FASHION Magazine

Earlier this month, Leandra Medine aka. The Man Repeller was at Holt Renfrew in Toronto to promote the release of her first book, Man Repeller: Seeking Love, Finding Overalls. In typically self-deprecating form, Medine charts the story of her life’s course thusfar alongside several fashion items, including the Canadian tuxedo she helped transform from early ought disaster a la Justin and Britney to the height of fashion. The items, set up as life lessons (harem pants = the way to suss out if a guy loves you for you, Bermuda shorts = how to sort out your body issues) prove why fashion isn’t just simply a fact of life, but life itself, at least for fashion freaks like us.

Before an intimate dinner at Rose and Sons, Medine sat for a live Q&A at Holts hosted by yours truly. We both sat in director’s chairs amidst racks of Helmut Lang and 3.1 Phillip Lim. There were many cute gals in attendance. It was a thrill.

Here are some of the best quips from our interview:

See all the pictures from Boobyball 2013 »

After all the effort that partygoers put into picking outfits for last Friday’s Boobyball, Halloween is going to have some tough costume competition. The annual fundraiser for Rethink Breast Cancer once again outdid itself with an inventive theme, Booby U, which encouraged guests to show off their best “varsity vogue” looks. And oh, was the alma mater nostalgia ever flowing! From togas and football gear to cheerleader poms and geek chic getups, Toronto’s Sound Academy turned into a virtual university campus—made all the more real thanks to dorm room decor, sorority lounges and an Animal House party zone, perfectly primed for flip cup battles.

Among those spotted in their frosh week-worthy finest were Boobyball’s stylish co-chairs, Whitney Pizale, Lisa Kruger and Rachelle Saevil. Honorary co-chair Ainsley Kerr pirouetted around the venue in a ballerina-worthy tutu while Aliya-Jasmine Sovani breezed into the party at the eleventh hour, arriving directly from the airport but still sporting football style at its best. The letterman jacket dominated most outfits, with school insignia and team numbers being a definite Boobyball go-to. And it’s not just for costume parties: take a look at the black and white outfits on Jill Shaver and Hilary Mymin to see how the varsity trend can work for everyday wear.

See the Drake One Fifty party photos »

The Drake Hotel can easily be credited with introducing Bay Street types to Queen West, and now, with the launch of Drake One Fifty, they’re reversing the flow. Nested between Toronto’s tallest skyscrapers and expense account-funded bars, the Drake has transplanted its signature sense of (dare we say hipster?) style into a standalone restaurant that will change the scene of the downtown core.

While the space has been on the radar of Toronto’s style set for months, doors officially opened earlier this week with a jam-packed party. From Holt Renfrew’s Moira Wright and Jennifer Daubney to artists Tommy Matejka and Niall McLelland, the guest list was a perfectly curated uptown/downtown mix. In typical Drake Hotel fashion, Drake One Fifty is as much about art and interior design as it is the food. Most of the dining room sits under a huge wooden pergola, designed by Brothers Dressler, book-ended with artwork by Douglas Coupland and Micah Lexier. (You’ll also be sure to see the extremely photogenic emerald-green leather bar stools and banquettes in the background of Instagrams for years to come.)

See The Outnet party pictures »

For those of us who sideline in online sale stalking, The Outnet is a mainstay. Launched in 2009 as the post-sale outlet for designer den Net-a-Porter, the site has morphed into a full fledged Mecca for designer discounts boasting insane slashes on over 200 brands including Valentino, Stella McCartney, Alexander Wang and its own in-house label, Iris & Ink, which serves as a head-to-toe top off collection for the all the rest of the site’s covetable wares.

See the Power Ball 2013 party photos »

Last night, Power Ball 2013 a.k.a. the art party of the year/social event of the season and so on and so forth went down at The Power Plant gallery on Toronto’s harbourfront. Despite the rain, the city’s finest art, fashion and social types filled the expansive space in designer gowns, costumes, and in one instance, a birthday suit. Celebrating its 15^th year under the guise of Andy Warhol’s famous line “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes,” the space was tricked out with Factory-worthy silver foil which made for some pretty fierce voguing props for designer Jeremy Laing and Frank Griggs much later in the evening. Power Ball’s famed exhibitions and installations were omnipresent as always, including a fortune-telling psychic, Chat Roulette-style wall projections, and two twisted prom queens dancing around a birthday cake and a mounted spinning motorcycle all night long. Curiouser and curiouser…

See what our editors wore to prom »

Oh, prom. That all-important day in many a young lady’s life that comes and goes with many awkward photos to document. We all aspire to be gazelles, but most of end up looking all too earthly too forget. Ill-placed bows, unflattering chiffon cuts, forehead framing ringlets… y’all know what we’re talking about. Prom.

Since we’re big into making prom as awesomely fashionable as possible for our youngest readers, we decided to throw our own prom looks into the ring as both cautionary tales and endearing looks back as what we looked like back on our respective big nights out.

Take a peek at what some of FASHION’s editors looked like on prom night!

See the AGO Massive Party photos »

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.

See our street style photos from Toronto Fashion Week »

At night two of Toronto’s The Shows, three impressive collections had the fashion scene raving. Up-and-coming designers Tanya Taylor and Steven Tai both made their home-turf runway debuts, and Toronto-based designer Jeremy Laing closed the evening with a flashy collection (I’m looking at you, gold trench coat) previously shown at New York Fashion Week. As our own fashion week continues, so does the Toronto street style. The setting sun gave attendees a certain glow as they arrived at the east-end venue Andrew Richards Designs, many of them keeping warm and stylish in transitional leather jackets. Yes, it’s still cold out, but let’s just pretend it’s not!

What happens when the It girl is over it? Just ask Wren Marlowe, or rather Aussie-born actress Misty Fox who plays her in the new series It Girl. The series follows Marlowe as she navigates the strange after-hours landscape that only an It girl understands (late night pocket dials from the hot band guy and […]

The post It Girl: This new series might just be Toronto’s answer to Girls appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

The fate of Balenciaga has been decided. Alexander Wang has been unofficially named the new creative director, succeeding Nicolas Ghesquière—whose final day at the French fashion house is today.

What has been a month of rumours and suspicions about who will take the helm of the brand was settled with a new report from WWD early this morning. According to market insiders, PPR—owner of Balenciaga—has selected the New York-based Alexander Wang to take over although neither Balenciaga nor Alexander Wang has confirmed just yet.

View FASHION’s 35th anniversary party photos »
Check out our archive of every FASHION cover since 1977 »

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.