FASHION Magazine

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Last night’s Massive Party at the Art Gallery of Ontario was just that. Massive. The ninth annual fundraiser sprawled across much the AGO’s Frank Gehry-fied space with gold glitter, gold jewels, gold-inspired exhibits and even gold body paint on scantily clad models. The theme for the night, if you haven’t guessed by now, was indeed luxury’s finest metal: gold. Inspiring many of the night’s 1,800 attendees to dress their blingiest, gold may as well have been a metaphor for “top tier,” with many of Toronto’s top artists—Maylee Todd, Thrush Holmes and Tibi Tibi Neuspiel to name just a few—participating with one-off installations and performances for the night. Even the night’s curator, multidisciplinary artist Justin Broadbent created exclusive pieces for the event, our favourite being a graffitied “Poor Hipster” painting bookended with gold streamers.

See all the Holt Renfrew party pictures »

Not even a micro-blizzard can stop Toronto from celebrating the start of World MasterCard Fashion Week in style. Open-toed shoes and floor-grazing hemlines were spotted on many of the attendees at Holt Renfrew’s cocktail kickoff party, with barely a salt stain or goose-bump in sight.

The party, which started after the last of Monday’s shows, transplanted the front row set—that is, a mix of editors, designers, photographers and buyers—onto the third floor of Holt Renfrew. Ambient music (courtesy a Bellosound DJ in a white Jeremy Laing dress) mixed well with on-brand magenta lighting, making for quite the party den far away from the tents at David Pecaut square. And magenta wasn’t just everywhere thanks to the lighting: from Ashley Rowe’s dip-dyed hair and bright caftan to Lisa Tant’s magenta bolero jacket to a pocket square (that may have actually been a pair of panties, according to one onlooker) worn by a crafty male guest, the evening was filled with shades of pink, purple and red.

View FASHION’s 35th anniversary party photos »
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What’s better than a birthday party? Your own birthday party! On Wednesday night, the FASHION team (well, that’d be us) celebrated the magazine’s 35^th anniversary, and as you might expect, Toronto’s most stylish guys and gals were out in full force. 700 of our closest friends packed into the Distillery’s Fermenting Cellar to toast us with Skyy Vodka cocktails, mini burgers and musical performances by Divine Brown and The Parallels.

Last night, the trio behind The Coveteur (along with the industry fans who love them) descended upon the private abode of a one miss Natasha Koifman to celebrate RW&CO’s new e-commerce website (coming soon) as well as to unofficially kick off the two-week countdown to TIFF. With the site’s founders, Erin Kleinberg, Stephanie Mark and Jake Rosenberg all head-to-toed in RW&CO’s fall collection, the soiree served as a stylish farewell to summer. However, the team at NKPR was surely not ready to give it up just yet, with an ice cream truck parked outside, Tiny Tom Donuts, Food Dudes nachos and Kernel’s popcorn served inside. To boot, TIFF-ified Skyy Vodka cocktails inspired by several of this year’s A-listers (ahem, Knightley, Gosling and Paltrow) with old-fashioned paper straws. Not to mention, the entire event took place in and around Koifman’s pool and waterfall hot tub. No big deal.

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Summer will always evoke memories of sleepover camp, but until they make camps for adults (someone please do this!) cottages will have to do. This week’s mixtape is a little bit folk, slightly honky tonk and totally ideal for campfire cuddles and late nights by the lake.

The post TGIF Mixtape: 18 cottage-ready tracks our associate editor wants you to listen to lakeside all weekend long appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

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Lauded as the hottest art party of the year, the Power Plant’s annual Power Ball fundraiser certainly lived up to expectations last night. Complete with wall-projected animations, Kobos hanging on trees, an old fashioned swing and a pre-party hosted by the much-hyped Soho House, almost 2,000 partygoers danced into the wee hours while carving off pieces of Marc Thuet’s bison on a spit. Some of our favourite duos—The Society’s Ashleigh Dempster and Amanda Blakely, designer Philip Sparks and NOW’s Andrew Sardone, Knot PR’s Amy Burstyn-Fritz and Tatiana Read, designer Jeremy Laing and Frank Griggs, and eTalk’s Tanya Kim and CP24’s Melissa Grelo—flitted around the scene. There was a mock television talk show (which we took part in) with a dancing robot sharing hosting duties. There was a performance by Dragonette. There were ladies dressed as sailors and men dressed as women. There were, always, many types of cocktails a-flowing (shout-out to Grey Goose, who created a timely Diamond Jubilee mix at the pre-party). Surely, more highlights will come to us throughout the day, but we can’t be asked to recount them all, given how late we were up.

