On the Market

The Hazelton Hotel

Lobby

Lobby

Lobby

WITH THE HAZELTON, principals George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg give Toronto its first five-star boutique hotel. The designers were responsible for the 77 plush guest suites and all public spaces, including the lobby, One restaurant, the spa, the theater, and the lobby for the Hazelton's 18 private residences—165,000 square feet of muted elegance in total. Quiet drama and luxury reign throughout: Walls are paneled in charcoal-gray cowhide or leather; flooring is veined green marble slabs; decorative bronze screens stand floor-to-ceiling; accents of mother-of-pearl and mirror sparkle. "We design interiors for the emotional response," Pushelberg says. "The Hazelton captures a romantic glamour," adds Yabu. It's playful, too: At the entry to One, the designers echo Dennis Lin's cedar cube sculpture with wall paneling of beveled squares covered in sumptuous earth-toned suede. [InteriorDesign.net - Dec.08]

Silver Screening room

MAYBE IT'S the private screening room, with mohair-lined walls, unsurpassed technology, and custom theater seating for 25 guests. Or maybe it’s the undeniably swanky guest rooms with leather furnishings, private balconies, and LCD TVs built into the bathroom mirrors. The bathroom alone, raves the New York Times, is a third the size of the bedroom. Did we mention the lap pool lined with imported Bissaza mosaic tile? Or the spa that can handle everything from massages to eyelash tinting? Centrally located in the middle of the Yorkville district, the 77-room Hazelton Hotel has rightfully been described as Toronto’s first real five-star hotel. We’re not alone in dishing praise on this gem. Fortune rated it one of the world’s best new business hotels of the year for its 24-hour business center on every floor, on-call tech engineer, and in-room safes that will charge your devices. [The Informed Traveler - Dec.08]

Spa pool

Spa sauna

A CORNERSTONE of the spa facility is the spectacular two-story swimming pool crafted of stone, with a private elevator to the lap pool with imported Bissaza mosaic tile, and the spacious professional fitness centre, which offers state-of-the-art equipment in comfortable surroundings. [SpaFlyer.com - Nov.08]

Suite 502

Suite 502

THE THREE-BEDROOM, four-bathroom Suite 502 features over 4,200 sq. ft. with its own private elevator, wine cellar, eight flat panel HDTVs, Crestron A/V, Lutron lighting controls, motorized blinds, butler's pantry, and steam shower. Enjoy a fully equipped kitchen with Wolf, Miele and Sub-Zero appliances. The dining room and great room feature a 7' long linear fireplace covered in imported slab marble, Baker furniture and fixtures. The 600 sq. ft. outdoor terrace features custom irrigated planters, built-in BBQ, and stainless steel outdoor kitchen. [SpaFlyer.com]

Suite 502

IF YOU really require to withdraw from society for a bit, why not spring for Suite 502 at The Hazleton, heralded as "the most refined and exclusive hotel suite in Canada." Plan to shell out $35,000 a month for the masterpiece's three bedrooms with two terraces, or go completely expat and buy the freaking place for a cool $7.9 million. [HotelChatter.com - Nov.08]

One Restaurant

One bar

Service Disaster at One Restaurant
Ugh, where to begin? I booked a table for two at One Restaurant in the Hazelton Hotel in Yorkville. It was a Friday, and it was during the film festival. Before the collective groans begin, yes, we knew that there may be some slippage in service during such a high profile event, but we were willing to overlook "some" service issues. Unfortunately, the service was not just average, it was terrible. [...]

TripAdvisor reviews
As far at the Hazelton Hotel is concerned, it is a nice hotel, but not really what it thinks it is, or is trying to be. While the location is nice, we were out most days, so could have stayed elsewhere. I would not say don't stay there, but I also wouldn't say that you must!

So, here's the deal: the Hazelton has good service and the location is great. However, half the rooms are REALLY dark facing another building. The dark colors of the rooms make it much worse. You cannot really tell that from their web site, so you kind of have to come stay once, figure out which room category is the right one to book, then come back. Not a great experience.

Had the opportunity to stay at the Hazelton with my Fiancee this past weekend. Coming from NYC, where there are many fine hotels, I can honestly say that the Hazelton far exceeds any other establishment we have stayed at in the world.
Top notch service, with attention to detail in the little things that really put it over the top.

