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GALLERY: Our top 10 list from the holiday edition of the One of a Kind Show

Scout and Catalogue at the One of a Kind Show (Image: Lia Parsley)

Twice a year, Canadian artisans of all persuasions (mostly from Ontario and Quebec) come together at the Direct Energy Centre to present their wares to shoppers in search of everything handcrafted and—you guessed it—one of a kind. If you’re hoping to knock out some serious holiday shopping at this year’s show, arrive with a balance-free credit card or a wallet full of cash, because these trinkets don’t come cheap. The show runs until December 4 (10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays), and to help you navigate your way through the sprawling convention space (and away from a lot of the patchwork and tchotchkes), we’ve put together our top 10 booths to check out at this season’s One of a Kind Show. Find out who made the cut after the jump.

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The Goods

Good Stuff Cheap

November 8, 2011 | 3:06 pm

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Line Knitwear launches diffusion label John and Jenn for, we assume, children

John and Jenn spring/summer 2012 (Image: Supplied)

Line, one of Canada’s favourite knitwear design houses (headed by John Muscat and Jennifer Wells), presented their diffusion collection John and Jenn last week and, for the most part, the collection seemed a little junior compared to the elegant-yet-cozy offerings we’ve seen from Line in the past. John and Jenn is decidedly youthful with its array of colour-blocked brights, stripes, polka dots, tie-dye, seahorse-embellished tanks and hoodies. Even the models were styled younger than their at-least 17-year-old-selves, with high ponytails, visible makeup and slumber party dance moves (they also sucked on lollipops, but it wasn’t a nod to Lolita, we assure you). That said, we still saw some value in this relatively inexpensive collection. Check out what we saw of the spring/summer 2012 collection after the jump.

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 14, 2011 | 4:56 pm

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ET Canada’s sixth birthday party is the least TIFF-y of all TIFF parties

Natalie Brown (Image: Lia Parsley)

As the Hollywood set celebrated last night with parties for Butter, Interview magazine and InStyle, our homegrown Canadian talent came out for ET Canada’s sixth birthday bash at Spice Route. The cast of Rookie Blue and Lost Girl, everyone’s favourite contractor Mike Holmes, Call Me Fitz’s affable Tracy Dawson, Molly Parker, Natalie Brown, the Trailer Park Boys, Alexandra Holden (we know her best as anorexic beauty queen Mary Johanson from Drop Dead Gorgeous), ET Canada hosts and L.A. transplant Matte Babel all walked the red carpet—some better than others (namely, Natalie Brown and her impressive at-camera eye squints)—in honour of the entertainment news source’s special day. Check out the red carpet after the jump.

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 13, 2011 | 11:18 am

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Madonna bails on her after-party, but that doesn’t stop Harvey Weinstein from throwing a great one at Grey Goose Soho House

Michael Fassbender swings and misses. (Image: Alexandra Wyman)

For the fourth and final evening, Grey Goose Soho House was the celebrity venue of choice, with back-to-back-to-back parties for Ten Year (starring Channing Tatum, Kate Mara, Rosario Dawson and Justin Long), Coriolanus (starring Gerard Butler, Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain), and a star-studded, multi-floor party hosted by legendary Hollywood hitmaker Harvey Weinstein. Earlier in the evening, Madonna, the hydrangea hater herself, joined a very select group of people for a private dinner celebrating W.E., but she slipped out the back door before things got crazy (does this surprise anyone?). Butler stayed for the entire night (in excess of five consecutive hours) and was never too far from a bevy of unknown models and one Megan Fox lookalike. Coriolanus castmate Fiennes dipped out early, refusing autographs as he made his exit. No sweat off our backs—the room was beginning to fill with so many recognizable faces we could barely keep up. Find out who and what they were wearing in a gallery after the jump.

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 12, 2011 | 11:42 am

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Some of the Your Sister’s Sister’s cast, and the Westons, were at Grey Goose Soho House

Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt (Image: Alexandra Wyman)

For the third night in a row, Grey Goose Soho House proved to be a celebrity pit stop during TIFF 2011. Last night at the fete for Your Sister’s Sister, Emily Blunt wore a casual fuchsia dress as she hobnobbed with cast and crew. At the end of the party (she stayed for the whole thing, which we understand is not the norm), she was overheard saying, “But I don’t know how I’ll get home,” which is something we can relate to. It can be so hard finding your chauffeur after the party. Castmate Mark Duplass and director Lynn Shelton hung around longer into the evening as the party switched gears. Find out which celebrities came out to the party last night in our photo gallery after the jump.

