Clearly the Toronto Police Service has never heard of the Streisand Effect. Constable Brent Pilkey is going ahead with releasing Lethal Rage, a fictionalized account of his 15 years serving in Toronto’s 51 Division after the TPS’s human resources department dropped claims that the book is a conflict of interest and that Pilkey could be charged under the Police Services Act. The novel, the first of three in a series and scheduled to be released May 1 by ECW Press, centres around Jack Warren, a rookie cop transferred to 51 Division (the downtown zone that stretches from the lakeshore to Bloor and from Yonge to the DVP), where he has to face conflict within the ranks and high crime rates.
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Toronto cop coming out with his own version of Bold Face Names
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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Jeanne Beker and Evan Biddell walk in Bustle show, but Robin Kay steals the spotlight
Robin Kay gave a strange speech before the Bustle show (Image: Jenna Marie Wakani)
By Thursday’s final Bustle show, the closer of LG Fashion Week, most of the celebutantes had left the Exhibition grounds on their way to fashion parties, like the Women X Women exhibit at Thrush Holmes Empire and Tommy Ton’s, featuring model Agyness Deyn, at Studio Gallery. But before the show began, Robin Kay stood behind a velvet rope on the runway and gave an incoherent speech, in which she announced that she had become the publisher of Flare and Elle and the host of Fashion Television. Then she sat down. April Fool?
Kay’s a hard act to follow, but Bustle—best known for putting on local celeb–filled spectacles—made a go of it. Last season, Rick Mercer and Shinan Govani walked the runway; this year, Bustle enlisted such fashion notables as Jeanne Beker, designer Evan Biddell, model Stacey McKenzie and hairstylist Jie Matar to participate. Beker held court on a couch, tweeting on her BlackBerry, while the others stomped down the catwalk. Biddell walked out to a roar of applause and grabbed his crotch for the cameras, but when Matar came out in sunglasses, perhaps unrecognizable, the cheers had died down.
See the full show in our slide show >>
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The Pink Tartan show, where even hockey players Luke Schenn and Tie Domi came to party
(Image: Jenna Marie Wakani)
The Pink Tartan show was one of the hottest tickets at fashion week. The front row was packed with Toronto’s glitterati, like Weston family scion Galen Jr. with his wife, Alexandra, Stacey McKenzie, Dan Levy, club impresario Michael King, plastic surgeon Trevor Born, Shinan Govani, CBC-ers Zaib Shaikh of Little Mosque on the Prairie and Arlene Dickinson of Dragons’ Den and, perhaps strangest of all, Toronto Maple Leaf Luke Schenn and ex-Leaf Tie Domi. The show even pulled Jeanne Beker out of the woodwork; she had recently tweeted, “Wondering why I haven’t been tweeting from LGFW? It’s Passover, and sorry, but family rules over fashion!” Every available seat was filled and aisles were packed, creating what certainly must have been a fire code violation as the models started their walk. Kimberley Newport-Mimran put out a collection of tasteful knits, aviator caps (somehow, they worked), dresses and, of course, fur (used cleverly in full and flouncy skirts), which has been seen in many of the collections this season.
See all the looks from the Pink Tartan show in our slide show >>
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Toronto society turns out for the Joe Fresh show and celeb model Crystal Renn
Model Crystal Renn (Image: Jenna Marie Wakani)
Joe Fresh Style, as we all know, is the show to see and be seen at each season. And, since it conveniently follows the Pink Tartan show (conveniently designed by Mrs. Joe Fresh, Kimberley Newport-Mimran), most of fashionable Toronto society—Galen Jr. and Alexandra Weston, Lynda Reeves, Tommy Ton, Jian Ghomeshi, Tanya Kim, Trevor Born, Susur Lee and so on—turned up to have their photo taken by George Pimentel, their names bold-faced by Shinan Govani and to pledge allegiance to the Mimran fan club. A big-name model always opens Joe; this year, it was the very gorgeous, very trendy and very famous “plus-size” model Crystal Renn (quotation marks are necessary, since Renn was hardly any larger than the other models) and one of the faces of the ’90s grunge scene, Kirsten Owen. Oh, there were clothes, too (view them in our slide show below), but who goes to Joe for the clothes, anyway?
