Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Lundstrom. Photocred: TheDavidPike.

For two weeks each year fashion writers in Canada actually have something to write about.

Toronto Fashion Week. It's not New York, Paris or Milan. But it is growing each season, largely thanks to big-name sponsors like LG, which replaces L'Oreal as the title sponsor this week. And with the new name comes a new tent, erected in City Hall's front lawn, and outfitted, for the first time, with two separate floors for Toronto's fashion savvy to mingle on.

Don't expect to see Amber Rose, Tinsley Mortimer or Julia Alison parading around the tents, but Toronto Fashion Week does have its own micro-celebrities. Well, that is if you consider TFW regulars Fefe Dobson, Dan Levy and the cast of Degrassi micro-celbrities (which I, of course, do).

And microcelebs are the source of what we all know any fashion week is really about: gossip. Despite the conservative style of the great white North, every Toronto Fashion Week has a few events worthy of an excited text-message tip-off to Shinan Govani. And most revolve around your girlfriend, Robin Kay.

After the drunken speech that had many calling for her head in the fall, the president of the Fashion Design Council of Canada may keep things low-key this week. But for Kay, low-key has never been much of an option. She was caught pushing coke in the late '70's and spent 18 months trying to make stripes work. Then there was the divorce, the bankruptcy and the rehab. And finally, a job running fashion week. But Kay's sparkly clothing, messy hair and inevitable intoxication have made her fashion week's most flamboyant folly.

Tuesday night, as I sat watching the unveiling of the recently resurrected and re-branded Lundstrom line, I couldn't take my eyes off Kay. She was oddly well-behaved, which I'm hoping is an act that will end as the week goes on. Thankfully, by the time I got home a Kay-related Tweet had been posted: Kay was spotted in the tents, wearing a Tiara.

What's left to be said? Long live the queen.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

yet another reason I HAVE to move to Toronto.