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 11, 2011 | 2:07 pm

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Ryan Gosling spends more time with Dave Matthews at the Drive party at Grey Goose Soho House last night

Ryan Gosling takes care of his mother (Image: Lia Grainger)

Last night, guests waited anxiously at it spot Grey Goose Soho House for TIFF 2011’s favourite hometown heartthrob, Ryan Gosling. The intimate pre-Drive premiere cocktail was buzzing with will he or won’t he questions (it reeked of desperation) until finally, just after 7 p.m., Gosling swayed into the loft space, charming as ever, with a series of hugs, hellos and a single fist pump. In a speckled wool blazer and a shaggier-than-normal haircut, he appeared far more law student than leading man. (And that’s why the ladies love him.) Around the party, Alliance Films executives talked shop, random women at the charcuterie table ogled Gosling, and Dave Matthews attended once again, though we’re still not sure why.

As the event drew to a close, Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn milled about as Ryan and his favourite date—mama Gosling—stood in the centre of the room all sweet and smiley. We got the chance to speak with the sex symbol before he was corralled away to the premiere. When asked about his feelings on good ol’ Toronto, he had nothing but rave reviews. In quirky Gosling fashion: “It rules with an iron fist made of love and magic.” Oscar-nominated and poet? Ryan’s talent truly has no bounds.

The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 10, 2011 | 2:54 pm

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Tilda Swinton leaves before dinner at the We Need to Talk About Kevin dinner at Grey Goose Soho House

Swinton is radiant as usual (Image: Soho House)

On a discreet side street in Toronto’s Entertainment District, the Soho House pop-up (brought to TIFF by Grey Goose) was in full swing on Friday night—a flock of A-listers came through for The Ides of March cocktail party, followed by a private dinner for We Need to Talk About Kevin, a film starring Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly.

On the third floor of this cozy, Kilim-rugged warehouse space, Tilda Swinton was otherworldly in emerald Haider Ackermann and a blond pixie cut so sharp it could cut glass. After her official party-posing duties, she moved about the room, socializing with both friends and crew. Find out who fell asleep at the party after the jump.

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 9, 2011 | 10:51 am

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We find out just how meta Adrian Grenier is at the Teenage Paparazzo Q&A

(Image: Lia Parsley)

After the screening of Teenage Paparazzo, a 30-minute Q&A took place in which the audience got to rub faraway elbows with the man of the hour, Adrian Grenier. On how the film changed Grenier’s life he said, “My relationship with the paparazzi will forever be changed. I no longer feel like a victim and I now understand my role in the game… I don’t take it as seriously.” When asked about his foray into documentary filmmaking, he discussed reaching different demographics. “Even if it’s a smaller audience, I want to move people. Part of the celebrity experience is to receive a lot, so it’s really important in this position to give back.” The asker interjected, “That’s karma, isn’t it? Do you believe in karma?” Grenier replied rather diplomatically, saying he did, because he’s a good sport. Despite the somewhat odd probing question about Grenier’s opinion on an Indian religious concept (that will likely be blown up into a People magazine article about how he’s very spiritual), at least it wasn’t a question about what it’s like to work with Jeremy Piven.

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 9, 2011 | 10:37 am

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At the Screening: Teenage Paparazzo

(Image: Lia Parsley)

After a performance by L.A.-based pop musician Wendy Starland and a brief technological glitch as the film began to roll, the afternoon screening of Teenage Paparazzo was under way, and we couldn’t help but wonder if we were the only ones having cinematic déjà vu (it can be viewed at home, since it came out in 2010). Inside the venue, Canadian celebs Colin Mochrie and Jarvis Church mingled among suits, sponsors, students and unknown women sporting updos and embellished could-be prom gowns (in hopes, we assume, that Grenier would fall in love; it was also rumoured that Matt Damon might make a cameo, so perhaps that explains the Man Repelling, too).

To our surprise, Grenier stood at the back of the venue to watch his documentary play out on the big screen. Naturally, we’re considering submitting this bold act for “Stars: They’re Just Like Us.”

