Out and About: Swim Week
On July - 24 - 2009
Celebrity sightings:
Entourage‘s Perrey Reeves (AKA “Mrs. Ari”) attended the kick-off party at the Raleigh and her sister-in-law, Marysia Reeves’s show. Cindy Taylor strutted her stuff on the catwalk at the inca 2010 cruise collection show at the W South Beach on Thursday night. Seen at W on Thursday and Friday for the Shay Todd show, Tara Reid, who didn’t mind the rain one bit. “It’s only water? What’s all the fuss about?” she said. After the show, she partied with her boyfriend, Michael Axtmann at the Wall.
Olivia Palermo and Whitney Port from The City attended Mara Hoffman’s show. Port was also front row at L Space and seen lounging by the W pool on Monday. Donald and Lisa Pliner enjoyed Red Carter’s show on Friday.
Burn Notice star Jeffrey Donovan was seated first row at Ed 
Hardy and later seen drinking Patron shots out of champagne flutes at the Mercedes Benz Star Lounge. Bravo’s ubiquitous Real Housewives, Kelly Killoren Bensimon (New York) and Dina Manzo (New Jersey) were all over the place. Bensimon attended the kick-off party at the Raleigh Hotel on Wednesday, Caviar Kaspia at The Webster on Thursday, the Wall on Saturday and numerous shows. She was also seen at the Mercedes Benz Star Lounge. Manzo followed suit attending many shows and hanging in the Star Lounge with her daughter.
Hotelier Andre Balazs was front row at the L Space show and hit the Wall at the W South Beach on Saturday. Artist, Romero Britto, director, Michael Bay, and rapper, Lil’ Jon, also took in shows during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Swim.
At the Living Room on Saturday, Belkys Nerey celebrated her birthday alongside good friend, Marysol Patton. Supermodels, Angela Lindvall, Erin Wasson and Nicole Trunfio were seen at the Standard throughout the weekend. Andy Roddick’s wife, model Brooklyn Decker, attended a few shows and had brunch at Asia de Cuba at the Mondrian Sunday afternoon. Lennox Lewis dined late along with a group of 15 at Smith & Wollensky. Latin Pop Star, Elvis Crespo and starting third baseman for the Florida Marlins and 2007 World Series MVP, Mike Lowell attended the smash-hit show, Fuerza Bruta, as did Miami Heat Coach Eric Spoelstra over the weekend.
Lounging Around
On July - 24 - 2009
As usual, the Mercedes Benz Star lounge in the Raleigh’s seventh floor Esther Williams’ suite was the place to see and be seen, and take in much needed A/C and refreshments in between shows. At the lounge, we had the opportunity to talk to Sex and the City film hunk and part-time Miami Beach resident Gilles Marini, (made famous by his steamy outdoor shower scenes that got Samantha all in a twist in the movie) whom we barely recognized with clothes on. The charming Marini, a spokesman for Mercedes-Benz, and Dancing with the Stars runner-up, is scheduled to appear in the upcoming seasons of Brothers and Sisters and Nip Tuck. He said he loves Miami and was enjoying the shows with his wife, Carole and two gorgeous children.
The Shay Todd show, held poolside at Wet at the W Hotel was delayed by a brief downpour with gusty winds that toppled part of the stage and an alarm that brought out the Fire Marshall. Despite the setback, the folks at Tara, Ink., including partner, Nick D’Annunzio, who helped rebuild the stage on the pool, kept the crowd happy and put on a great show. We couldn’t help but wonder, “Why all the fuss over a little rain?” After all, the place is named WET! Celebrities who braved the rain delay included actress, Tara Reid and German boyfriend Michael Axtmann; The Howard Stern Show co-host, Robin Quivers; BRAVO TV’s The Real Housewives of New York, Kelly Bensimon; The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Dina Manzo, and BRAVO TV’s Miami Social, Maria Lankina. After the show, Shay Todd held the after party for her show at the Wall at the W, which opened officially to the public on Saturday night.
As expected, de rigueur after parties took place all over South Beach, including the Raleigh penthouse, WALL at W South Beach, Le Cote at Fontainebleau and Louis at the Gansevoort South.
Mary Jo Almeida-Shore
