TRAVELLING COACH

The fashion brand Coach, noted primarily as a starter line for bags for young women before they even begin to aspire to Prada and Gucci, has re-branded with funky oversized collegiate bombers, sweaters and Mr. Rogers cardies with goofy dragon insignias.  There was a party on November 9 to celebrate the launch with a guest appearance by actor/model Dree Hemingway, whom I missed because I was on nursing home duty. 

How white am I, bookended by Traci Melchor and her sister Grace, who was on the hunt for a purse?

Bustle Clothing creative director/designer Shawn Hewson is the coolest dude in the room in his “naked ladies” brogues by Jimmy Choo and purchased in London. That’s London, Eng., not London, Ont.

Samantha Beckerman, half of the hot blonde blogger twin set, rocks a Coach Varsity jacket she’s accessorized with even more pins.

A funky faux-fur chubby jacket by Coach reminiscent of the vintage sheared-beaver I scored at Value Village one hot summer day for $40.  Gotta love V.V. Last week I bagged a chocolate brown suede coat in mint condition made in Europe for $20. Not that I was exactly coat-less – it’s like they breed in my closet -- but how could I resist?

These fine-feathered beauties are part of a collection made by jewelry designer Rita Tesolin. Seriously, how amazing are they? You would upstage everyone in the room wearing one of these. Tesolin is having a sample sale Friday November 18 through Sunday November 20 at her studio at 63 Wingold Ave., Suite 110. Well worth the schlep.

BALMAINIA

On Wednesday night, I managed to squeeze into the media preview of the highly-anticipated Balmain x H&M collection at the Bloor Street location, which would be available to the hoi polloi next day.

This marks the 11th collection in a line of prestigious designer collaborations with H&M, the first being in 2004 with Karl Lagerfeld. I’d missed them all except for finding some rejects from the Martin Margiela offerings at H&M’s Fifth Avenue location in New York so I was super pumped.

Balmain is a luxury label way beyond the clothing allowances of the millennial generation so the aim is that this collaboration will introduce the brand to them and make it more attainable. In fact, Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing used to wait in line himself for hours to score H&M’s designer capsules as a teen so he can relate to this. 

The RSVP stressed that it was invitation only, we would be issued wristbands on a “first come first serve basis”, non-transferable, bring ID and we would be allowed to shop for a designated time period only. Do not pass “Go,” do not collect $200.

I arrived late -- but didn’t get the dregs as I expected though it was a feeding frenzy. It was a cacophony of stylists, a sprinkling of bold face and bloggers like the gold-dust twins, Cailli and Sam Beckerman. We were granted five minutes of shopping and then there was a fierce lineup at the dressing rooms so the more enterprising among us including fun gal Traci Melchor just tried on stuff in the aisles in front of mirrors. We even swapped items among us for different sizing. It was a flashback to the “do-you-want-this-it-doesn’t-work-for-me” retail camaraderie reminiscent of the old days of communal dressing rooms at Loehmann’s designer discount stores.

The highly-coveted wristband issued at the front door of H&M for entry. I could have scalped it if not for the guest list and the door whores.

After going through security and being made to queue up at the bottom of the escalator, I was warmly welcomed at the top with a vodka cocktail by affable actor/waiter Junior Williams. There were also pass-around nibbles but I don’t eat and shop. Don’t need the extra calories when you are trying to stuff yourself into suede pants.

An overview of the security at the lineup to get into the designated shopping area, which was a tighter fit than the clothing.

Here I am in total shopping mode, trying to balance a cocktail and half a dozen hangers. Not a drop of beverage was spilled though there was some shop sweat. It was mighty toasty in the crowded aisle/makeshift dressing room.

The boots, caged shoes and jewelry was pretty much sold out but I managed to snag the last cuff.

I also scored this top, which is very Kardashian. The Kardashians are poster girls for the Balmain brand, which runs “sexy, satin and skin-tight.”  Creative director Olivier Rousteing  apprenticed with Roberto Cavalli and the flamboyance aesthetic rubbed off.

An H&M staffer briefs the poor plebs lined up outside overnight to be first in line next morning to shop the collection. Apparently they’d been lined up for two days at the Eaton Centre location.

An oversized piece of graffiti depicting the eternally disapproving Lucy of Peanuts fame off King St. Note the mattress at her feet. She could lend it to the hapless Balmain fans lined up outside H&M.

CIBO CIAO CHOW

Wednesday night Cibo Wine Bar opened its third Toronto location at 133 Yorkville Ave. with a tasting-menu dinner where the Italian food was washed down with yummy Ripasso. The sautéed mushrooms were especially rhapsodic. OMG! The food just kept coming and we just kept eating. I have a food hangover.

Our genial server was a ringer for a mini Greta Gerwig. And how much did we love the red Chuckies on the wait staff? Rob wore his black ones, just to be more formal.

Major kudos to Nadia Di Donato, creative director of Liberty Entertainment Group, who designed this resto and all of Liberty’s venues since Rosewater Supper Club. The décor is fabulous -- from the industrial light boxes on the banquettes to the cool curtain of wine bottles. Imagine the hours of fun with a curtain of wine bottles!!!

It’s a Traci Melchor sandwich at Cibo. Or should I say a Traci panini? Cibo is Italian after all.  I suck face with Traci while legendary event planner “Party” Barbara Hershenhorn manages to restrain herself.

Here I am toasting Cibo owner Nick Di Donato, president and CEO of Liberty Entertainment Group. Why is this man smiling? Because he gets to go south in winter. He is opening a third Florida Cibo location next month.

Mr. Cibo, Nick Di Donato, catches up with fashionista Suzanne Boyd, editor of Zoomer mag, for whom black is always the new black. 

Patrick Di Donato, executive vice president of Liberty Entertainment Group, talks Blue Jays with elated fans (fresh from the winning game) Tanya and Steve Anthony.

With apologies to Dean Martin, here’s pizza pie in your eye. A Cibo chef flips pizza dough in the kitchen. Ever tried to shoot a pie in the sky? Not easy (as pie.) Sorry, I’ll stop now.

Here I am trying not to look dowdy beside celebrity stylist Cristina Ehrlich whose red-carpet clientele includes Penelope Cruz and Greta Gerwig (see intro above). Ehrlich was in town to deliver styling tips for fall/winter dressing keyed to items available at Marshalls. Her five top trends: pussy- bowed blouses, over-the-knee boots, oversized boyfriend coats, culottes and fringe. Sorry, but I just can’t do the pussy-bowed thing (my cats won't let me).

These are two cool dudes we encountered on the subway en route home from Cibo. They could have been Straight Out of Compton. TTC can be very interesting at night. Getting off the Main Street bus, a passenger who looked somewhat hippie-dippyish, asked the driver to give him extra time to exit because his backpack weighed 200 pounds. I just had to ask him why it weighed 200 pounds. He responded, “Because it is full of lead.” Before I could ask him why he was carrying 200 pounds of lead, he heaved the backpack on his shoulders and scurried away as fast as one can with 200 pounds of lead can scurry.