FASHION Magazine

View the Louis Vuitton Maison Toronto interior photos »
View the Louis Vuitton Maison Toronto opening party photos »

Louis Vuitton’s got a brand new bag. Or rather, a gorgeous new Maison to house all those bags. The monogrammed megabrand finally opened the doors at its new Toronto location last month, revealing a palatial space three times as big as its last at 150 Bloor Street West. We haven’t stopped ogling since. Designed by none other than leather-daddy architect Peter Marino, the shimmering two-floor glass and steel mecca houses virtually everything that Louis Vuitton is known for, including full selections of luggage, small leather goods, bags, shoes, accessories, ready-to-wear and even custom-designed fine jewellery, unique to the location (LV + TO charm bracelets?). It is also the first store in Canada to feature Louis Vuitton’s exclusive “Haute Maroquinerie” service for made to order leather goods. Sounds pretty haute to us.

See the TIFF party photos »

You better be ready for this jelly because the celebrity meet-cute heavens opened wide at last night’s Hudson Bay Company party for A Place Beyond the Pines at AME. Between myself and editor-in-chief Bernadette Morra, we had Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes and Kristen Wiig in our clutches and the world could not have felt more balanced.

But let’s get acquainted with the soiree particulars: As waiters in Hudson Bay striped T-shirts passed hors d’oeuvres and bubbly, the stars (which also included Bradley Cooper, no big deal), the Bay’s big wigs Bonnie Brooks and Suzanne Timmins and a tight-knit group of editors and gossip experts—which included National Post’s Shinan Govani and Nathalie Atkinson, eTalk’s Elaine Lui and the Toronto Star’s Derrick Chetty—held court at the back of the lavish club.

Eva Mendes sat perched, looking truly resplendent in a black and grey lace-y Dolce & Gabbana dress, chandelier earrings and pointed black heels. Complete with half-turban headpiece, the actress looked as if to be plucked straight from the duo’s Sicilian-inspired Fall 2012 collection. After ordering a cocktail/Red Bull/water with one breath, Eva Mendes and I shared our love for the collection, turbans, and Ryan Gosling (okay, that last one never happened).

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Toronto’s party circuit came full circle last night with a toast to the 60 lads and ladies who made this year’s Worthy 30. The list, curated by society scribe Shinan Govani, is part who’s-who of the city (there are also Worthy 30 lists for Montreal and Vancouver) and part singles directory, with the clause that anyone nominated cannot be married, engaged or living with a significant other. Meaning: after a few rounds of sponsored Grey Goose cocktails, the mingling almost veered into matchmaking. As for the Worthy in attendance, the men, including Simon Wilkinson, proved that cut-off shorts can look just as stylish as a three-piece suit. (Though respect to Braden Rosner for braving all those layers in the extreme heat!) Lacy details, on the other hand, proved popular with the Worthy women, with Jen Kirch, Courtne Smith, Lauren O’Nizzle and our own online editor Randi Bergman all wearing items with cut-out details. Hopeful jokes were made that perhaps Chloë Grace Moretz or Jake Gyllenhaal would make an appearance, given that both made it onto the “Side Dish” section of the list and are currently filming separate projects in Toronto. Alas, unless they were hiding inside one of the oversized Dedon nest-shaped loungers, we didn’t see them.

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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.

What has seemed like the longest celebrity pregnancy in the history of the world is finally over. No more false alarms, Jessica Simpson has finally given birth to a…baby (and not a llama, as one Toronto boldface may have suggested). The fashion mogul and her fiancé, NFL star Eric Johnson, welcomed a baby girl and they’ve given her a somewhat normal name: Maxwell Drew Johnson (a tribute to the couple’s families: Maxwell is the maiden name of Johnson’s mother, and Drew is Simpson’s mother’s maiden name.)

Despite the long-running jokes about it being a never-ending pregnancy, Simpson proves that she is in fact human, giving birth in just under nine months to the 9 lbs., 13 ounces bundle.

Simpson, who remained in the public eye throughout (since her pregnancy announcement via Twitter last Halloween), released a statement on her website saying “This has been the greatest experience of our lives!! […] We are so grateful for all of the love, support and prayers we have received.”

The mogul reportedly has said that she wanted to start clothing lines for kids and babies, and perhaps now she has her feature model! Hmm, could little Maxwell be giving Blue Ivy a run for her money?

There were five or so things we loved about the third annual Cinema Against Aids gala, held Sunday night at The Carlu. And one we didn’t. Here goes:

Word: Man-acle

Definition: One who makes slaves of men; serial heart-stealer; divorce queen. Okay, I semi-made it up from the word for handcuffs, manacle. P.S. I definitely do not mean ball and chain; gross.

Canadien(ne)s are taking over Paris–well, a tiny, unobtrusive corner of it. Nestled into the infamous Le Regine last night were designers Jeremy Laing and Rad Hourani, top blogger Tommy Ton, Shinan Govani with a bit of an entourage, and more… “I’ve never seen so many of us in one room here!” exclaimed one lively expatriate.

New designer-to-know Calla Haynes had cause to celebrate, in her gentle way: This week marks the coming-out of her eponymous solo line. (Previously, she earned her pedigree under Olivier Theyskens at Nina Ricci and creating prints for Laing.)

Here at FASHION we hate to gossip. We’ve never even heard of Robert Pattinson or Blake Lively or…BritBrit. Gah! Fine–Brangelina, McGosling, True Blood, JLo! So obviously we’re excited about this: Our favourite dirt disher, Lainey, is hosting her fourth Smut Soiree with the socials at The Society on June 23. The night is a big […]

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