Art and fashion meet in the middle | Canada Voices

AGO Art Bash, Sept. 26, Toronto

The Art Gallery of Ontario’s Art Bash held on the evening of Sept. 26 was a record setting night twice over: $1.2-million raised and 1,000 in attendance, the respective mosts in the event’s history. This year’s edition, co-chaired by Beth Horowitz and Sunir Chandaria and with Tricon residential back as presenting sponsor, continued its fundraising efforts to support the AGO’s collections (there are around 120,000 works), exhibitions (the event was inspired by the Moments in Modernism exhibition which is on through September, 2025) and access programs (some 1 million visit the AGO annually). For the 500-or-so with a ticket to the VIP dinner, the evening began with drinks in Walker Court and dinner a bit later up in Baillie Court, where swags of jewel-toned chiffon wove through the room, festooning the ceiling and dividing the dining space into blocks of colour – a nod to the Rita Letendres, Jack Bushes and a Mark Rothko on view upstairs. Among those taking to the podium for mid-dinner remarks were Andrew Federer, a president on the AGO board of trustees and Vice Chairman at RBC Capital Markets (one of the event’s key sponsors), and Stephan Jost, the AGO’s Michael and Sonja Koerner (Director, and CEO) who spoke enthusiastically about the gallery’s future, and the momentum building within the institution. Namely, Jost called the currently-in-progress Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery “this generation’s gift to our community.” As dinner wound down, hundreds of party ticket holders arrived at Walker Court to take in the AGO collection after hours and the bevy of musical performers including DJ Grump, Kiesza, Ralph, Tynomi Banks and one-night-only installations, led by artists including Dan Jamieson, Scott Everingham, Sean Weisgerber and Mony Zakhour. Among them out: President of the AGO Board of Trustees Rupert Duchesne; Tricon’s Gary Berman and his wife Sonja; past gala co-chair Daniel Abichandani and committee members including Janice Fricker, Amanda Gotlieb, Mona Halem and Divya Shahani.

Louis Vuitton Women’s Fall-Winter 2024 Trunk Show, Sept. 18, Toronto

Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall was the backdrop for a midday runway trunk show hosted by French luxury house Louis Vuitton. The women’s fall-winter collection for 2024, shown originally in Paris at the Cour Carrée at the Louvre, had its Canadian debut on the afternoon of Sept. 18. The collection marks the 10th anniversary of design superstar Nicolas Ghesquière’s tenure as artistic director of Louis Vuitton women’s collections. This was Vuitton’s first fashion show in Canada, however the company’s presence here goes back some four decades, and with a new location in Montreal at Royalmount, the recent opening of a reimagined store at the Fairmont Hotel in Vancouver, and later this month the release the first City Guide Toronto – it’s a presence that’s only strengthening.