This beauty was a birthday gift. You really should have seen my jaw hit the ground when I saw the orange bag.
The packaging is divine.
I love the horse and carriage detail.
Thank you for such an exquisite gift. I’m trying to figure out how to wear it.
This is the first collection by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen since the designer died. I saw the photos initially and wasn’t sold. However after viewing the Alexander McQueens menswear Spring Summer 2011 fashion show my attitude turned around. I like the collection, very subdued. I’m very curious to see what these means for the womenswear collection.
M·A·C Cosmetics and alice + olivia have teamed up. I’m in love with the colours and have to get the nail polishes for sure.
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary-wise, what it is, it wouldn’t be. What it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?â€â€” alice + olivia = Stacey Bendet, New York native, downtown-fashionista, all-around fun girl, and the sum total of design line alice + olivia, M•A•C’s latest collaborator. A frump-fighting, pro-pixie, anti-seriousness collection of colour that includes new takes on Dazzleglass Crème. So Rich So Pretty Nail Lacquer and Partylicious Pigments…hip + happy = alice + olivia for M•A•C.
The collection will be available starting July 8, 2010 until August 2010 at MAC stores.
The setting for the Jil Sander Spring Summer 2011 fashion show is beautiful. You have to watch the video.
I had to check out the super cute installation by FriendsWithYou at Queen’s Park for Luminato. It was like an acid trip came to life; floating mushroom and pill shaped objects with happy faces.
Magic, luck, and friendship are the qualities that FriendsWithYou, a visual arts collective based in Miami Beach, seek to spread throughout the world. Now, in an unprecedented spectacle created just for Luminato, they invite Toronto to come out and play.
FriendsWithYou turns Toronto into Rainbow City, a delightful explosion of colour and jubilant energy. Led by the Rainbow King, Luminato 2010’s Festival mascot, a host of celestial characters transform Queen’s Park with larger-than-life dimensions of giant totems, bounce houses, and inflatable friends. Meanwhile, emissaries from this magical world fan out across Toronto to spread their universal message.
The trusty Olympus E-PL1 was there to record some video
I wish random installation like this were more common in the city.
Photo Credit: JJ THOMPSON FOR THE GLOBE AND MAIL
I roped Jaime Woo into coming to the Oliver & Bonacini Cafe Grill opening party last week. It was totally last minute but it ended up with a photo of us (above) in a post the Globe and Mail.   The restaurant is a huge 14,500 square feet and will have a wraparound patio facing Yonge and Front. The patio won’t be open until the all the G20 fun is over. It also has a bar and lounge which I think will be very popular with the Financial District set, especially will the huge patio.
I haven’t returned for dinner yet but the chefs are Markus Bestig, Luke Kennedy and Anthony Walsh. They served up tasty appetizers for the attendees to try.
You can see more party shots at the Oliver & Bonacini Cafe Grill opening on The Globe and Mail.
Todd Selby (aka The Selby) came to Toronto to promote his new book, The Selby is in your House.  Holt Renfrew hosted a public book signing session in the Bloor street store. A party in his honour at was held at Parts & Labour the night before. It was at this party I would learn about Todd’s site and why I was always hearing his name in fashion circles. Yep, I was that ignorant about the man. I don’t follow interiors that much and since he loves to photograph homes I can see why I never really bothered to check him out. I knew he was important, the why was never that important to me. For those of you not familiar with The Selby, he takes photos of people’s homes. These people are usually creative types and many big players in the fashion industry.
My first exposure to The Selby was on the walls of P&L. Holt Renfrew had printed all the pages of his book on these panels that lined the walls. There were also two white walls that the guests wrote message to Todd on in sharpies. I learned that he liked the visuals so much that he got them delivered to his home.
I even talked to Todd at this party. I wasn’t able to fawn over him and his work since I was ignorant to the subject so I made small talk. He was wearing this cat t-shirt, a crazy cat lady kind. I ask if he liked cats. He replies that he doesn’t like cats but loves their imagery. I found that answer interesting as people who dislike cats have never claimed any interest in their imagery. He was a pleasant guy who talked to many of the guests over the course of the party. I didn’t get a picture of us but you can see his photo in a post called Todd Selby book launch at The Globe and Mail.
A couple of days later I received a signed copy of The Selby is in your House from Holt Renfrew. It was a nice surprise because I after seeing the book on the walls I wanted to buy it. Todd’s combination of photos, stories and drawings were very compelling.
The book features some of Todd’s favourite shoots. He traveled all over the world to photograph these people and their homes. It’s a very personal book and voyeuristic. There are a few cats represented in the book too.
Mark Fast returned to Canada to be part of the Luminato festival of Arts and Creativity. He has the honour of presenting in the one of the best installation venues in the city, the Brookfield Place Allen Lambert Galleria. It was two years ago that myself and some friends were part of the Toronto’s Mille Femmes installation during Luminato.
Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity will present a free landmark installation in partnership with Lancôme by London-based Canadian knitwear designer Mark Fast. Commissioned by Lancôme in celebration of their 75th anniversary, The Ascension of Beauty will be presented in Toronto’s Brookfield Place Allen Lambert Galleria throughout the 10-day festival from June 11th to June 20th.
Fast welcomes the challenges of such a largescale project, which will see him outfit architecture in rope sculpture and fashion a dress of lycra, viscose and SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS. Said Fast, “The knitwear I have created is symbolic of the elegant structure of the rose and I have derived my inspiration from its delicate confidence. Its layers extend off the body emulating the delicate petals held together by the stem. The exhibition will encompass a rope structure that represents the emotion the Lancôme woman evokes. In my mind and my design, she encompasses the whole space and she is an inspiration to all people who behold her.”
The installation was beautiful. It did a great job of using the length of the atrium.
Mark Fast is available at The Room (The Bay Queen Street).
I was lucky enough to see the rooftop of the Thompson Toronto, the newest edition to the Thompson Hotel family around the world. The rooftop boasts 360 degree views and an infinity pool. It really is stunning.
Thompson Hotel Rooftop from Anita Clarke on Vimeo.
Yellow, yellow everywhere. I love this Resort 2011 collection by Roksanda Ilincic. I’m impressed with her execution of the bright, almost neon yellow. The top middle look is perfection to me.
