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The 6th annual Luminato festival kicked off with major buzz on Friday night, as word spread through the opening night party that Nelly Furtado had joined K’Naan at his free concert at David Pecaut Square.

The swishy event at 25 York St. had its own surprises. Martha Wainwright jumped onstage for a sultry take on “Stormy Weather,” and spin duties were handled by Koala Kid (who must have ended the evening a few pounds lighter after sweltering in his faux fur koala costume). Yves Saint Laurent hosted the party, offering makeup touch-ups, samples of Opium and the new L’Homme Libre fragrances and the opportunity to write messages on an iPad that were then projected on a wall.

Summer weather—and the festival season that comes with it—is taking hold across the country. This weekend, we’re hitting up an all-day loft party in Toronto, a gallery opening in Vancouver, shops for runway looks (and accessories to match) and following Robert Pattinson on an epic cab ride across Manhattan (that was filmed in Toronto). Buckle up.

Read our List! »

There’s some new blood in the building! And by that, we mean our building. Our office neighbours over at Luminato announced this morning the welcoming of a new creative director: Jorn Weisbrodt. Why is this especially exciting? Having worked with The Watermill Center, La Scala di Milano, the Spoleto Festival, the Barbican Centre in London, the Bolshoi Theatre (!!!), the Lincoln Centre Festival, and the Manchester International Festival, the German-born and currently New York–based director brings lots of new blood to the festival. Why is this even more exciting? Well, selfishly speaking, we (as in I) are huge fans (we/I mean huge!) of Weisbrodt’s husband, Rufus Wainwright. The two became involved with Luminato after Wainwright’s opera, Prima Donna, made its North American debut during last year’s festival. As a career stalker of the Ruf (ah yes, I was a card carrying fan club member of his internet fan group during high school, once waited in the cold for him to sign my purse… really), having him almost next door means our love affair might just continue… whether he likes it or not!

For opera fans and party lovers alike, the Canadian Opera Company’s annual fundraising gala, Operanation, is one of the hottest tickets of the year. Taking place in the crystalline Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, the event is an innovative mix of opera, rock, dance, and, of course, plenty of bubbly that not only delights the crowd but also raises a pretty penny for the company (last year’s gala raised more than $100,000). This year, the COC has sweetened the pot by adding Rufus Wainwright and Montreal-based dance-pop band Austra to the lineup of Operanation 8: A Muse Ball.

Watch as fashion designer Denis Gagnon debuts his sophisticated approach to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland while costume designer Bob Crowley talks inspiration for The National Ballet of Canada’s latest production.

The post Alice on fire: Watch our video on Luminato’s twofold ode to the classic character appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

By Allyssia Alleyne

From June 10 to 19, Toronto will again be a mecca of arts and ideas as the annual creative festival Luminato takes over the town. While this event boasts a chock-full schedule of spellbinding events, we’ve highlighted some of our favourites. For a full list of events, visit luminato.com.

Garden of Roses: Denis Gagnon Interprets Alice
It seems fitting that Lancôme and Luminato would choose Canada’s favourite bespectacled son to design an Alice in Wonderland–inspired dress for its annual fashion exhibit. Who else but a master of colour, proportion and the unexpected could take on a girl who sips tea with a hatter and plays croquet with a queen?
At Winter Garden Lobby (June 10 to 19, 225 King St. W., FREE)

Though the installation has been in place since Friday, last night was the official opening party for Mark Fast‘s “The Ascension of Beauty” piece for Toronto’s Luminato arts festival. Fast uses Brookfield Place as a giant knitting machine, looping white ropes through the soaring Allen Lambert Galleria, culminating in a tiered knit dress inspired by […]

The post Video: Mark Fast’s “The Ascension of Beauty” appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Mark Fast is sitting in a chair looking up….way up…at the magnificent white arches of the Allen Lambert Galleria in Toronto’s Brookfield Place. A team of men in hard hats is uncoiling 2 km of thick white rope. Two off-duty window washers are scampering across the lofty beams, rigging the rope according to drawings that are being studied on the ground below. When they are finished, a series of intersecting loops will descend to a human-sized knit dress, creating the effect of a garment crafted by a six-storey high knitting machine.

“When I first walked into this building I thought, ‘this looks like a very large knitting machine,’ ” Fast explained of the soaring atrium, conceived by Spanish designer Santiago Calatrava. “It made me feel very small. I wanted to recreate that emotion.”

You may have heard: Luminato’s on this week. I went to the Giorgio Armani opening-night shindig at the R.O.M. on Friday with a couple of the FASHION crew. After a quick tour around the party, we ensconced ourselves in the VVIP room, which was outfitted with makeup touchup stations and a small cadre of living dolls outfitted avec Giorgio. (To get the full scoop on the party, including the celeb quotient, check out Michelle’s Fashionable Life blog.)

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.