See all the looks from the Joe Fresh Style show >>
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Great Spaces: two Halifax expats bring some Maritime flair to Rosedale
(All images: Michael Graydon)
The Nova Scotia flag flying out front is the first sign that Jennifer Leitch and Anthony Novac’s Rosedale Edwardian is different from the rest of the houses on the street. The couple, who met as kids in Halifax and moved to Toronto together in 1997, have stayed true to their Maritime roots: they host several raucous parties a year (which explains the disco ball in the study), including a backyard lobster boil, complete with a fiddler, every summer. Read the rest of this entry »
Karl Lagerfeld opposes gay marriage, plus eight other things learned from his interview with Bruce LaBruce
Toronto filmmaker slash smarty-pants smut-monger Bruce LaBruce’s Q&A with designer Karl Lagerfeld in Vice has been circulating around the fashion media, even getting a mention in Shinan Govani’s column today. For the time crunched, nine highlights from the seven-page interview.
1. Lagerfeld opposes the idea of gay marriage: “I’m against it for a very simple reason: in the ’60s, they all said we had the right to the difference. And now, suddenly, they want a bourgeois life.” LaBruce agrees.
2. Lagerfeld doesn’t like to take off his glasses, which he calls “a burka for a man,” because he is nearsighted.
Miss J. finds Toronto’s next top runway model
Ciara Hunt's winning walk (Image: Karon Liu)
“Would our first model please come out?” cooed Miss J., the statuesque America’s Next Top Model runway coach, in the Bloor Street Holt Renfrew this weekend for a “celebrity walk-off” slash promotion for his new book, Follow the Model.
Breakfast Television’s Dina Pugliese was first up. “Girl, I think if the shoe fits, wear it,” critiques Miss J. “If the shoe is a little too small, sweetie, you have to make it work.” Pugliese took off her stilettos for her second attempt. “I’ll have to take off a point ’cause she took off her shoe,” he told the panel of judges: gossip king Shinan Govani, MTV sweetheart Jessi Cruickshank and Canada’s answer to Tim Gunn, model agent Elmer Olsen.
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Sarah Jessica Parker is coming to Toronto
SJP in Halston on the Sex and the City 2 poster
The Sex and the City star and newly minted president and chief creative officer of fashion label Halston is packing her bags for a trip to Toronto next month for a party at The Bay, so reports Shinan Govani. Sarah Jessica Parker will be acting as a Halston exec when she visits The Room, the new luxury section at the Yonge and Queen location.
Not surprisingly, Carrie Bradshaw’s alter ego is also front and centre in the classic American label’s new ads—timed to come out just in time for the release of the Sex and the City movie sequel—and she also sports some of the clothes in the movie itself. (A floaty white Halston dress, for instance, that’s featured prominently in the trailer.) Cross, meet promotion.
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Is Cinq 01 the new Amber?
Cinq 01: Take the boy out of Yorkville, but not Yorkville out of the boy (Photo by Karon Liu)
After finding success among the socialites with Yorkville’s Amber, nightclub king Toufik Sarwa opened Cinq 01 to create a more grown-up venture—a place where the emphasis is on the food rather than the guest list. But no such luck. Since the spot opened last fall, it has been increasingly packed with the well heeled, making this the first time since the ’90s that the glitterati are partying on College Street (and this time, they’re not slumming it).
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New York legend Scott Conant to open new restaurant in Toronto
Shinan Govani finally had some food gossip to dish up this past weekend. Rumour has it that renowned chef Scott Conant is coming to Toronto to set up a restaurant at the much-hyped Thompson Hotel on Wellington West—the hospitality chain’s first location on non-U.S. soil, due to open this spring. Conant is the man behind Manhattan’s celebrated Scarpetta and will be importing its high-end Italian ethos, trademark polenta and foodie cult appeal to his new Toronto digs. His local partner on the project, Tony Cohen, tells Govani that the hotel will also house a 24-hour diner, which should be “perfect for both night owls and Spoke Club members alike.”
Funny that, not long ago, this was the spot from which Thompson Hotel Group poached great Toronto chef Susur Lee. Perhaps the family-owned luxury hotel group is back to make amends.
