RESERVOIR CATS

Okay so I did slack off. But I am baaaaccck.

Nothing like a good party to get me out of my slacker-mode doldrums and test drive that new Denis Gagnon frock I bought in Montreal months ago. 

Reservoir Lounge was celebrating its 20^th anniversary last Tuesday night with an open bar and yummy munchies. Twenty years in the bar/swing club business is a remarkable achievement, especially considering the number of landmark Toronto venues closing down. 

The Rez has hosted everyone from Michael Bublé, once the club's regular Friday-night crooner, to a visiting Prince, back when he was living on the Bridle Path. Preceded by his lackeys, His Royal Purpleness came in, sat in a back booth and drank his merlot through a straw. He asked for fries, which were not on the menu, so a staffer was dispatched to nearby McDonald’s for an order.

Now that is customer service. The bands are hot, the martinis cold and dry and the ambiance unbeatable. What more do you want for a watering hole? Happy 20^th Rez.

 

Me with Reservoir Lounge owner Hae-Soon Chung. I know,  I know -- the photo is fuzzy. And that was BEFORE we started drinking.

Rob Salem and JazzFM broadcaster Jaymz Bee, amiable and smartly-attired co-hosts of the evening. Had Rob not gotten a haircut and his Grizzly-Adams-meets-Gabby-Hayes beard trimmed, they would have looked like the same person.

A couple of old regulars at the Rez, swinging on the dance floor. The bands are so infectious, even I danced. The bubbly helped.

Me and the legendary Iris Apfel at Jonathan + Olivia, one of my fave boutiques in the city. Apfel was in town last Thursday for an Atelier Swarovski trunk show and reception at J+O. The iconic 95-year-old, who has branded with a number of designers including Kate Spade, is collaborating with Swarovski on a jewelry line. She is my spirit animal. Not only do we share a penchant for oversized eyewear, she is wearing a camo jacket trimmed in fake fur. I’d cobbled together a reasonable facsimile and was planning to wear it but felt it might have been too fromage. Good thing. That would have been way too Bobbsey Twins.

 

This is my camo jacket, trimmed with marabou feathers. I was inspired by a Miu Miu jacket. My jacket was from a CAFCAD (Canadian Alliance of Film & Television Costume Arts & Design) costume sale and I bought the feather trim at a shop on Queen and Spadina for $20. My tailor sewed it on and the whole thing cost me about $50 as opposed to the thousands Mrs. Prada was charging.

An awesome camo jacket from the label Obey I spotted on the subway last night. He was cool with my shooting his photo but I noticed he took the jacket off immediately thereafter. He must have figured I was this weirdo riding the subway late at night snapping young dudes.

An Iris Apfel resin cuff studded with Swarovski crystals. It is amazing and mouth-watering but I couldn’t get it over my hand, which is just as well because I couldn’t afford the $2,000 tariff anyway.

Me and Rob doing the obligatory selfie at the Extraordinary Italian Taste party at Cibo in Yorkville Thursday evening. Hey – spectacular Italian food and drink for free. We are so there.

Mid-way through the buffet at Cibo, with a centerpiece of pasta, which looks not out of place in a hair salon. The cheese was so scrumptious --  I am such a fool for pecorino – that I am still carrying around the calories.

Rob toasting the evening with an ensemble colour-coded with the red wine.

Cibo owner Nick Di Donato, left, gracious and generous host of the evening, with the Consul General of Italy.

A mannequin in the window of Dolce & Gabbana on Bloor St. that looks just like Paul Shaffer. Love the D&G windows and their clothes don’t suck either.

EVERYTHING'S COMING UP ROSIE

I am suffering train lag. Last Sunday we hit the rails to Stratford to visit pals actor Graham Greene (a recent Order of Canada recipient) and his charismatic wife/muse Hilary. There was no theatre involved except for the theatrics of wining and dining and walking and shopping and more wining. The day after we returned, we high-tailed it to the Sky Yard patio lounge at the Drake Hotel for the “Peace” installation by journalist Rosie Levine, Now magazine’s iconic chronicler of T.O.’s nighttime scene for decades.  Her stamina was legendary. 

And tireless Tom Sandler has been busy photographing bold face from the feet up. Here are more examples of his foot-where.

Tom Sandler shot these Tin-Man shoes at a pal’s 85^th birthday party.

Which do I like more? These cool lace-ups or the pedicure?

Additional Sandler footage: Just when I thought I was so over the ubiquitous Valentino rockstud shoes, I am seduced by these in leopard.

And who can resist neon polka dot socks with brogues?

Studded suede, block heels and red toes? You got it all going on, hot mamma.

Marquee outside the Drake Hotel for Rosie Levine’s show of photos of famous folk from Gordon Lightfoot to Mick Jagger flashing the peace sign. Appropriately she staged it on the International Day of Peace.

Uncharacteristically Rosie Levine is not flashing the peace sign, probably because she is otherwise occupied gripping a glass of champers.

Partygoer Coco all decked out in her peace paraphernalia.

CP24 Breakfast TV host Steve Anthony, moi and party promoter Kid Rock (a.k.a Keith Corren) let our fingers do the talking.

All-knowing Oprah rules in the lobby of art dealer Sandra Ainsley’s Annex loft.

Is it just me or does the dude on the menu cover of Pan resto on the Danforth look like Jeff Bridges with Medusa curls and unruly facial hair?

