A luminous weekend

This past weekend saw the launch of the 2008 edition of Luminato, Toronto’s festival of arts and creativity. Along with the plays and concerts, FASHION made time for some partying, natch. We were invited to the Giorgio Armani Luminato Opening Night Gala, which took place at the R.O.M. The main room, full of business and arty types, had an Indian buffet and a stage for performances by belly dancers and contortionists.

We spent most of the night in the Giorgio Armani VVIP area with some fellow fashionable girls, including our editor-in-chief, Ceri Marsh, dressed in Jeremy Laing. We spotted Adrienne Clarkson, finance minister Jim Flaherty, singer Eva Avila, director Deepa Mehta, philanthropist Victoria Jackman, MTV hosts Jessi Cruickshank (white hot in a skin-tight dress) and Dan Levy, Moses Znaimer, novelist Salman Rushdie and Degrassi actor Stefan Brogren (a.k.a. Snake). A good night seemed to be had by all, minus a little incident when a fashionable girl almost got run down by a full dress Scottish regiment (complete with bagpipers), who walked through the venue without warning.

Thankfully this fashionable girl was home and in bed by 1a.m., because the next morning it was off to the FASHION Flash Mob 2008 where readers, editors and friends, decked out in their best summer whites (including a few wedding dresses!!) walked through Yonge-Dundas Square and made our best model poses at the sound of a horn. And held it for 5 minutes. Those walking by seemed a bit confused as over 100 of us took over the plaza. When our time was up, we all dispersed as if we were never there. How clever.

Later that night, it was off to the ACC to see “super sex god” Barry Manilow in concert. Though we were dragged there by a friend to accompany her and her mom, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Seriously. Mr. Manilow sounded great and was charming and self-deprecating. Our fave moment was when he took it back to the sixties and said someone on his staff was going to get a raise for leaving him a funny looking cigarette. Best song had to be the “Copacabana” finish, for obvious reasons.

Will write next week all about the MMVAs. This fashionable girl already has parties galore (not to mention the awards themselves) on her sched for this weekend. Ciao. 

Shown, from left: FASHION’s editor-in-chief, Ceri Marsh, managing editor Michelle Bilodeau and online editor Jennifer Campbell at the Giorgio Armani gala. Photography by George Pimentel

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