Yesterday, Refinery29.com posted a decade-by-decade retrospective of New York City’s top socialites. Classic bold faces Babe Paley, Nan Kempner and Tina Chow are contrasted with newbies like The City supporting star Olivia Palermo, highlighting the difference in values and style between generations of gala goers, club hoppers and red carpet regulars.
In Toronto, there’s a social shift happening too with cause-minded kids who previously felt shut out of $1000-a-plate dinners carving out a fundraising niche to attract fellow, fresh philanthropists.
Take the Textile Museum of Canada‘s Androgyny event last Thursday night where a ticket cost $45 and the party was geared more towards thinking than drinking your ass off. The museums’ new Style Advisory Council hosted a heated debate on gender bending style that covered everything from drag to the odd-when-you-think-about-it trend towards calling a blazer on a woman a “boyfriend jacket.”
The fashionista audience, including designers Evan Biddell, Trish Ewanika and Ashley Rowe, FDCC whip cracker Brooklyn Brownstone and some Fashion Magazine masthead lovelies (their term, not mine) like Jennifer Campbell and Jordan Porter, was extra engaged in the talk thanks to a round of pre-cocktails.
Friday night’s Luminato opening was a hot ticket and its Armani sponsored-angle brings out a fashion crowd even though the festival itself is short on design-related exhibits (Raphael Mazzucco’s photography show at the Burroughes Building is this year’s one exception).
A little culture vulture told me they’ll be beefing up the fashion program next year so young style faces spotted circulating through the National Ballet School’s fifth floor including Roots bag designer Ela Kowalewska, stylist Marcus Tripp and publicist Amy Burstyn-Fritz (who co-chaired the Textile Museum event with Elle Canada‘s Laura deCarufel) might run into a few more familiar faces at next year’s bash.
The staff at Worn Fashion Journal took a chance by incorporating an auction into their SOL[e]D! fundraiser at the Bata Shoe Museum on Saturday. Asking a younger audience to buy $28 tickets that include food, private museum access, dancing and a copy of the indie mag is one thing but getting them to pull out their wallets again at the party could have been a tougher sell.
They had nothing to worry about because Keds customized by 24 Canadian designers had an audience that included IWantIGot’s Anita Clarke, TheStyleBox’s Gail McInnes and the one bona fide young Toronto socialite on my radar, Ainsley Kerr, enthusiastically raising their paddles.
And bidding wasn’t stingy. A pair of Keds that blogger/illustrator Danielle Meder stitched live at the event went for $350 and the top price was $500 for Elif Saydam’s quilt-inspired runners.
Textile Museum photos by Colt Iggulden. Luminato photo by Mario Miotti. SOL[e]D photos by Marilis Cardinal.
