FASHION Magazine

A BMW, a neon-orange Thomas Sabo string charm bracelet, and a ring of the buzzer got us into Goodnight this past weekend. It was there that New York haute hotel the Gansevoort had set up shop for late night TIFF after parties each night. Past the entrance pretenses, the private back-alley club offered its usual back-alley type of fun, only this time tricked out with the likes of Jon Hamm, Hugh Laurie, Leighton Meester, and Alia Shawkat a.k.a. Arrested Development’s Maeby Fünke (as soon as we heard she was there, we seriously gunned it, but alas, she had already left. “Marry me!” is all we wanted to say.) Possibly the most fun parties of the week (and that’s saying a lot, given that virtually every soiree has been gangbusters), our favourite part of the evening(s) was frequenting the graffitied-up wall in the alleyway to pose for impromptu photo shoots and pretend we were in a music video.

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Your mom will probably want to compare the movie Ten Year, about high school friends coming together for one night at their 10 year reunion, with movies like The Big Chill. And your older sister will probably compare it to Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, but while the movie does have some similar themes against the backdrop of who-we-were-then-isn’t-who-we-are-now, what it has that these do not is the most genetically blessed graduating class ever assembled. Case in point, the cast-members who showed up at TIFF to promote the film: Channing Tatum, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, Justin Long, Ari Graynor, Kate Mara, Brian Geraghty, Lynn Collins, Oscar Isaac, Kelly Noonan, and Scott Porter. There may have been more, but we ran out of fingers.

We asked the cast, who of their co-stars they would want to go to a reunion with. Read their answers after the jump:

Despite the long list of megawatt celebs (Clive Owen! Leighton Meester! Emily Blunt!) that rolled through the Variety Studio at Holt Renfrew this week, the vibe was decidedly relaxed. We stopped by on Saturday to do a bit of celeb stalking and instead of the flurry of stress we thought we’d be met with, the celebs were easy breezy, spending a couple of minutes in front of the camera, and then schmoozing, playing the new Nintendo DS, drinking wine or tea, and accepting gift bags full of swag from Moroccan Oil and Canadian jewellery company Anzie.

While we were there, we spotted Rachel Weisz, alongside her Deep Blue Sea co-star Tom Hiddleston, looking breathtaking (we mean that literally) in a Giambattista Valli resort leopard dress, with a simple shape and sky-high black pumps. Leighton Meester, who was interviewed alongside scene-pros Allison Janney and Oliver Platt for their film The Oranges, was looking sweet in a Louis Vuitton resort 2012 pleated dress, a blazer by Nonoo, and pink and black Pierre Hardy wedges. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Olsen and Sarah Paulson sported matching prints.

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Overheard: Ten Year writer/director Jamie Linden mentioning that he and his cast (including Channing Tatum and Kate Mara) had gone to a “dive bar” a.k.a. Ossington’s Sweaty Betty’s the night before the premiere. We wonder if he heard about the place from Ten Year actor Justin Long, who’s ex, Drew Barrymore, has been known to […]

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Aside from Monday night’s double-whammy Madonna dinner and celeb-filled after party at the Soho House, AMC/Nikki Beach/La Perla threw a boudoir-themed party atop the TIFF Lightbox at La Terrasse. (Bizarre semi-celeb sighting of the night: on our ascent to the swank rooftop terrace, the Trailer Park Boys tumbled out of the elevator—they were dressed, strangely, as racecar drivers.) Once inside, partygoers took endless iPhone shots of the astounding view (you can see all the way down King Street) and lounged on wicker couches on the gladiator arena–steep steps of the venue to watch a parade of La Perla lingerie models adorned in Birks jewels trot by. Guests, however, were not pleased by the cash bar situation. “What?!” gasped one attendee in an immaculate suit. “This isn’t open bar?” The surprisingly low AMC talent quotient (read: no Hamm sightings) was also on everyone’s lips. We did, however, catch a glimpse of Jordan Clark, Sunday’s barely legal and oh-so-gorgeous redheaded winner of So You Think You Can Dance Canada, nervously gulping down a pink highball, and fellow ginge Glenn Baxter stalking the crowd. Also spotted: a super-sunned Ben Mulroney and Ennis Esmer from The Listener on CTV.

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Word: Meet-cute

Meaning: A romantic-comedy trope in which two future lovers meet in a wildly unlikely and thus totally fateful way.