As we watched Mark Zuckerberg ring the bell on Wall Street Friday morning, we wondered: how is this going to change how we use social media? And, for those of us who are style-inclined: how is this going to affect the fashion industry?

Though Zuckerberg’s proclivity for hoodies won’t land him a “style icon” status anytime soon, Facebook evolving into a public company will definitely impact the fashion industry in many ways.

The social media giant, which currently has 900 million users worldwide, opened to the public with an initial public offering of $38 a share, making Facebook the most valuable company that’s ever gone public. With a total worth now of $104 billion (in other words, almost unimaginable amounts of money to invest back into the company), the ability to do more in terms of advertising, online shopping and other ventures has never been more feasible.

For fashion retailers in particular, Facebook going public probably means that they will no longer be limited to simply tallying one’s “likes” as a measure of success. Though the sharing and community aspects of Facebook are valuable to retailers in terms of brand presence, there are now more opportunities to create new social media–friendly e-commerce and advertising tactics than ever before.

Previous efforts with online shopping on Facebook didn’t exactly take off, forcing retailers like Gap to shutter their Facebook shops. However, now that there is an unprecedented amount of money in the bank, Facebook can begin to explore other means of social commerce that will provide shoppers with a more “seamless and convenient” shopping experience.

Think about it: Burberry, for example, has over 12 million “likes” on their Facebook page. Though they have advertised heavily on Facebook for some time now, if the social media network could provide the retailer with new, improved means of advertising and online shopping, Burberry could capitalize on their huge social media following in ways they never have before.

Though we’d need a crystal ball to accurately predict how everything is going to pan out now that the company has gone public, it’s probably safe to say that this will not only mean big dollars for involved parties, but new ways of shopping and interacting online for everybody.

Victoria Beckham’s newest line with the very James Bond-esque name, Victoria, Victoria Beckham has caused a major fashion ruckus, selling out of Harvey Nichols on its first day in stores.

Inspired by cartoon character Emily the Strange, the line is decidedly mod with ‘60s shifts and Mondrian-worthy colour blocking. The “affordable” collection starts at £395 (which according to our rough calculations is upwards of $600). That’s Carven worthy, people! Yet somehow the steep pricing hasn’t deterred the masses, as there are already waitlists for three dresses, priced at almost $1,000. Canadians have no fear though, the collection is going to be available at Holt Renfrew very soon, and there’s no wait list to report as of today!

Today, we’re diving into the bright red J.Crew Edie bag belonging to our newest team member, associate online editor Paige Dzenis. If you dig the bag’s flame shade, then you’ll dig this editor’s matching hair—vibrant red amazingness that can be seen for miles! Inside this It bag, you’ll find a quirky mix including a glow-in-the-dark duck, a postcard from South America, and an Android phone.

Let’s explore! »

For the past few weeks, we’ve been hearing little buzzes about Duchess Kate being featured in Vogue. The magazine’s been in hot pursuit of the young royal, and have reportedly been hoping that Mario Testino’s close relationship with the Royal family, having shot of the Duke and Duchess’s engagement photos, would help the connection.

Alas, the rumours can now be put to rest, as the Queen has made it clear that she is not for it. A palace aid has told various sources that the Queen “would definitely not be amused,” if Kate decided to model. All sources seem to say that Kate will stick to philanthropic projects that will make a larger difference in the lives of those in need. Take that, Anna.

But aren’t they going after the wrong Middleton? With Pippa hot on the scene as of late (she recently sat front row at Alice Temperley’s Spring 2012 show), she could be just the willing fashion icon the doctor ordered.