring unlimited glasses of it’s expansive wine selections plus any number of hand-crafted cocktails.
Cunard Unveils Queen Elizabeth
Cunard is debuting its Queen Elizabeth, which for the first time in the cruise line’s history will homeport in Miami and offer a dedicated program of roundtrip Caribbean voyages with calls in including Montego Bay, San Juan and St John’s in Antigua. This comes after the ship will undergo a sizable refurbishment with refreshed signature interiors and exteriors. World-renowned designer Adam D. Tihany worked with a team of award-winning designers including David Collins Studio, Richmond International, and Sybille de Margerie. Designers tapped into the Cunard Archives in Liverpool to understand the brand’s storied history, using it for inspiration in the layout, fabrics, and textures bridging the ship’s art deco and contemporary design and 4,300 pieces of art have been curated exclusively for the ship. Cunard commissioned both emerging and established contemporary artists from around the globe to create their personal interpretation of the line’s heritage.
What’s more, the line did a fleet-wide rollout of its holistic Harper’s Bazaar Wellness at Sea programs, a collaboration with the iconic lifestyle magazine. Launching this January, guests traveling on flagship Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth, and Queen Victoria will be able to enjoy these curated wellness experiences, designed to help travelers feel revitalized and recharged as they journey to extraordinary destinations.
Brett Graff is SocialMiami.com’s managing editor and has been a journalist covering money, people and power for over 20 years. Graff contributes to national media outlets including Reuters, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, Maxim, and the PBS show, Nightly Business Report. A former U.S. government economist, her nationally syndicated column The Home Economist is first published in The Miami Herald and then on the Tribune Content Agency, where it’s available to over 400 publications nationwide. She is broadcast weekly on two iHeartRadio news shows and is the author of “Not Buying It: Stop Overspending & Start Raising Happier, Healthier, More Successful Kids,” a parenting guide for people who might be tempted to buy their children the very obstacles they’re trying to avoid.