I was brought to Toronto on business, but I now plan on returning for pleasure. And when I do, I plan on staying at The Hazelton. Their guest rooms are exceptionally stylish and you feel like a celebrity as soon as you walk in the lobby. The location in the Yorkville area gives an abundance of shopping, nightlife, and dining options. I stayed on a Wednesday and I was suprised to see how busy the bar, lounge, and restaurant were. Even so, the dining service was prompt and the food extraordinary good. I wish I could have stayed longer, but all the more reason to visit there again. I recommend this hotel to anyone who wants 5 Star Service in a trendy and exciting hotel.



THE HAZELTON PRIVATE RESIDENCE
118 Yorkville Ave.

$6,900,000

> 3,500 - 5,000 sq ft
> 3 + 1 bedrooms
> 5 bathrooms

Hotel & residence amenities:
> Indoor pool
> Fitness centre & spa
> 24 hour concierge
> Parking

[via]

Pics by CC

My pal "CC" took these with his Blackberry:

Shoes take flight__University of Toronto

Harley on Yonge St.

Bata Shoe Museum window

BSM window

BSM window

Four Seasons Residences showroom__Yorkville

Teatro Verde__Yorkville Ave.

Travelers sculpture__Queens Quay

Serpentine__Hazelton Ave.

Davids__Bloor St. W.

Black Widow sculpture__Distillery District

King Kong sculpture__ Distillery District
_______________________________________________

NEW POSTS
Beauty
Emmy Awards
Industrial Design

Daily Dose

Front St. & Jarvis St.__Sep.24

Elgin Theatre__TIFF screening__Sep.22

[daily dose of imagery]

Who's it For?

Fashion Week's Finest: Fall / Winter 2009
FLARE’s fashion team dishes on the 30 looks they loved from the fall collections

The last show of the season, this collection (LOUIS VUITTON) made me giddy and reminded me why I love fashion. The Parisian frills and flounces oozed sophistication but kept the mood light and fun. My favourite part? The bunny ears of course.
-Elizabeth Cabral, Fashion Director

One never knows what Nicolas Ghesqiuère (BALENCIAGA) will come up with each season – that’s why he’s a fashion darling. And yet, he managed to completely surprise us by turning his back on the futuristic designs he’s become known for and revert to the idea of classical French dressing with draping and soft femininity. Modern and classic at the same time – what every woman looks for in luxury dressing.

Always a showman, ALEXANDER McQUEEN did not disappoint this season. Girls in sex doll lips and couture worthy clothes evoking 1940’s Dior, walked around a heaping pile of trash used in previous McQueen shows – his way of addressing the state of commercial fashion and consumerism.

I favour the Fall collections mainly for the recurring trend of ultra-rich textures - this season, the best of which was seen at GIVENCHY. Feral but incredibly sensual yards of goat hair strapped tightly across the bust, and cascaded into a full skirt. It's untamed and womanly, commanding and alluring all at once.
–Fiona Green, Assistant Fashion Editor

PREEN’s effortless sexiness gives it a huge draw each season. Its signature cutouts and bandage dressing were fresh in unexpected technicolour. Standout look: a super lush chubby pale blue and white fur coat against bare legs, with a barely-there body-con mini-dress totally reminiscent of trippy retro futurism.

The strength of YVES SAINT LAURENT's collection was in its streamlined ferocity; stripped-down power dressing in strict leathers and revamped suit silhouettes. The leather one-piece ‘bunny’ suit was a knockout amongst more masculine tailoring, with its high nipped waist and fuller bust.

This was a collection (COMMES DES GARCONS) that I kept looking over again and again. The looks had multiple layers that drew me in, but also created a complex overall atmosphere. Trompe l'oeil detailing was the clever touch that kept the looks from being too heavy-handed. These were stunning runway looks that can dismantle into practical fatigue jackets and menswear brogues.

COMMENTS
[Yahoo.com]
Three words: PIECE OF CRAP! Fashion is what's popular, so if thats it, I'm going naked.

I so don't get "fashion." Gobs of money wasted on clothing that will never be worn off of the runway. Garish outfits on pencil thin women. Hideous hair and makeup that bring the word "freakshow" to mind. And ugly, ugly clothing.

Owww! Now those images are burned into my eyes! As someone who is repeatedly the best dressed person in the room, I would NOT give 99% of those outfits a second glance, let alone pay for them. When are designers going to learn that the average woman lives an entirely different lifestyle. Snap out of it! (Okay, I did get a good laugh from them.)

90% of this stuff is horrible! The models are not much better either! I want to hear from 3 men out there that would date these women, especially if they wore some of the stuff seen here! Also, the fur issue has been going on for so long that I don't even know why it is still being used! Lets skin alive some of the designers for a change!

That goat fur one is just bizzare. It makes me want to run to the bathroom and shave.

WOW!!! These designers have managed to make beautiful models look really bad!!! Overall this is the ugliest load of crap I've seen in a while.

Please go back to the classic look where a lady looks like a lady should. Many of these models look as if they have clothes just thrown over them. i.e. Brooke Shields, Christie Brinkley, J.O., Marilyn Monroe. We need women who look feminine, with curves, not so thin they appear as if a pretzel. Healthy looks should be on the runway-be a good roll model for the young girls today.

Right. Well, that was painful. Only maybe two outfits are worthy of a second look. I agree that designers are totally clueless as to the needs of real women. Do they think that everybody is a walking stick? I'm short and to find anything in petite size is a real challenge. Enough said.

Fur is gross and I have stopped wearing designers that use it...

It's also interesting how many of the models look less like grown women and more like little girls, as if they are catering to pedophiles and hebephiles.

Trust me I love women that are thin and physically fit, but these women aren't much more than bones and skin. From what I can see they don't even have the figure of a woman. I think these designers would do themselves and their designs a better service by finding women with figures who are physically fit.

Are they kidding us????

Again, fashion proves that it can make fools out of women. If I saw these outfits on the street, I'd have to break out in laughter! Why don't we see men wearing this kind of stuff? It's carnavalesque. Clowns! Enough, already!

SHAME ON YOU FLARE! I thought the fashion industry had reached some sort of an agreement that models would have to be a certain size to do the runway. WHY are these girls SKINNIER THAN EVER? As long as you CONTINUE to show off UNNATURALLY SKINNY WOMEN in your pages and online you are poisoning our young girls and women with BAD EXAMPLES of what it is to be female and what we apparently SHOULD look like to be "fashionable" LOOKS BAD ON YOU! You think REAL WOMEN who wear bicycle shorts look like THAT? You've got to be kidding me!

When will people understand the clothes in these fashion runway shows are an extreme exaggeration of what you will actually see in the stores and on the streets. Fashion is an art and an expression and the runway is the forum to show that art. If models wore basic street clothes on the runway nothing would stand out and fashion would never evolve. You should be looking at the cuts and colours, how the clothes are fitted, the accessories etc. and then expect to see similar but less dramatic items in the stores that would appeal to the consumer.

Look at the legs and knees of that first girl, and the colour of her face. She looks like she's about to keel over. Someone FEED that kid will ya??
One day I'd like to see a promotion of clothes for REAL PEOPLE and not the walking dead.

I think a lot of these desingers are closet woman haters and actually are laughing their asses off behind the scenes at how ridiculous some of their own designs are.

Hey Lulu - so you would break out into laughter at someone with the courage and strength of personality to wear these in public, eh? Someone who dares to dress DIFFERENTLY from you and all your friends and everyone else you know, all little retail fashion clones dressed alike but pretending to be different and unique, and mocking anyone who might truly BE different and unique.... proudly showing off your subjugation to peer pressure...

Well, I guess I'm "fashion forward" because I would wear at least a third of what's on show. Perhaps not all together and certainly not with the wild make-up or accent pieces. But I'm sure we all know that those are for runway purposes only in order to add drama to the show. Being a woman of real proportions, I'd look better in many of those clothes as well. PS - I may be wrong, but those look like faux fur anyhow.

One of these photos has been disturbing me all day (the first one of the girl with the bicycle shorts).. This girl looks like she should be getting treatement in a HOSPITAL, not being glamorized on a runway... It is SO shocking to me!! Reminicent of the anorexic girl from Brazil who died of a heart attack shortly after a fashion show.

Last Night

[lastnightsparty]


Nothing is what it seems...

Joke

Q: How many hipsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: It's an obscure number. You've probably never heard of it.
[jezebel.com]

Look at This Fucking Hipster

TIFF 09

Yonge-Dundas Square prepares for a screening.*

Tonight is the final night for the Toronto International Film Festival. In its 33rd year of existence, TIFF is a big deal to a lot of people - especially in my neighbourhood of Bloor-Yorkville - where numerous screenings, parties and wheeling-and-dealings take place. When I manage to bump into industry insiders, it's fun to get a glimpse into the wild world of Hollywood filmmaking, but we all know it's really about the stars. Everyone and their dog sitter wants to know what they're wearing, who they're with, and most importantly: What ARE they wearing??? So, who dropped by this year's air kissing marathon? Well, let's see...

Ben Barnes__Dorian Gray

"The whole Hollywood hunk thing just doesn't fit for me," says Barnes, "I'm just too skinny."

Carey Mulligan__An Education

Not your typical 24-year-old.

Anna Kendrick__Up in the Air

She looks fresh-off-the-farm wholesome.

Zhu Xuan__Prince of Tears

Leave the vampire lipstick for clubbing, hun.

Ben Whishaw__Bright Star

Bright Star Rising
"At age 23 he was hailed as one of the greatest Hamlets of all time."

Amanda Seyfried__An Education

The dress is meh, the shoes too punk for her "good girl" image and the hair colour and style overwhelm her pretty face.

Amanda Seyfried__Jennifer's Body

She'd look so much hotter as a brunette.

Adam Brody__Jennifer's Body

This guy has potential for great things; he's yet to prove it.

Colin Firth & Tom Ford (dir.)__A Single Man

I have it on good authority that Tom's new movie is worth checking out.

Viggo Mortensen__The Road

The hair. It's for a part, right?

Natalie Portman__Love and Other Impossible Pursuits

The dress is an improvement but the print is garish - and no - she doesn't get a free pass cause she's pretty.

Jennifer Connelly__Creation

Jen's looking sleek and stylish although the top's a bit severe.

Keanu Reeves__The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

Look what the cat dragged in.

Diablo Cody__writer__Jennifer's Body

I kinda like her punky new do. The fake rack is another story.

Great shot.*

Jennifer Garner__The Invention of Lying

Fug dress. Fire stylist now.

An attractive moment preserved forever.

Wow.*

Ed Norton__Leaves of Grass

"Hey, it's that guy from Fight Club!"

Oh Eddie, when did you get to be an old?

Ewan McGregor__Men Who Stare at Goats

The hair. It's for a part right?

Penelope Cruz*__Broken Embraces

She bores me.

Drew Barrymore__dir.__Whip it

Sometimes I can't decide whether Drew's trying too hard to be "whacky" or has lost her damn mind. This is one of those moments.

Ellen Page, Drew Barrymore & Kristen Wiig__Whip it

Ellen glows in spite of - or maybe because of - Drew's neon disaster.

Colin Farrell__Ondine

Looking like the cat that swallowed the canary.

Matt Damon__The Informant!

Damon used to be hot. What the hell happened???

Clive Owen__The Boys Are Back

I'd do him.

Official TIFF portrait

There's a definite twinkle in those baby blues.

Megan Fox__Jennifer's Body

Meg's had more work done: Check out her jawline.

She's thinking: Just take the damn shot, already.

Contrary to popular belief, there is an off switch.

This is called a photo op. Nothing you see here is real.

So let me get this straight: Megan Fox - who looks like a porn star - doesn't do porn whilst Sasha Grey - the "girl-next-door" type - does. Not only that, but A-list director Steven Soderbergh handpicked Grey to star in his commercial feature, The Girlfriend Experience. Even the caption to her pic in the linked Guardian article claims: Sasha Grey ... joining the ranks of Andie MacDowell, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Julia Roberts. All of this begs me to ask the question: Is this further evidence of the mainstreaming of porn? Will there come a time when there's butt sex in a James Bond movie and 2 Girls, 1 Cup will be turned into a 3D animated feature? Do I have to poke out my eyeballs now???

Megan Fox shows classic signs of DGS. Deal with it.

George Clooney__Men Who Stare at Goats

His smile looks expensive.

Is this his "O" face?

No one has this much fun without meds.

Apparently it got slammed in a car door. Oookay.

Still doable.

With Jeff Bridges*__Men Who Stare at Goats

George Clooney: Icon

Also in attendance:
Robert De Niro, Nicolas Cage, Chris Rock, Oprah, Mariah Carey, Jeremy Piven, Quentin Tarantino, Liam Neeson, Demi Moore, Kristen Scott Thomas, Michael Cera, Julianne Moore, Michael Douglas, Bono, Naomi Watts, Bill Murray, Lisa Kudrow, Robert Duvall, Mary J. Blige, Steven Soderbergh, Rob Lowe, Ricky Gervais, Tilda Swinton, Jason Bateman, Robin Wright Penn, Michael Moore, Willem Dafoe, Michael Caine, Hugh Hefner, Faye Dunaway, Marcia Gay Harden, Sissy Spacek and many others too "unimportant" to mention.

[Pics by: Yahoo News & *this guy.]