In 1965, Bal Harbour Shops began a legacy of commissioning the country’s top creative drafts – people to create illustrations, a practice integrated throughout its brand DNA. Founded in 2003, Bal Harbour magazine continued commissioning illustration for its covers and editorials. Artist Reyna Noriega created a series of colorful, patterned portraits and landscapes that capture the elegant allure of Bal Harbour Shops nature-rich environment, an image of which was featured on the 2021 Fall/Winter cover.

For the 2020 Fall/Winter cover, Ruben Toledo composed a mystical fairy atop the destination’s signature koi pond. It was a natural continuation for Bal Harbour Shops to establish an Illustrator Contest to award and showcase exceptional talent by America’s next generation of illustrators. Founded in 2019 with a focus on fashion, the annual illustrator contest reveals broad, diverse, and inspired perspectives on this famed shopping destination.

In this exhibition four Illustrator contest winning drawings are featured throughout Bal Harbour Shops. These are given context with images selected from the Bal Harbour Shops and Whitman Family Archive spanning two floors. Illustrations created between 1980 and today on the 2nd floor include humorous caricatures as well as Jenny Kroik’s Chanel “alligator” that was a feature cover for Bal Harbour magazine. On the 3rd floor visitors discover witty advertisements originated in the 1970’s, some made using traditional copper plates and printed, with others augmenting descriptions that embodying the playful charm that underpins Bal Harbour Shops.