The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 9, 2011 | 9:59 am

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TIFF PHOTO GALLERY: Teenage Paparazzo hits the red carpet for TIFF 2011

Adrian Grenier at the screening of Teenage Paparazzo (Image: Lia Parsley)

While no one is entirely sure why Adrian Grenier is back on the publicity train for his 2010 documentary Teenage Paparazzo (which most Canadians have already watched from the comfort of their own living rooms via TMN OnDemand), he certainly showed up for a second PR push on the first day of TIFF 2011. Rolling up to the red carpet outside of the Hoxton at King and Bathurst in a Mercedes-Benz G-Class, Grenier was cool and collected as he negotiated the line of media. In a wrinkly Bob Dylan T-shirt, gingham button-up, jeans and black Chucks, he wholly embodied Vinny Chase’s too-cool-for-school style. Find out what else Grenier said and what the red carpet looked like after the jump.

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 8, 2011 | 11:59 am

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The Swag Series: The Essentials Lounge, where media feel like celebrities

Brown paper bags fully stocked with swag for media (Image: Arthur Mola)

What it is: The Essentials Lounge at Hotel Le Germain is a gifting suite and TIFF prep lounge specifically created for media covering the festival. It’s hard enough doing the leg work for TIFF reporting, let alone getting yourself physically presentable for the events (we look terrible at all hours during TIFF), so the idea for the Essentials Lounge was devised by PR gal Esther Garnick: “Celebrity gifting suites definitely have their place at TIFF. But I’ve spent many festival hours holding journalists hostage on the red carpet, waiting for celebrities to arrive, and it became apparent that I wasn’t the only one wilting out there by the third day.”

Who goes: Editors, writers and other media riff-raff who have agreed to a week and a half of extreme, self-inflicted entertainment journalism. A certain Radiohead song comes to mind. Check out more of the goods in a gallery after the jump.

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

August 24, 2011 | 4:11 pm

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CONFIRMED: Brad Pitt is going to attend TIFF 2011

Brad Pitt, one of the biggest male movie stars on the planet will be joining us at TIFF in September to celebrate the baseball flick Moneyball, co-starring Jonah Hill. A true home run, however, will only come in the form of a full eight-person Jolie-Pitt clan sighting on our city streets. Pics or it didn’t happen.

(Images: Brad Pitt, Moneyball)

The Hype

TIFF Talk

August 24, 2011 | 3:06 pm

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CONFIRMED: Evan Rachel Wood will be attending TIFF 2011

Evan Rachel Wood first won our hearts with her raw performance in Thirteen, and later confused us profoundly by dating Marilyn Manson. We think Wood is pretty talented, albeit a little strange (but strange in the way that Macaulay Culkin’s Junior was strange), which is why we’re excited to hear that she’ll be walking the red carpet at the premiere of Ides of March, a film she stars in alongside a knockout cast that includes Ryan Gosling, Marisa Tomei, Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Frankly, we can’t wait to see who Wood brings as her red carpet date.

(Image: Evan Rachel Wood, Cristian Krause)

The Goods

Beauty School

July 13, 2011 | 4:39 pm

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Behind the Scenes: at MAC cosmetics’ factory headquarters in, um, Markham, Ontario

We were not permitted to eat these pigments. (Image: Lia Parsley)

We recently had the opportunity to take a party bus to MAC headquarters (all the way up the 404), where, as some people may find surprising, their entire product line is manufactured in one of two factory facilities. Some may also be surprised to hear that MAC has been manufacturing its makeup on home turf (in Markham) for about three decades. We certainly didn’t know that, nor could we imagine prior to this visit that any global style brands were born next to Pacific Mall. Take a look at how the stuff we apply to our faces gets made—right in our backyard— in a gallery after the jump

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The Goods

Buyer's Market

June 3, 2011 | 1:20 pm

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Craft nerds, rejoice! Etsy pop-up shop to happen this weekend

Sometimes a handcrafted, three-of-a-kind item can be a good way to get someone’s attention (goodbye, fast fashion), and on Saturday, June 4, local Etsy vendors are taking over West Elm to bring us everything we need for strangers to ask, “Where did you get that?”—leather bags, housewares, soap, photographic prints and an abundance of bags. We like Fieldguided’s totes (also available at Robber and Bicyclette), tie-dyed scarves from Scout & Catalogue and new and vintage jewellery by Foe and Dear. We understand not wanting to buy something online for fear of it not fitting or not being the right colour. Having a fully erected, temporary Etsy shop will make it easier not to buy a selection of T-shirt quilts we wish we hadn’t.

Etsy pop-up shop at West Elm, 109 Atlantic Ave., June 4, 1-6 p.m. Check out a full list of vendors after the jump.

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