Usage: “Oscar and Amy fall in love. And what a Meet Cute they have! On their first evening together, they go out for the evening, their taxi explodes (yes, explodes) and they run in the rain and wade in the mud and find a restaurant where they eat tuna melts that make them sick and they run outside and hurl. This is the Meet Cute as Meet Puke.” ― Roger Ebert in his review of Three to Tango, 1999.

At the premiere of 50/50, the Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen comedy that takes something depressing—Levitt’s character gets diagnosed with cancer—and makes it funny. Rogen, as his goofy best friend, helps him navigate the diagnosis, which gives him a 50 per cent chance of surviving. On the red carpet, fans (mostly female) had DVDs of 300 Days of Summer waiting for a signature from JGL, but since he was the last of the cast to arrive, they got a lot more love from his co-stars Anna Kendrick (in a poofy teal dress that felt more prom than Oscar-nom) and Bryce Dallas Howard (taking maternity style and the humid day by storm in a flowing maxi dress).

At last night’s premiere and after-party for Butter, Olivia Wilde, Ashley Greene, and Alicia Silverstone all looked similarly, well, buttery and shiny! Wilde in a stunning white Grecian Marchesa gown with gold beading, Greene in a white and metallic-thread Oscar de la Renta dress, and Silverstone in a charming Proenza Schouler cocktail number. Who wore it best? Vote after the jump!

One of TIFF’s most guarded secret spots is the Grey Goose Soho House. Its location has been more or less kept hush-hush throughout the festival, and that’s why it’s probably been such a popular joint for celebs, including Ryan Gosling, Keira Knightley, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Olivia Wilde, and the list goes and on (and on).

For the first time we’d seen the venue during daylight hours, we stopped by on Saturday to check it out and chat with Grey Goose global brand ambassador Dimi Lezinska, the man in charge of creating Soho House’s cocktail menu. While all manner of good-looking stars come through Soho House, we could easily see patrons being more interested in catching Lezinska’s eye, and not because they needed to get a drink. The Frenchman is charming and handsome, which itself is the best cocktail. Lezinska has been with Grey Goose for six years and has created cocktails for soirees from the Oscars in Los Angeles to the Cannes Film Festival.

Lezinska created the menu for TIFF about three months in advance, and he says when planning he tries to incorporate flavours and ingredients that reflect the location of the event. Experimenting with all of these ingredients and creating signature cocktails sounds rather scientific, but Lezinska makes it sound like more than pouring the right mix: “It’s not a science—it’s an alchemy.” We think he’s struck gold.

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Word: Madgesty

Meaning: The singular world-reigning effect of the one, the only Madonna.

Usage: To quote (and slightly alter) Ovid, “Madgesty and love do not consort well together, nor do they dwell in the same place.”

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The tagline on next year’s Grey Goose Soho House invites should seriously read: “Four nights, four million celebs,” because it’s not normal how many are inside this place at one point on any given night. Last night, just as Madonna’s W.E. dinner was clearing out, we moseyed on over to catch a glimpse of our maker but, alas, she had slipped away. It quickly became apparent, though, that one Material Girl lost meant a million teenage heartthrobs gained. Or, should we say, a million teenage heartthrobs interacting with each other. In one corner, Adam Brody and Chace Crawford were chatting, most certainly trading notes about how to be a Josh Schwartz–moulded babe. In the next (or rather, upstairs), Justin Long and Michael Fassbender were busy at the ping-pong tables. As we mentioned earlier, Fassbender should probably stick to his day job, since his entire game consisted of running back and forth to catch his balls. (One landed near my foot. He touched it. And then apologized.) Channing Tatum was there somewhere too, but we didn’t spot him, or his dance moves. Back downstairs, Gerard Butler chatted with several, several ladies, one of who was Olivia Wilde in a body-hugging mega-sexy black dress. Peppered in among the youngsters, former heartthrobs (still, kinda?) Ralph Fiennes and Val Kilmer worked the room. They both have lots of hair at the moment.

The world’s biggest, and perhaps bravest, pop star stormed Roy Thomson Hall last night for the premiere of W.E., a film she directed and co-wrote. The love story of Wallis Simpson and the Prince of Wales, with a parallel tale of a Wallis-obsessed doctor’s wife, is Madonna’s first feature effort, a career move that film critics have not taken kindly to. I found W.E. to be entertaining, stylish, and fun, and I admire Madonna for holding her Garren-coiffed head high amid the barbs. After a private meeting, screening, and invitation to join her at her table for dinner, here are some other things I learned: