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Toronto's fashionable Power Ball
Toronto's fashion, art and social elite hit one of the hottest parties of the summer -- the fabulous Power Ball.
By Nancy Won
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With the long-awaited return of television's favourite fashionistas on every cosmo-sipping city gal's lips, the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery lit up Toronto's Harbourfront with a glittery fete worthy of Sex and the City… in our city. Celebrating 10 years of schmoozing for art's sake, this year's decadence-themed Power Ball would have done our fantastic four proud thanks to plenty of inspired art installations (Charlotte would have approved of Dean Baldwin's infamous Minibar), power networking (was that Miranda we spotted exchanging business cards in the north lobby?), daring wardrobe choices (there's no denying Miss. Bradshaw's chic yet quirky influence) and more than a little debauchery (we'd be willing to bet that was Samantha we glimpsed in the burlesque room).
But, let's not get carried away (no pun intended). New York may be famous for its extravagant parties of unadulterated excess, but Toronto is, well…not. In fact, for Toronto's well-heeled (and let's be honest, well-behaved) social elite, the Power Ball is one of just a handful of opportunities to break out those brightly-hued Manolos and, for one night, live as scandalously as lawyers, curators, journalists and PR professionals apparently do in New York.
So, as Bay Street let lose in support of contemporary art, we watched as moneyed financial-types unabashedly shook their booties to 90s pop anthems on the illuminated dance floor well into the champagne-soaked night-and on a Thursday, no less! In another room party-goers munched on Queen of Tarts cupcakes as burlesque dancer Honey B Hind expertly stripped down to her thong and titty tassels just seconds before a heavy velvet curtain closed around her. Elsewhere, performance artists in panda suits chatted, lounged and fornicated on oversized red cushions in a kind of bizarre teddy bear's picnic, which ended abruptly when one drunk and disorderly panda was tossed out by security (not, we dare say, part of the plan).
Mixed in with the bankers and lawyers was a eclectic mish-mash of fashion insiders (Viia Beaumanis, Philip Sparks, Jeremy Laing), social butterflies-cum-gossip-queens (Jen McNeely, Shinan Govani), art dealers galore (Katherine Mulherin, Clint Roenisch, Wil Kucey) and (lest we forget!) artists, including Michael Snow, Paulette Philips, Bruno Billio and queer artist Keith Cole who, along with Andrew Harwood, delighted all by prancing about in outrageously trashy drag the likes of which Toronto has never seen and likely won't see again. That is, until next year…
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