HOLLYWOOD SPIN CYCLE

Micheline Wedderburn, owner/founder of Quad Spin, had a surprise celebrity spinner at her King Street location last weekend. Gerard Butler, in town shooting the workplace drama The Headhunter’s Calling, dropped by not exactly anonymously -- he signed in as himself -- to take Wedderburn’s class.

Heads spun as well. He does have a famously hot bod: Check out the muscled-sweaty-men-in-armour-and-short-skirts hit film 300.

Micheline Wedderburn and Gerard Butler bond after class. Wedderburn swears she didn’t recognize him but was blown away by his passion for spinning. Butler not only loved the class – which he rated as tough if not tougher than Soul Cycle -- he liked her playlist, especially song number three, a piece by Ed Sheeran.

I spin because I eat and drink Italian to excess. My fave Italian resto in the city is La Bruschetta on St. Clair W., which is just as authentic as the restaurants in Italy. Their carpaccio is magnifico. Here Silvia Piantoni, chief cook and bottle washer and daughter of founder Benito, poses with our displaced Abu Dhabi pal Mo Gannon, after a memorable reunion dinner.

SHOPPING IN SLOW MO

Herewith: the further rollicking adventures of the Mighty Mo, Super Shopper. My pal Mo Gannon has her Chanel belt in shopping. She is based in Abu Dhabi which is not exactly slim pickings in high-end brand department but is sparse in vintage and one-of-a kind indie shops so Mo suggested we do an Ossington Street reconnaissance. We had a two-hour retail window and then intended to do a class at Quad Spin in the 'hood at King and Brant.

But first she wanted to do a drive-by at Gravity Pope to check out the shoes because her cute-as-hell pointy-toed Miu Miu black patent-leather kitten heel shoes were not made for walking. Oh, oh -- I knew we were in big trouble. Two hours for shoes and vintage? No way. The shoe department at Gravity Pope alone takes two hours to navigate.

I made the "Look of the Day" feature on the Zoomer site. Except it was so last year -- taken during the 2014 Fashion Week. I am wearing a man's cashmere coat with an Italian label I purchased at Goodwill in Oakville for $7. It cost me more to have it dry-cleaned. This is my frugalista version of the gold-standard cashmere camel coat from Max Mara, which rings in at a couple of grand.

This is a busking bagpiper at Queen and University. While we both appreciated the music, we liked the plaid kilt way better.

Upstairs at Gravity Pope I checked out the Marni rack. This linen maxi skirt is half price and looks much better in person. While in Rome recently, I’d intended to while away an afternoon blissfully drooling over the fall merch at the free-standing Marni store but it had moved. I spent five hours following false leads in 38 degree heat. No go. Just as well, I couldn’t afford the Euros anyway.

After Gravity Pope, we made a pit stop at Jonathan & Olivia, one of my fave shopping destinations, along with 290 Ion, Narwhal, Motion and COS and not necessarily in that order. Here is the winter version of the sandals I coveted last spring. They are pretty much for display only and are hideously expensive but if you are a size 7, go for it.

Here is the original summer model, which only came in a couple of small sizes as well so no sale. At Jonathan & Olivia, I bumped into actor/singer Rebecca Jenkins who is also a regular. “I bought these pants here,” she said, pointing to her graphic skinnies. Jenkins is in T.O. visiting. She moved to Vancouver a dozen years ago. Footnote: Jonathan & Olivia is the only local source of the über hot Paris-based Vetements line, which is king-sized but meant for women. I tried on a trench coat that was so oversized, it looked like the love child of Dick Tracy and David Bryne.

We actually did make it to one vintage store, I Miss You, where Mo had a brief flirtation with a gold-chainy Chanel belt but passed on it. She just wasn’t Coco about it.She is wearing a kick-butt pair of R13 jeans she bought at Jonathan & Olivia.

I heart this pair of Moschino heels at I Miss You but there are too vertiginous for me. My back hurt just looking at them. I made a later spin class; Mo didn't. But she did burn a lot of calories shopping.

ONE MO TIME

Our prodigal pal Mo Gannon, who just got a big fat promotion to assistant editor at The National, the English language daily newspaper in Abu Dhabi, returned for a visit to her old stomping grounds, T.O.

On Saturday, we took her for happy hour (buck-a-shuck oysters, $6 wine) at the Museum Tavern, which is in effect Bistro 990 Jr. since it was launched by Kyle and Glen Kristenbrun, offspring of Tom Kristenbrun, founder of Bistro, our regular haunt of yore. During one raucous TIFF night, Rufus Sewell quipped, “This should be called Bistro 666.” And we have the scar tissue to prove it.

It was the old happy gang: me, Rob Salem, Mo, ad man Tim Hughes and behind him, p.r. whiz Grant Ramsay, who arguably has the best head of hair in the city.

 

While we weren’t the lives of the party, we were inadvertently part of a wedding party – two wedding parties had pre- dinner drinks and photo ops at Museum making it two weddings and a bar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dropped by Clementine’s luxury resale shop at 1260 Yonge St. near the Summerhill boozeria just to check out the inventory and live vicariously through the castoffs of the rich ladies of Rosedale. This is a photographic rendition of some of the brands carried by the boutique.

Clementine’s owner Christina McDowell plucked these pants by Simone Rocha out of the back. Note the cool marabou trim on the leg.

 

These Simone Rocha shoes are part of my personal collection and would go perfectly with the aforementioned pants but they are way too matchy-matchy. I’d feel like I could take flight.

This yummy white cocktail dress by Marchesa with marabou trim on the hem was hanging in the dressing room. All I needed to buy it was the body to rock it, the bankroll to afford it and the occasion to wear it.