South Beach in Miami has so much more to offer than the beaches and weather, and that includes the vintage shopping opportunities, for which the area is renowned. Miami is an absolute haven for shoppers, with street after street packed with stores of all different types to explore, including street markets, department stores and, of course, its famous vintage boutiques. A day shopping in the vintage boutiques in South beach is like spending a day traveling through time, with many shops specialising in past fashion-eras. Start your vintage journey at C. Madeleine's, a large vintage shop which sells items dating back to the 1920’s through to more modern eras. Then head for the shops on Bird Road and don't miss the famous Miami Twice that sells "everything and anything" and even does clothe rentals.Vintage shop Fly Boutique on Lincoln road has a great reputation for reproducing women wear from the 50s. Recycled Blues Inc on Washington Avenue has a great selection of classic men's vintage clothing (think Levis jeans). It is likely that you will have planned a jam packed itinerary for your visit to Miami, but the late opening hours of the majority of the vintage shops in ...

Whilst Miami is known for its glass and steel skyscrapers, the city’s singular, vernacular style is art deco. Distinguishable by bright, gelato-coloured facades and details and nautical forms, Miami has some 800 preserved buildings in the so-called Art Deco district of South Beach. In the USA and Europe, art deco was an architectural and aesthetic movement that combined functionalism and modernism with highly stylised motif. It reached it peak in the nineteen-thirties and phased at the beginning of WW2. In Miami, art deco developed a playful, ‘Mediterranean’ feel as the city established itself as an America’s premier resort. Art deco style was used in apartment buildings and private villas, but the ‘ocean-liner’- inspired hotels of the period is where the movement really shone. Many of these can be seen along Ocean Drive, then, as now, Miami’s beach-facing epicentre. To dig deeper into deco in Miami, the highly-active Miami Design Preservation League (tel. 305 672 2014) organises a variety of tours of the district, from self-guided cellphone tours to jaunts on segways. Every mid-January, the ‘Art Deco Weekend’ draws some 400,000 people to two days of art and antique fairs, free theatre and dance and parades, all celebrating the heady ...