FASHION Magazine

Last night, the Art Gallery of Ontario was filled with some of the country’s grandest doyens and doyennes (Mulroney! Eaton! Weston!) for the official kick off to the gallery’s Picasso exhibit, which opens to the public next Tuesday, May 1. Infusing the Gehry-designed space with a bit of Barcelona-meets-Paris flavour, the room was decked out with brightly-hued bohemian essentials, which were certainly not limited to the nude models being sketched (in Pablo’s famed style, of course) in plain view. At the centre of it all? Kim Cattrall, looking as va-va-voom as ever in a printed tie-neck blouse, and slimmer-than-slim black pants. If only Samantha had been there to make an off colour nakie remark…

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Last night, some of Toronto’s fanciest tastemakers headed to the east side’s hanger-cum-venue Airship 37 to partake in The Society’s equally fancy soiree: a pairing of fancy wines and fancy music. Dubbed The Urban Symphony, the event planning duo Ashleigh Dempster and Amanda Blakley combo’d fine wine from New Zealand brand The People’s Wine and fine music from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s violinists Peter Seminovs and Amanda Goodburn, viola Eric Nowlin, and cellist Igor Gefter. Bathed in purple light, the group, including designers Maryam Keyhani, Amanda Lew Kee and Kirk Pickersgill (Greta Constantine), as well as PR aficionados Lauren Wolff and Candice Best, enjoyed a Pinot Gris and Mozart blend followed by a Pinot Noir and Tchaikovsky. For those who thought music was best listened to with your ears, think again.

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Art lovers and party enthusiasts alike flocked to the Art Gallery of Ontario last night for its eighth annual Massive Party fundraiser. Spread throughout many of the gallery’s floors, guests mingled among works of art from the AGO’s collection and special exhibits that played off the party’s theme of “LIGHT SOUND OBJECT PAST PRESENT FUTURE.” While this message was projected as part of a light show on the very-coveted third floor, it might not have resonated with all the guests. “I think the theme is high school?” one attendee said after getting pinned with a “2nd Place” ribbon by a team of mock cheerleaders dressed in blue and white. (Their cheer? “Second is the new first!”)

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Last Thursday, the unthinkable happened: A brand born in the aisles of the grocery store became part of the glorious gloss of New York’s Fifth Avenue. But if you know anything about Joe Fresh and its founder Joe Mimran, you know that well, it’s not really that unthinkable at all. Since launching the brand five years ago (and after years of style-propagation via his previous ventures, Club Monaco and Caban), Mimran has brought affordable chicness to the forefront of the Canadian fashion industry. South of the border was the natural next step, and since the brand’s U.S. launch late last summer, its bright and sunny hues have been infiltrating the pages of Teen Vogue, New York Magazine and the like. To boot, the brand has been making its mark on the arts community as well, sponsoring an event during Miami’s Art Basel, and the New Museum’s second triennial exhibit, The Ungovernables.

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We know you’ve been anxiously awaiting the next cycle of Refinery, the late-night art party held under the stars at Edmonton’s Art Gallery of Alberta, ever since we covered this Movember night out, and we’re excited to deliver!

Last night, Toronto’s favourite wunderkind-turned-blogger-turned-photographer-turned-designer returned home for the celebration of his latest venture. Said venture? The much-talked-about limited-edition bag collection designed by Tommy Ton in collaboration with Club Monaco (also one of Toronto’s proudest exports, if we may say so). But you knew that, didn’t you? In fact, you must be on the already-at capacity waiting list for one of the two models, which will apparently sell out as soon as they hit stores. That didn’t stop the city’s finest—including our editor-in-chief Bernadette Morra, blogger Anita Clarke, Jeremy Laing and the recently eye-operated-on Frank Griggs (so you can forgive the indoor sunglasses, just this once) —from stopping by the brand’s Bloor Street flagship to take a peek. We didn’t leave with the bags, but we were lucky enough to snag mini flipbooks created at the event.