• King West’s new kingpin? [National Post]
Canadian designer Mark Fast declines to give clothes to Lady Gaga, gives them to Topshop instead
Mark Fast at Ame in December (Photo by Karon Liu)
Just before the holidays, we predicted that Canadian designer Mark Fast would be thrust into the spotlight in 2010. Three short weeks later, we were proven right. Back then, we wondered whether the designer’s attention-grabbing show during London fashion week (it included plus-sized models) was a fluke, but since his quick trip to Toronto in December, he’s been making headlines all over the world. It seems the humble Manitoban has a knack for handling the press. Last week, he refused to lend his clothes to armoured style icon Lady Gaga (even though he loves “Bad Romance”), saying his designs are not about “fast food fashion.” That’s a head scratcher of a statement, since he launched a lower-priced diffusion line called Faster the same week and since there is talk about him designing a line for the speediest of fashion retailers, Topshop (also rumoured to be opening in Toronto in the near future).
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Life in the Fast lane: Canadian designer Mark Fast returns home after turning heads in London
Mark Fast at Ame, flanked by two models in his designs (Photo by Karon Liu)
With such magazines as Rolling Stone, ID, In Style, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar and nine editions of Vogue (Korean, Japanese, Chinese, American, British, Italian, Russian, Greek and Spanish) featuring his designs, it’s odd that Manitoba-born knitwear designer Mark Fast doesn’t get more mainstream attention in his home and native land. But that could change shortly.
The 29-year-old was fêted at the Rubino brothers’ new restaurant, Ame, in Toronto on Friday night—a splashy homecoming party following recent successes overseas. Fast, who has lived in England for the past eight years, caused a stir during London fashion week when he chose three plus-size models to wear his form-fitting knit dresses; his stylist quit, saying that the models “didn’t have the walk down as well as the more experienced slimmer girls.” His clothes have recently been spotted on pretty young things, including Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester, and he won a coveted sponsorship from the British Fashion Council to show at London fashion week in February. “All of my ideas came from here, and I don’t want to be hidden away in London forever,” Fast told us on Friday. “Someday I’d like to get a place in Vancouver.”
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Just opened: Hugo Boss debuts Yorkville flagship
A look from the Boss Black fall collection
The Mink Mile’s newest resident is Hugo Boss. The office wear outfitter recently opened a store on Bloor Street, where Bemelmans bar once stood, and fêted it last week with an A-list party catered by North 44° and attended by the likes of Atom Egoyan, Suzanne Boyd and Shinan Govani.
The hoopla is over the company’s first Canadian flagship, which has been designed in a new Hugo Boss look to be adopted by all future flagships across the world. The space is awash in greys, creams and black, which makes for an impressive, if a bit sterile, first impression. Halfway through the shop is a grand circular staircase underneath a modernist chandelier of rectangular hanging lights.
The merchandise will appeal most to high-rolling businessmen with an affinity for golf. Downstairs, there are a rainbow of polos ($95) and a flashy golf bag ($550) and umbrella ($185); upstairs is the suiting boutique, which carries younger, slim silhouettes, as well as more traditional cuts. We spotted a gorgeous slim-cut blue wool blazer, in the vein of Etro and Paul Smith, with a light blue polka-dot lining ($695). Aspiring Gordon Gekkos can pick up the Boss brand humidor, loaded with three Cohibas and sporting a leather exterior ($2,895); it’s one of only two available in Canada.
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Bustle puts on a hopping show with Rick Mercer, Shinan Govani and Stacy McKenzie
Rick Mercer on the catwalk for the Bustle show (Photo by Jenna Marie Wakani)
Who says Canadians don’t appreciate their own celebs? With cameos from Rick Mercer, gossip columnist Shinan Govani and model Stacey McKenzie, last night’s Bustle show was the highlight of the evening.
Set up on the Bustle runway was a large wicker lounge chair, a drink cart, bar and barbecues. Govani tended bar, with Mercer behind the barbecue. What fun, we thought, and then remembered that we were there to look at the clothes.
Though it was an Ontario lake scene projected onto the back wall, the Hamptons was the clear reference. We watched the male models strutting in preppy shorts and blazers but were distracted by a bikini-clad McKenzie wheeling the drink cart down the runway and handing caesars to front-row spectators. At one point, she licked a celery stalk and popped it into the mouth of an unsuspecting man. Funny, yes, but what about the clothes? There were polos and shorts, cardigans and plaid shirts, all in saturated hues of raspberry, purple, red and teal with pops of white. The blazers were oh-so Chuck Bass (in a good way), and the hoodies were very American Apparel (in a boring way).
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