Graham, Hilary Greene and Rob Salem prepare to dig into pre-dinner cocktails and snacks on the patio of the Greene’s stunning Stratford home. It is so sprawling, we could have squatted there and they wouldn’t have noticed.

Horse graffiti on a Stratford side street en route to picking up lunch at York Street Kitchen.  Screw the diet. Their sandwiches are beyond amazing.

Security at the Dollar Store. The pup looks menacing but he is Mr. Softie.

A herd of elephant pants congregated at a Global March for Elephants and Rhinos event to commemorate World Elephant Day.

And yes, they come in blue.

FILM FESTERING

It’s nearing the end of TIFF and I have been negligent. Last year we were in Sicily and avoided the whole festival, the first time in about a quarter of a century of covering it. And guess what? No one died. So this year I have been cherry-picking TIFF events and just attending things I have been invited to and/or attached to people I know. Or involving champagne and seafood.

The three large noggins occupied by Gene Valaitis, Geoffrey Dawe and Rob Salem at the pre-festival cocktailer held in the green room at Roy Thomson Hall and hosted by Dawe’s TIFF Festival Style magazine.

Massage therapist Claire Blondeau, moi and broadcaster Gloria Martin at RT Hall. Claire inevitably gets busier as the festival progresses.

Moi and Bill Marshall, co-founder of TIFF, at his All Star Luncheon at Barberian’s Steak House, serving arguably the best food at the fest. I mean, c’mon: monster shrimp, oyster bar and pass-around fare like oysters Rockefeller. Yumola!!!

Moi and dueling Robs: Rob Salem and Robert DeNiro, part of a celeb portrait installation by veteran photographer Tom Sandler.

The huge wine cellar at Barberian’s, which houses 20,000 bottles of red wine, with an additional 18,000 bottles of white secreted across the street. Imagine being locked there overnight with a cork screw. I have been told that should one find oneself corkscrew-less in such a scenario, one can use the heel of a shoe to uncork the wine. I have yet to try this at home, kids.

The irrepressible Jaymz Bee with comely companion at the luncheon. Told he is channeling Colonel Sanders with that goatee, Bee retorted that he was going for Burl Ives.

Henk Van der Kolk, another co-founder of TIFF when it was called Festival of Festivals, with wife Yanka, iconic photographer and stylist, with just a walk-on by effervescent actor/singer/DJ Melleny Melody at the luncheon.

Rob Salem with the ultimate accessory at TIFF – a moustache fashioned from swizzle sticks.

 

I bumped into this sign in the window of a shop on Queen Street West and it spoke to me, unrepentant shoe slut that I am.

My Marni fake fur shoes face off with Melleny Melody’s glow-in-the-dark high-tops at the All Star Luncheon.

A pair of Chanel see-throughs I encountered and coveted during a non-TIFF cocktailer at a penthouse apartment on Avenue Road. I was a plus-one.

A fabulous pair of men’s Louboutin slip-ons worn by a femme guest at the Birks Diamond Tribute party for this year’s Women in Film honorees at the Shangri-La Hotel.

A killer pair of $20 shoes purchased at Kind Exchange thrift store sported by another guest, who checked the label because she thought they were Betsey Johnson’s but they weren’t. Never mind. They were cool and only $10 a foot.

Actor/comic Naomi Snieckus (right) killed it in a sexy black concoction designed by the fashionable woman beside her and made from vintage fabric.

Another standout gown in a sea of babeliciousness at the Birks event.

I met this delightful staffer at The Bay while I was interviewing a leopard clutch by Brian Atwood. Note how her hair colour perfectly matches the tassel on the bag.

Loved the red Mohawk rocked by a fellow passenger on the Queen streetcar, a.k.a “a streetcar named perspire.” Though a streetcar is not nearly as sweat-drenching as the non-air conditioned subway cars on line two.

CONSTANTINE COMPANIONS

Neither rain nor snow nor slush kept us from the 10^th anniversary party for the Canadian fashion label Greta Constantine, which shows in both Toronto and Paris, that’s how cool they are.

It was held at the regal Casa Loma, as befitting the stylish event’s “Royal Affair” theme, for which we were commanded to “dress royally.” Alas, our tiara was at the cleaners so we went bare headed.

Greta Constantine’s dashing duo Kirk Pickersgill (left) and Stephen Wong mug for the cameras with their muse, supermodel Coco Rocha.

Me, Rob Salem and stylist Wendy Natale arrive fashionably late on the red carpet after quaffing bubbles at Wendy’s chic flat.

A rear view of my Deco inspired shawl purchased in California – once a hippie, always a hippie.

Two of the impossibly tall and gorgeous models at the event dressed to thrill in Greta Constantine.

Three more leggy models who made us poor civilians feel like garden gnomes.

Nicholas Mellamphy, creative director/vice president of The Room at Hudson’s Bay, gives us the shoulder in his killer jacket.

Here I am taking my best Warhol study-in-blue selfie.

Pickersgill and Wong transformed the Casa Loma party space into a reproduction of their downtown Toronto studio complete with bolts of fabric, patterns and mannequins.

An up close and personal view of the detailing of the back of one of their fabulous frocks.

Fashion royalty: Her majesty Marlene Schiff (in full crowning glory) and the Beckerman Sisters give good face at Casa Loma.