FASHION Magazine

See photos of the Mr Selfridge costumes »

If you’ve failed to get your guy hooked on Downton Abbey, sell him on Masterpiece’s latest costume drama by uttering just two words: Ari Gold. Yes, Entourage’s agent-with-a-heart-of-coal has gone costume. As the titular Mr. Selfridge, Jeremy Piven is the main attraction in this eight-part miniseries premiering on PBS on Sunday, March 31. If the name Selfridge doesn’t conjure up London’s Oxford-street shopping Shangri-La, then consider this your department store master class. The series charts American Harry Gordon Selfridge, a gregarious entrepreneur, as he struggles to get his namesake store off the ground in 1909. While Piven fills the dapper shoes of the retail magnate, there’s plenty of women to distract: Harry’s wife Rose, chorus girl Ellen Love who catches his eye (and maybe his heart), Lady Mae who helps him find funds, and the many shopgirls that populate Harry’s days. Dressing the man who revolutionized retail with his in-store stunts and these pretty birds is BAFTA fave James Keast, who talks to us about the intricacies of dressing such a large cast, his favourite accessory, and more.

While we were busy at the New Moon premiere in Toronto on Thursday night, Holt Renfrew was loading up on star power for the opening of their new Calgary flagship. Mad Men‘s Christina Hendricks was there (with new hubby Geoffrey Arend) in a cool suit-like dress by Canadian David Szeto, while Calgary homegirl Heather Marks sported a mesh dress with patent appliqués by another Canuck designer, Rita Liefhebber. Jeremy Piven, Gossip Girl Kristen Bell and Glee‘s Jessalyn Gilsig also made an appearance, as did 24‘s Elisha Cuthbert with her Flames boyfriend, Dion Phaneuf.  Calgary band The Fast Romantics played a set (with some unplanned accompaniment from Piven, who insisted on drumming–to mixed reviews) before handing over the dance floor to DJ Samantha Ronson.

Check out the party pics after the jump.