FASHION Magazine

Hailing from the suburbs of Toronto meant Robert Weir largely didn’t feel at home in his life. “It was a time when just being yourself was dangerous,” the creative recalls. “If you walked down the street looking ‘effeminate,’ that was enough to get your ass kicked.” Despite the situational strife — and with the acknowledgement […]

The post Toronto-Based Beauty Artist Robert Weir on What Pride Past, Present and Future Mean to Him appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

See our Spring 2014 athletic trend guide »

The last time I had contact with a tube sock was sometime in 1989. I was in Grade 9—the last year I was compelled to take gym class. It would fall under the category of extravagant understatement to say that I was not athletically gifted, and it still seems to me that not having to play team sports is one of the major upsides of getting older. So, as soon as gym class was no longer obligatory, I dropped it and fled the other way, at suddenly Olympian velocity.

Today, beholding a tube sock—the madeleine of middle school—still prompts a Proustian montage of fear, lanyards and bad gymnasium lighting. Fair to say, then, that this season’s celebration of haute sportswear is not my (gym) bag. But my childhood experiences with sports, especially the team variety, did provide me with much training in the art of play-meets-public spectacle. It’s a talent I appear to be honing tonight as I take the designer athletic trend for a spin—decked out in fresh-from-the-runway Marni—on game night at Toronto’s Real Sports Bar & Grill.

Sportswear took to the shelves in America during the Great Depression—a time when people began to prize utility over fuss and ornament. Fashion historian Rebecca Arnold wrote that it’s been “mythologized as an expression of American national identity—as practical, rational and authentic.” This season’s “activewear,” however, provides a swift kick to the practical and the rational, adding fancy and glamour to sporty lines and energetic colour.

See the party photos »

With today being the universal day of love, it was only fitting that Toronto’s most desirable gentlemen gathered Tuesday night to duke it out, bachelors-versus-husbands style, in a silent bouquet auction. The Pre-Valentine’s Day Soirée was presented by sisters Maryam and Nargues Mansouri in the showroom of The Perry, Mansouri Living’s elegant 11-storey condo building in the works at Avenue and Davenport. Hostess Ainsley Kerr was appropriately festive in a bright pink dress as she introduced the makeshift florists from the space’s kitchen while a strappy pair of Tom Ford sandals looked on from the walk-in closet.

See all the pictures from the Toronto Life Most Influential party »

Last night Toronto Life celebrated the reveal of their Most Influential list by toasting Toronto’s 50 most influential people at The Ritz-Carlton. The lucky heavyweights—ranging from politicians to bankers to TV personalities—were profiled in the magazine’s December issue and, as the evening’s emcee Amanda Lang was eager to point out, also given a definitive rank. (Her 41st place spot obviously not affecting said eagerness.) Upon our arrival it was clear how those on the list have become so successful: they’re certainly not the familiar faces of Toronto’s late-night party circuit. The mood was much more about networking than clamouring for a cocktail, despite the impressive array of Ketel One and Tanqueray creations. Tailored suits and black dresses dominated—though oxblood items and fur accessories proved to be just as popular, including many a lush stole and a pair of furry booties on Leesa Butler.