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Toronto Life - The Goods

Up-to-the-minute coverage of store openings and fashion gossip. Plus, daily finds for deal seekers

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October 11, 2011 | 11:01 am

Vogue Hommes International editor Francesco Cominelli found dead in his apartment last week

One of many online memorials (screenshop from The Fashion Spot)

Vogues Hommes International editor Francesco Cominelli was found dead in his Paris apartment this past Friday, and it’s being reported that he died of natural causes—the coroner has already ruled out the use of illicit substances.

Cominelli, a fixture on style blogs, was known for his eye for good design, which he began exploring early in life: Cominelli studied graphic design in high school and photography at Milan’s European Institute of Design, and interned at V Magazine in New York and Vogue Hommes International in Paris (he became the editor of Vogue Hommes International in 2009). Close friend and Toronto-born street style blogger Tommy Ton described Cominelli in a GQ feature last fall, saying,  “Francesco has a way of wearing clothes in such a way that they become completely unidentifiable on him. You wouldn’t know whether he’s wearing Kenzo or Zegna or a market find; that’s a gift of Francesco’s styling abilities. He has fun layering and mixing patterns, textures and colors, and it’s refreshingly young and sartorially playful at the same time.” Today, we’ll be tying a black bandana around one ankle, because Pitti Uomo just lost one of its prettiest faces much too soon (he died in his mid-20s).

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August 25, 2011 | 11:49 am

VIDEO: Edith Zimmerman likes Worn Fashion Journal, Worn Fashion Journal likes Clueless

Clueless’s Cher Horowitz, arguably Alicia Silverstone’s most remembered character (we also liked Miss Match, but no one is rushing out to buy that DVD box set), has been given new life by local fashion publication Worn Fashion Journal. The magazine has created a YouTube sensation in the making: a montage of every Cher outfit in 60 seconds that has already caught the attention of The Hairpin’s Edith Zimmerman. We think it is pretty clear that the girls and guys over at Worn are a bunch of Bettys and Baldwins.

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August 5, 2011 | 1:06 pm

Linda Evangelista’s son apparently can’t get out of bed for less than $46,000 a month

Linda Evangelista wants money for her child (Image: Dave Gates)

Considering supermodel and Canada Walk of Fame inductee Linda Evangelista famously told Vogue in 1990, “[Supermodels] don’t wake up for less than $10,000 a day,” it’s not all that shocking to hear she’s demanding $46,000 a month in child support from François-Henri Pinault, the father of her four-year-old son, Augustin. The request for what seems like steep financial support is even less shocking when we learn that, according to Evangelista’s lawyers, Pinault presently has $11 million set aside in trust for his daughter with Salma Hayek, while Evangelista has received no child support for Augustin.

Pinault is the CEO of PPR, the luxury fashion retailer that owns Gucci, Yves St. Laurent and Balenciaga among others, which makes the man far from a pauper (Pinault’s family net worth is estimated at $11.5 billion). Evangelista is asking for $80,000 for a full-time nanny (for that much we presume the nanny flies Augustin around with a magic umbrella), $7,500 for travel expenses (which a judge already vetoed) and armed chauffeurs to tote the boy around, a request the Manhattan Family Court judge is sympathetic to, saying that “if there is a trial with a lot of publicity, there will probably be a need for two detectives to drive this kid around.” Good luck, Linda—if we’ve learned anything from the Katie Holmes flick First Daughter, it’s that nothing says “happy, well-adjusted childhood” like being followed by armed guards everywhere you go.

• Linda Evangelista Demands $46,000 a Month in Child Support from François-Henri Pinault [The Cut]

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June 22, 2011 | 5:21 pm

Sympathy for the devil? John Galliano’s anti-Semitic remarks came from his mouth, not his brain, says attorney

Essence of John Galliano (Image: bgvjpe)

It isn’t the Conrad Black case, or even the O.J. Simpson saga, but for fashion folks across the world, attention was focused on France as designer John Galliano stood on trial to defend his anti-Semitic comments, a rant that swept the Internet months ago. Time magazine reports that Galliano claimed his actions were the fault of a “triple addiction” of alcohol, sleeping pills and Valium—a lethal combination, to be sure, but it seems more like a last-ditch effort to gain sympathy for his addiction (and, well, maybe bounce back from losing his job at Dior). Should Galliano be found guilty of public hate speech—which is punishable under French law—he could serve up to six months in prison and incur $32,000 in fines, but the biggest price he’s had to pay so far is a near-worldwide loss of respect. Earning that back requires at least a quadruple addiction.

