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Toronto’s well heeled celebrated The Obamas author Jodi Kantor at Victoria Webster’s Rosedale home

Celebrating Jodi Kantor’s <em>The Obamas</em>

Gabe Gonda, Jodi Kantor and Victoria Webster have a party for The Obamas (Image: Tom Sandler)

Fabulous Rosedale homes are meant for more than just real estate porn and housing Toronto’s aristocracy—they also provide a great backdrop for parties. Toronto Life contributor Victoria Webster and her husband, Gabe Gonda, weekend editor at the Globe and Mail, opened their home Friday evening to New York Times correspondent and The Obamas author Jodi Kantor. Complete with a question-and-answer period, libations and a book signing, this party was a proper toast among friends. Find out what Kantor had to say about Michelle Obama and who took his shoes off (when no one else did) after the jump.

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The Hype

Prime Time

October 31, 2011 | 12:24 pm

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Daddy’s home: Alan Thicke set to co-host an ’80s-themed episode of This Hour Has 22 Minutes

Alan Thicke (Image: Lori Greig)

Alan Thicke, dad to everyone with a television in the late ’80s and early ’90s, will be sharing the laughter and love on a very special ’80s-inspired This Hour Has 22 Minutes on November 1 at 8:30 p.m. We know what you’re thinking, and yes, he has been on How I Met Your Mother parodying late-’80s Canadian television, but we’re excited for the actor formerly known as Dr. Jason Seaver to come to our television sets once more, only this time with David Suzuki, who filmed a retro Nature of Things, and Ben Mulroney, who will be playing an ’80s version of his pops, Brian. Everything will come together with a performance from The Spoons, so it is almost like no one was left behind.

The Hype

The Velvet Rope

October 7, 2011 | 2:40 pm

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THE SCENE: An Unforgettable Night at the sixth annual benefit for the Alzheimer Society

Maureen McTeer and Margaret Trudeau

On Wednesday night, the Four Seasons Hotel was bursting with honorary guests for the sixth annual Alzheimer Society Unforgettable Night gala in honour of all Canadians who care for someone with dementia. Mila Mulroney joked that “there’s no first wives club in Canadian politics,” and yet the room was filled with them: Gellis Turner (wife of John Turner, who was also present), Margaret Trudeau and Maureen McTeer came together in support of the cause despite their differing political views. The mixed crowd included Michael Ignatieff and wife Zsuzsanna Zsohar, Ben Mulroney and wife Jessica Brownstein, theatre community darling Louise Pitre (Mamma Mia) and actress Fiona Reid (King of Kensington), among others. Check out the scene and find out who made a special surprise performance after the jump.

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 11, 2011 | 3:28 pm

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Kathleen Turner got people talking at this year’s annual George Christy luncheon

Lynne St. David, Paul and Judy Bronfman and Norman Jewison (Image: Jordana Divon)

Famed Hollywood reporter George Christy’s annual Four Seasons cocktail party and luncheon saw Toronto’s upper-crustiest hanging with celebs in the Avenue Bar. The ground-floor space felt a bit like a fishbowl, as passers-by leaned on the glass to ogle anyone inside. The tweenyboppers camped outside were probably disappointed that Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez didn’t attend, but we did see Kathleen Turner, Geoffrey Rush, directors Norman Jewison and Atom Egoyan, TIFF co-president Piers Handling, Gina Gershon, and the Mulroney family (including Brian—it’s like this year’s TIFF is a prime minister paradise as Stephen Harper has also been spotted around town—his wife Mila, son Ben, and Ben’s twin boys. Guests argued over Turner’s best film role—some thought it was as Joan Wilder in Romancing the Stone, while others preferred her as the matriarch to the troubled Lisbon girls in The Virgin Suicides (we still maintain her best was as Beverly Sutphin in Serial Mom) as they guzzled seemingly bottomless glasses of champagne. The heat in the narrow bar had some complaining (we heard Suzanne Boyd kvetch), but as we understand it, the best solution to a heat wave is to drink excessively, so we felt fine. Check out the scene in our gallery after the jump.