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Western Canada Fashion Week kicked off its seventh year and 14^th season last Friday night at Phabrik art + design, a warehouse-style studio space in south central Edmonton run by WCFW’s executive and creative director, Sandra Sing Fernandes. The venue was the original hosting grounds for Edmonton Fashion Week way back when in 2005.

It’s not every day that you get to play host to a living, breathing masterpiece! The Canadian Art Foundation was lucky enough to showcase Yugoslavian performance artist Marina Abramovic, who was in Toronto for the Canadian premiere of The Artist is Present at the Reel Artists Film Festival. The new documentary film chronicles her prolific and often painful career and follows the preparation for her 2010 retrospective show at the MoMA—she spent more than 700 hours over the course of three months staring into the eyes of museum visitors. Beyond her lifelong love affair with performance art, Abramovic is a designer devotee (having discovered fashion after a particularly nasty breakup); in the film, she’s shown shopping at Givenchy with none other than Riccardo Tisci. It’s no surprise then that the 65-year-old wore head-to-toe Costume National to the premiere, or that she counts Fashion Television’s Jeanne Beker as a fan. At the a swank soiree, held at the TIFF Bell Lightbox and bookended by not one but two cocktail parties, we spotted a smattering of guests from Canada’s creative set including Luminato’s Jörn Weisbrodt (who also made an appearance in the film), the Beckerman clan, and gallery owner Daniel Faria.

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Last Thursday, Vancouver’s classiest held court at The Room for a champagne toast to New York–based writer Derek Blasberg’s latest tome, Very Classy. The boy about town(s) touched down along with gal pal/DJ/model/Chanel ambassador Leigh Lezark (in Chanel, of course) for his first visit to the city—and just in time: it was the first sunny day the west coast had seen in a long time! (Score one for Van weather staying classy long enough to impress.)

After a January hibernation, guests, including our February issue It Girl Manjy Sidoo, seemed eager to dress up, and a long queue formed to shake hands, pose for Instagrams, and book sign. With his signature charm and newly slicked-back hair, the Blas was as Truman Capote 2.0 as ever (but with a nicer disposition… and better clothes).

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It’s a Beckham takeover out there! Yesterday, we reported that Victoria Beckham’s newest line was selling out of Harvey Nichols. Now it’s David Beckham’s turn, with his bodywear collection hitting H&M stores worldwide today. The soccer legend celebrated in London last night with an in-store launch party and an après-bash at a custom-made pop-up gentleman’s club. And with a campaign shot like this, it’s no wonder ladies like Bianca Jagger, Charlotte Dellal, and Emma Bunton (a.k.a. Baby Spice) showed up to support cop a feel. Last time things got this Beckham crazy, it was the future, and we were in a space ship.

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Last night the Metro Toronto Convention Centre was brimming with the who’s who of Canada’s design scene, there for the opening night party of the country’s largest contemporary design fair, the Interior Design Show. Dashing gents­, like fashion designer Philip Sparks and veteran FASHION photographer George Whiteside, and sophisticated design ladies—Sarah Richardson, Dee Dee Taylor Hannah (in Christopher Kane, no less), Love It or List It’s Hilary Farr—sipped flutes of Veuve and paraded along the rows upon rows of out-of-this-world design.

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T’was the Night we dressed in our finest holiday attire for a fully-fledged mall party to celebrate the multimillion dollar TD Square/Holt Renfrew renovations at Calgary’s CORE Shopping Centre. The CORE lit up indoor fireworks and a 45-foot tree, sprinkled fluffy fake snow from the balconies, and a threw a mini concert with Canadian songstress Chantal Kreviazuk, all on top of some lofty holiday sales and prizes.

Greeting guests on the red carpet was the queen of smut, Elaine Lui of Lainey Gossip and eTalk, who posed for fan photos in a form-fitting, blue and white Yigal Azrouël number. The belle of the mall-ball, however, was Kreviazuk, who got pampered at Eveline Charles before taking the stage in a whimsical, feathered Paul Hardy gown, and later, at the VIP lounge, where she signed autographs and posed for photos with Mr. Hardy himself.