A new Fashion Santa roars into Yorkdale mall
And the stylish original St. Nick has something to say about it
There comes a time in every person’s life when they must decide whether they believe in Santa. Now shoppers at Yorkdale Shopping Centre will have to decide whether they believe in Fashion Santa after a new man stepped into the hightop sneakers and distressed jeans of the wildly popular holiday character.
Paul Mason, in his early 50s, set social media ablaze in recent holiday seasons as Yorkdale shoppers, Justin Bieber included, clamoured to take selfies with him.
Yorkdale said it made numerous attempts to bring back Mason, who played the role of a stylish St. Nick the past two years, but that the model never responded.
“We reached out several times over the summer,” Yorkdale marketing director Lucia Connor said. “We wanted to work with Paul Mason again.”
The mall has now hired another model, Adam Martin, to take Mason’s place, and took the wraps off its new Fashion Santa campaign this week.
“Our customers have really come to expect to visit and take selfies with Fashion Santa at Yorkdale,” Connor said.
But Mason, who sports a Kris Kringle-esque beard even when not playing the part, continues to go by the name “Fashion Santa” on social media.
On Tuesday, he tweeted, “The Real-Fashion Santa is still here. I will be announcing something very soon.”
Mason’s personal assistant, Anjalie Baboota, told the Star that he would not be available for comment until Thursday morning.
The mall was vague about the new Santa’s background. A spokesperson described him as a Torontonian in his mid-thirties with12 years’ experience in the fashion industry, as a fashion buyer and as a model.
Martin was named one of Toronto’s “best dressed” of 2013 by Toronto Life magazine.
A LinkedIn account for an Adam Martin says he is a manager in Holt Renfrew’s “e-commerce merchandise” department, and previously worked at Harry Rosen as fashion director of the store’s magazine and as an assistant buyer.
In the wake of Martin’s introduction as the new Fashion Santa, Mason’s fans took to Twitter to express their (perhaps tongue-in-cheek) outrage.
“Yorkdale got rid of @PaulMasonModel as #fashionsanta once again proving that 2016 is absolute trash. WHY!” tweeted Meg Fenway.
“Yorkdale’s Fashion Santa to be replaced this holiday season,” posted Nel Wieman. “JUST NO! We want the real #FashionSanta!”
Though multiple Twitter users accused the mall of using Mason’s persona or image without his permission, Yorkdale said there is no trademark on Fashion Santa, and that the character was the creation of mall staff.
Laura deCarufel, editor-in-chief of The Kit, has her own opinion on new versus original Fashion Santa — “I’ll always prefer the original” — but noted that regardless of which Santa you prefer, Martin will have big shoes to fill.
Mason, the original, had “a natural cool and charisma” and just felt authentic, deCarufel said.
“You look at him and you understand why the idea of Fashion Santa makes sense whereas with our newer, younger friend . . . it’s a different approach,” she said. “It might’ve felt more interesting if they had done Fashion Mrs. Claus or something … to make it totally different, rather than bringing someone in who’s always going to be a pale imitation of the original.”
But in the end, it will be mall patrons who have the last laugh — or ho-ho-ho.
The new Fashion Santa will be available for selfies on Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and every Saturday after that from noon to 6 p.m., until Christmas Day.
The mall pledges to donate a dollar to Sick Kids hospital (up to a maximum of $10,000) for every selfie shared with the hashtag #FashionSanta2016. With files from Sammy Hudes