• John Galliano on Trial: ‘Triple Addiction’ Led to Anti-Semitic Remarks [Time]

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June 16, 2011 | 4:13 pm

School’s in: leather-clad teacher leads this year’s Toronto Star Best Dressed list

Now that we’re all hot for teacher, the Toronto Star has broken from tradition somewhat in making this year’s Best Dressed cover girl not a couture-clad socialite but a smokin’-hot leather-clad schoolteacher. Sure, Maria Barsali and others chosen for the spread have been seen around the scene, but the real-life jobs of the sartorially splendid this year are downright refreshing.

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March 7, 2011 | 2:58 pm

Canadian model Jessica Stam walks in Dior show in support of John Galliano, a “friend in a dark place”

Jessica Stam and John Galliano in 2007 (Image: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images)

Natalie Portman may have withdrawn her support for John Galliano after a video surfaced depicting the soon-to-be former Dior designer unleashing an anti-Semitic tirade on patrons at a Paris bar, but Canadian model Jessica Stam remained committed to the label, walking in Galliano’s final Dior show in Paris last Friday. In the drunken rant, Galliano, who joined the fashion house in 1996, drunkenly proclaims “I love Hitler,” an offence punishable as a crime under French law.

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November 3, 2010 | 10:50 am

British model Agyness Deyn recommends Annex restaurant

Go for the food, stay for the fortune teller (Image: The Vista Dome)

It girl and British model Agyness Deyn threw a party on Monday night to fête her just-launched Web site, Naag. Known for her personal style and cropped platinum locks, Aggy is already an international tastemaker and will use the site to tell readers what’s cool in beauty, fashion, culture and travel. Included is a Toronto restaurant recommendation, and it isn’t Canoe or Terroni or The Black Hoof or any of the usual suspects; instead, it’s that dimly lit Annex soul food destination Southern Accent (also a favourite of MTV decamper Jessi Cruickshank). 

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July 15, 2010 | 2:55 pm

Courtney Love sets a scary new standard for hipster fashion

Live through dis: fashion icon Courtney Love presents pictures of Courtney Love (Image: outwithmycamera)

We’re not sure if Courtney Love’s new fashion blog, What Courtney Wore Today, provides hipsters with something incredibly bizarre and self-indulgent to aspire to or a new barometer by which to measure their insanity. The blog is exactly what we’ve come to expect from Love: indecipherable musings, wardrobe atrocities and smeared makeup. Today features Love checking out her ass in her bathroom and looking like a drunk understudy in the touring company of Chicago.

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July 7, 2010 | 12:26 pm

Battle of the best-dressed divas

Right before the long weekend, the Star released its Best Dressed list, an annual tally of the most enviably togged Torontonians. (Or at least that’s the idea. Hey, Beckerman sisters, Rainbow Brite called…) This year’s cover girl honours went to Suzanne Rogers, the 40-something spouse of Edward Rogers and a famous fashion queen or fashion victim, depending on which side of the beehive you stand on. But we digress. On the front page of the Living section, Rogers posed in a white Marchesa gown with a fitted top and layer upon layer of tulle (or at least we think it’s tulle), creating a sort of wedding cake–worthy tier effect.

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July 6, 2010 | 2:31 pm

Queen Elizabeth II didn’t buy new clothes for Toronto state dinner

Note the jewel-encrusted maple leaves (Image: Chris Jackson/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images)

We’d expect that the Queen of England wouldn’t be caught dead wearing the same thing twice, but during her visit to Canada, Her Majesty sported several pre-loved outfits. For a state dinner with Stephen Harper last night at the Royal York, QEII wore a white tulle and Swarovski crystal gown that had been slightly altered since she wore it to an event in Trinidad and Tobago last autumn.

The original design featured the country’s national birds—the scarlet ibis and the cocrico—which were removed and replaced with crystal maple leaves for the Toronto gala. For a dinner in Halifax last week, Lizzy showed off an outfit she wore at a garden party the previous week, and even prior to that. Obviously, the Queen has yet to see Clueless.

