Briony Smith » The Backseat Stylers | Toronto Fashion & Style Blog

Rodarte’s Kate and Laura Mulleavy Preview Fall 2012 with a Fête at The Room at The Bay Toronto

by The Backseat Stylers | May 24th, 2012

Me with Rodarte’s Laura and Kate Mulleavy

The Bay still knows how to throw a party. After several quiet months, Toronto’s social and fashion set returned to The Room at The Bay last night for a shindig in honour of Rodarte designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy. With their Fall 2012 collection in tow, the sisters charmed the likes of socialites Suzanne Rogers and Stacey Kimel, editors Bernadette Morra and Mosha Lundström Halbert, as well as bloggers Anita Clarke and Kimberly Lyn.

Yours truly spent the evening photographing the city’s most sartorially endowed, sipping champagne with my fellow media types, and chatting about Kirsten Dunst’s unexpected Met Ball dress (Rodarte, of course) with the designers themselves. Clad in a Manish Arora dress (fit for a hippie wedding) and navy velvet Loeffler Randall shoes (something blue?), I sought to rectify the Rodarte-less situation happening in my closet. When I asked the design duo about any upcoming collaborations, though, the answer was a disappointing no: “Right now, we really need to focus on our next collection,” Kate said. I’ll take that as a ‘maybe’.

In the meantime, The Room at The Bay is the source for all things Rodarte. And with The Room’s spring sale just around the corner (a little birdie told me so) and my pocketbook at the ready, I may just get my hands on my very first piece of Rodarte yet.

Flare’s Ryan M. Cheung, Glam Canada’s Aya McMillan and Flare’s Fiona Green

Kate Mulleavy, The Room Creative Director Nicholas Mellamphy and The Bay Fashion Director Suzanne Timmins

I Want – I Got’s Anita Clarke and Front Row Mag’s Michelle Bilodeau and Rachelle Saevil

Me with The Souls of My Shoes’ Kimberly Lyn

Continue reading →

Events

Spotted from the Backseat: Power Ball 13 – Thirteenth Floor

by The Backseat Stylers | June 21st, 2011

Jenna Naumovich (in a Herve Leger dress and the Giuseppe Zanotti flower sandals of my dreams) and Natasha Penzo

Power Ball 13: Thirteenth Floor has to be the most hyped up charity event I’ve attended since I started covering such things. In the months leading up to it, all I was hearing was “Power Ball this” and “Power Ball that“; why was Toronto so excited over a fundraiser for The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery? I found out for myself last Thursday, June 16th – a whirlwind evening of primping courtesy of Conair and Rock-It Promotions, snapping photos of my fellow Power Ball-ers’ fabulous outfits, and plenty of food, drink and chatter in between.

From the moment I stepped foot in The Power Plant that night to the moment I left Toronto’s Harbourfront, my first Power Ball experience was a case study in sensory overload, in the very best way, of course. With art installations that made you go hmmm at every turn, culinary delights by Marc Thuet like a giant roasting cow, and an incredible line-up of DJs, I’d say Power Ball 13 lived up to the hype, and then some.

Party-goers elevated their sartorial games, too, for the occasion. From Anita Clarke‘s Mark Fast bodysuit to Elly Barlin-Daniels‘ Givenchy mini to Briony Smith‘s Evan Biddell studded dress, this was not your usual charity fundraiser fare. My motto for the evening was “go bright or go home”, and so I did, in a yellow Lanvin for H&M dress and fruit-themed Charlotte Olympia pumps that made FASHION Magazine‘s Power Ball coverage.

Power Ball 13 was such an unexpectedly good time that I’m already counting down the days until Power Ball 14. That’s a long way from now, unfortunately, so in the meantime I’ll be joining in on the “Power Ball this“-ing and “Power Ball that“-ing…

Publicist April Wozny and blogger Anita Clarke (in Mark Fast)