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The Dish

From the Print Edition

August 11, 2011 | 1:00 pm

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Chris Nuttall-Smith takes on La Société, Charles Khabouth’s sexy, buzzy French bistro

La Société serves up social cachet wrapped in sex appeal, and some decent French food, too (Image: Eugen Sakhnenko)

Four million dollars buys a lot of restaurant, even on Bloor Street, at the heart of the city’s richest retail mile. Charles Khabouth, the nightclub impresario behind La Société, the new, two-storey, 380-seat, more or less slavish recreation of a belle époque Paris bistro, brought in 29 tile workers, many of them from Montreal, to complete the spectacularly elaborate black, white and gold mosaic floors in the restaurant’s main bar and dining room. He and Alessandro Munge, of the Munge Leung design firm, commissioned a stained-glass ceiling for the bistro’s main space (which they’ve backlit, inexcusably, with sallow fluorescent lights), purchased their zinc bar top from France, outfitted the banquettes in brass and burgundy leather, and panelled the room in enough mahogany to deforest the best-endowed of banana republics. The rent, meantime, likely adds $2 million annually to Khabouth’s overhead. He’ll need to sell a lot of steak frites to cover that, but the man isn’t afraid to go big.

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The Dish

Opening

June 21, 2011 | 5:48 pm

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Introducing: La Société, Bloor Street’s massive new bistro and people-watching hub

The bar at La Société (Image: Gizelle Lau)

La Société, Charles Khabouth and Danny Soberano’s new upscale bistro, opened last week to just the chic red-carpet reception one would expect, with guests like “jersey boys” Kirk Pickersgill and Stephen Wong of Greta Constantine, media mogul Moses Znaimer, Canadian ~~musician~~ music manager and producer Jake Gold and Food Network Canada host Kevin Brauch (no RPattz sighting, though). We first scoped out the dining room’s impressive stained-glass ceiling shortly after it was installed, and returned last week to see how everything turned out.

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The Dish

Aprons & Icons

June 6, 2011 | 4:34 pm

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Two foodie fundraisers set to benefit the Toronto Wildlife Centre this month

From last year’s Spring for Wildlife event, host Kevin Brauch (left) with Didier Leroy (right) and the Valrhona chocolate sculpture created by chocolatier Sylvain Leroy (centre) (Image: Robert Chapman)

There’s a reason food and fundraisers go hand in hand: what better way to encourage patrons and sponsors to empty their wallets for a good cause than to fill their bellies with delicious food? (See: this weekend’s Toronto Taste.) This month, the Toronto Wildlife Centre—the only organization in the GTA that rescues and provides treatment for wildlife in need—will be on the receiving end of two such events.

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The Goods

Rogue Fashion Week

March 28, 2011 | 4:22 pm

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The Scene: nine fashion favourites at Friday’s Greta and Ezra Constantine shows

Jaclyn Genovese at Greta and Ezra Constantine

Too much, or not enough frosting? (Image: Stefania Yarhi)

Friday night’s Greta and Ezra Constantine shows filled up rather quickly with Barbie pink lips, lace dresses and an array of semi-famous (to fairly famous) fashion and media folk. Check out the scene below to see who made the biggest statements and who just looked so amazing she could be wearing a sack and we’d still think, “Hot damn!” (Spoiler: it’s Natalie Brown.)

The Hype

Awards Season

February 28, 2011 | 3:35 pm

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We try to find five top Canadian Oscar moments from Sunday’s Academy Awards snoozefest

Two of the few Canadians: Celine Dion and René Angélil on the red carpet at the 83rd Academy Awards on Sunday evening (Image: Steve Granitz/WireImage)

Well, there you have it. Awards season is over, but the hangover—or, in the case of The Social Network gang, the lingering feelings of resentment—has now set in. The biggest buzz out of Oscar night was the totality of James Franco lameness. As far as hosts go, he may go down as the worst of all time. We would have killed for a little Uma–Oprah humour, and that’s saying something. Did poor Anne Hathaway want to wipe that disinterested smirk off his face with her fist? We’re guessing yes.

For its part, Canada was hardly centre stage this year (we stand by the opinion that Barney’s Version was robbed), although the night of nights did include some northern moments worth mentioning. The five most memorable after the jump.

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The Dish

Opening

February 25, 2011 | 3:59 pm

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Introducing: Briscola, Cinq 01’s rustic Italian successor

Inside Briscola Trattoria (Image: Gizelle Lau)

Briscola, the new rustic Italian restaurant from Ink Entertainment’s Charles Khabouth and Amber’s Toufik Sarwa, opened last Friday to the packed crowds one would expect from a collaboration between the two nightlife vets. After taking over the space of Sarwa’s short-lived Cinq 01 restaurant, Briscola apparently saw visits from Ben Mulroney and Galen Weston Jr. on its first weekend.