• Queen wears ‘recycled’ dress to banquet in Toronto [Telegraph]
• The Queen’s hats: classic, yet fashion-forward [Globe and Mail]

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May 21, 2010 | 2:14 pm

Derek Blasberg comes to Toronto, stirs the pot (not that pot)

Blasberg signs copies at The Room (Image: George Pimentel)

Derek Blasberg is to New York what Shinan Govani is to Toronto: the city’s gossip king. So on his recent book promo trip to Toronto (he recently released Classy: Exceptional Advice for the Extremely Modern Lady), the city’s socialite set and PR mavens gave him an upper-classy tour of the city with parties at The Room and LAB. In his regular blog for Vogue, Blasberg shared what he learned about the city, including that Toronto is shockingly close to New York—“Canada ain’t that far away—from my apartment in New York to my hotel room, door-to-door service was two hours.” And, Toronto likes acronyms. Thank you, LAB—a.k.a. Live and Breathe. But Blasberg may have inadvertently stuck his nose down some inhospitable holes when he wrote that The Bay is “Toronto’s most famous shopping mecca.” (We can think of another mecca that might have something to say about that.) And that Suzanne Rogers, who hosted a party for the writer, is the “queen of Toronto’s fashion scene.” (Cough, cough. Stacey Kimel. Cough.)

For reader bonus points: Find the other gossip king in the photo on Blasberg’s blog post.

• O Canada! [Vogue]

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May 19, 2010 | 1:11 pm

Stephen Harper won’t divulge his stylist’s salary

Despite appearances, Stephen Harper has his very own Rachel Zoe, a personal stylist to attend to his makeup, hair and clothing needs. Debates over MP expenses turned up the information that Michelle Muntean, Harper’s grooming guru, is now paid by the Conservative Party, but her salary and travel expenses are being kept secret. Her pay, which used to come from taxpayers, has people up in arms over knowing how much was coming from the tax coffers to keep Harper looking so darned spiffy. Muntean’s official tasks are mundane, like picking out suits and ties and co-ordinating hair and makeup, but we prefer to think of her as Canada’s answer to Lisa Kline.

• Tories, not the public, now paying PM’s groomer [Globe and Mail]

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April 15, 2010 | 12:26 pm

Oscar de la Renta event raises $750,000 despite Canada being the “smallest fashion market in the world”

“Canada is a small market—probably the smallest fashion market in the world.” That’s Canadian fashion booster Robin Kay telling CTV why most big-name designers don’t travel here. Smallest fashion market in the world? Uh, OK. “We’re not big consumers of fashion and certainly not high fashion,” continued the head of the FDCC, whose job we thought it was to promote the fashion scene in Canada. “We’re just not part of the purchasing landscape.” Explain, then, the success of Suzanne Rogers’s fundraiser for SickKids on Tuesday night, which featured a fashion show from guest of honour Oscar de la Renta. The gala sold out 10 weeks in advance and raised $750,000; according to the Star, late ticket buyers were clamouring for the remaining $25,000 tables. Sounds like a pretty devoted fashion market to us—or at least devoted status seekers.

• Bringing glamour back [Toronto Star]
• De la Renta a rare treat in Canadian fashion scene [CTV]

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April 6, 2010 | 1:32 pm

Conrad Black’s daughter appears in Vogue, reminds us she’s loaded

Following in the footsteps of stepmom Barbara Amiel, Alana Black is presently featured in Vogue. In the spread “willowy style aces,” she talks about her life in the fabulous lane, according to gossip king Shinan Govani, mentioning that she bought a $495 Balenciaga shirt (it’s an investment piece) and a pair of $69 PH8 pants (the athletic Bebe brand that women wear everywhere but the gym).

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March 25, 2010 | 3:13 pm

Tavi Gevinson gets access to John Galliano over Jeanne Beker

When we last wrote about Tavi Gevinson’s Fashion Television debut, there was just a teaser clip of her coverage of New York fashion week available on-line. Now, FT has released an eight-minute clip about the suburbanite turned celebrity teen blogger taking over for Jeanne Beker. Our favourite part: when Gevinson tells Beker she spoke with designer John Galliano after his show, an opportunity Beker was not granted. Beker turns to the camera and says, “She got a chance to talk to John Galliano and I didn’t!” Cheer up, Jeanne: you’re still our favourite fashion queen.

• Tavi Gevinson for FT [Fashion Television]

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