Celebrity News

‘Mini-tsunami’ leaves art world soaked at Basel

A “mini-tsunami” left well-heeled Art Basel partygoers drenched at hotelier Andre Balazs and photographer Bruce Weber‘s book party at the Standard Spa in Miami Thursday night.

Guests including Calvin Klein, Nan Bush, Chiara Clemente, Sante D’Orazio, Poppy de Villeneuve, Cecilia Dean and Ryan McGuinness were left drenched after a speedboat came along the bay and sent a wake cascading onto the Standard’s dock, setting off a near-panic.

“I thought the deck had crashed, so I tried to find safe land,” Lorenzo Martone, one of the guests at the party, told us.

The party was in honor of the 10th anniversary of Weber’s All-American book series. One attendee told us, “Everyone was sipping their cocktails, having a good time. We were surprised when the North Miami Beach High School marching band marched through the party and performed.”

But the bigger shock came moments later. Said our source, “We were clapping and dancing to the band. The next thing you know, there’s water everywhere.”

The speedboat zooming through the bay created a wave that splashed onto the Standard’s patio. Soaked partygoers never saw it coming, because the band drowned out the noise of the engines as the vessel approached in the night.

“The phantom wave shot through the deck and soaked guests who were sent running for cover,” our source related. “Everyone was wet, drying off their glasses, shaking off their seats, soaking” — including socialite Stacey Kimmel in couture Givenchy.

“It was hysterical,” said our spy. “But people just kept partying. As they say in Miami, this was the pregame. Everyone had six more parties to go to.”