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The Goods

New in Shops

December 16, 2010 | 10:47 am

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Ben Mulroney: fashion designer?

He’s not a full-on designer yet, but Ben Mulroney is going to develop a line of, wait for it, pocket squares! He’s partnering with Canadian tie-makers Braemore Neckwear to do it, but why? Well, according to the press release, Mulroney says “most men don’t take advantage of the best way to distinguish themselves: a breast pocket square.” And he seems to mean it—we looked through photos of the eTalk host over the years (see our slide show of Ben’s 10 Best Pocket Square Moments) and could only find two instances of him in a suit sans pocket square, and that was back in 2003 and 2006. But then, we also found a photo of him wearing this. In Toronto, the line will be carried at Holt Renfrew, Got Style and Ted’s Style Shoppe.

Begin the Ben Mulroney Pocket Square Slide Show >>

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The Hype

Telling Tales

November 29, 2010 | 12:34 pm

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Secrets of a society photographer: George Pimentel shares his favourite shots

Galen Weston Jr.’s Bieber haircut, a commando mission to shoot Conrad Black, and the never-ending battle for fashion supremacy—George Pimentel has seen, done and documented it all. Tonight, the celebrity photographer shares 300 of his favourite Toronto society snaps at a VIP-filled bash at the Carlu. In case you didn’t get an invite, here’s a sneak peek at some of Pimentel’s most memorable shots.

Begin the slide show >>

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 12, 2010 | 1:05 pm

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Guests ogle Anthony Hopkins at the George Christy luncheon

Anthony Hopkins was the talk of the luncheon (Image: George Pimentel/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images)

The luncheon and reception at the Four Seasons hosted by famed Hollywood columnist George Christy is always one of the hottest TIFF tickets. At Saturday’s reception, mega-stars mingled with the genteel set—including Galen and Hilary Weston, Kim Newport-Mimran and Joe Mimran (looking regal in plush blue and gold slippers) and Ben Mulroney—in the Avenue Bar before proceeding to a sumptuous lunch upstairs.

Anthony Hopkins, in town to promote his film, the Woody Allen-directed You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, had the ladies a-twitter (“He looks so good. How old is he?”) and brought the inevitable fava bean and chianti jokes as he offered one-word answers to our questions. Yes, he does like Toronto, and yes, it was good working with Allen. Roger Ebert chatted with Norman Jewison and took pictures of actor Dominic Cooper. As hotel staffers tried to wrap the party and usher guests out, they were stopped by one who insisted, “It’s George’s decision. Let it go on as long as he likes.”

= Find this story on our Celebrity Sightings Map, where we plot the locations of stars spotted throughout Toronto

The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 9, 2010 | 3:55 pm

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Canadian filmmakers, Lisa Ray and an OC mom party at the Spoke

Last night, the Spoke Club launched the film festival season with its annual Canadian Filmmakers party, hosted by actress Lisa Ray, who looked fresh-faced and fabulous, as usual, and Ben Mulroney, who looks more like dad Brian every year. The frigid temperature and grey sky spitting rain didn’t mar the festivities; guests huddled around propane heaters on the rooftop patio and warmed up by dancing to Motown jams downstairs. Industry insiders and Spoke members lapped up the free Skyy TIFF-themed cocktails, but actual celebs (other than the OC‘s Melinda Clarke) were few and far between.

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The Hype

The Velvet Rope

June 18, 2010 | 12:25 pm

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Thompson Hotel opening: pillow fights, pool parties and an hour wait for the rooftop

The roof pool at the Thompson Hotel (Image: George Pimentel)

By 10 p.m. last night, the wait for the elevator was an hour long, and the rooftop patio was at capacity. We shouldn’t have been surprised that the place was packed. Yes, yes, everyone was there. To drop some boldfaces, Kelly Rowan, Trevor Born, Jeanne Beker, the boys of Greta Constantine, Jeremy Laing (who designed the fabulous dresses the servers wore), Stacey Kimel, Ben Mulroney, Galen Weston Jr., teen blogging sensation Tavi Gevinson, Society gals Ashleigh Dempster and Amanda Blakley, Jian Ghomeshi, DJ Tony (from Ellen), et al.

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