When Posh Spice met ‘Schitt’s Creek’
Food and fashion. Fashion and food. One or the other will surely lure the party people in this town. And that was certainly the situation last week when two of the biggest events of the season ran saddle to saddle: the long, long- awaited opening of Eataly, where you can pesto in a way you have never before pesto’ed, and, well, a luncheon held in honour of the artist formerly known as Posh.
First, the Victoria Beckham scoop: set in a massive, stupendously pleated tent hoisted on what is typically the tennis court of the original Rogers family roost in the residential wilds of Forest Hill, the popstar-turned-designer was given a warm fashion welcome to the charitable do known as “Suzanne Rogers Presents.” Round tables. Pink fleurs. White-on-white-on-white (like lunching in a giant Q-tip). Cod. Wine. Pencil skirts. Pretty young things scissoring their way through the space in a catwalk show. Some guests who had clearly been in hairand-makeup since 9 a.m. There was a Conrad Black sighting, too. You get the pic? Beckham, already in good spirits, seemed to be buoyed even more by the placement of a “Schitt’s Creek” star — Emily Hampshire — at her table, as she had expressly asked for a “Schitt’s Creek” close-up when in Canada. Turns out she’s a superfan — a satisfying deet to absorb considered how few starlets have been as ruthlessly dissected as Vic, her every scowl a subject of deep tabloid analysis.
Having long silenced the cynics in the fashion world — she is one of the very few celebrities whose line has stood the test of time, and is also taken seriously by the gatekeepers of style — she had clearly come to town to do a little business while also doing good. (The event, co-hosted by Sylvia Mantella, benefited both Camp Ooch and The Penelope Neuroblastoma Foundation.)
Turns out the ex-Spice Girl gives pretty good chat, especially in a post-lunch convo helmed by veteran fashion journo Tim Blanks, when she segued to tell us: “It always works in my favour that people think I’m miserable, or an ice queen, or stony-faced … because people are always pleasantly surprised when they meet me.” Noted.
Some family scoopage, too, when she revealed that her youngest, 8-year-old Harper (named after Harper Lee, did you know!) is obsessed — obsessed — with teen activist Greta Thunberg. Carbon Footprint Spice! At one juncture, she described the pleasures of what she calls her “sucky-sucky dress” (alas, not a technical term, but one stemming from her love of looks more sculptural). At yet another, when prodded, she also gave confirmation that one recent collection was inspired by the 2002 film “Secretary” (remember that one with James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal? An S&M love story that would make “Fifty Shades” blush!!)
Continued: Beckham reiterating that her ultimate passion has always been fashion (an Act Two that naturally grew out of always being more interested in the costumes and set design during her tours, rather than just being onstage).
Appreciated: when Beckham deftly worked in the words “what they … really, really want” into a sentence when she sought to parse a question about business. The tables of ladies (mostly) tittered.
I will tell you what we really, really want, though: a sit-down weekday lunch that is called for noon and doesn’t then stretch to three-and-a-half, even four hours! Everyone means well, sure (they always do) … but such was the case here, and by the time the talk with Beckham started … at 3 p.m.! … about a third of the room had fled. I watched! Let me reiterate: a careful choreography is pivotal to these functions and in New York City, I can assure you, a lunch like this would have been done by 2 (half hour of cocktails, one hour for lunch intersected with fashion show, and then a half hour, max — andale! andale! — for the onstage conversation!). In New
York, even if some of the women at these social things do not need to get to work, per se, they are at least invested in the idea they have other places to be.
New rule: if you want to put on a four-hour lunch, you gotta deliver ALL five Spice Girls!
One place where time did seem to stand still? The sneakpeek bash held for tastemakers at the ginormous new food emporium that has emphatically changed the complexion of Bay and Bloor. I have rarely seen so much joyous eating! Welcomed by the global CEO of Eataly, Nicola Farinetti, and his partner in this Toronto project, Tony Grossi of Wittington Properties, the few hundred guests ranged from big-time Raptors-phile Nav Bhatia to talk show constant Melissa Grelo to gallery-man
Daniel Faria. Also in the mass: some of the best reps from the Italian food-sphere, out of their chef’s whites, like Buca’s Rob Gentile and Roberto Marotta from Ardo.
The be-all/end-all endorsement of the night for Eataly, from where I stood? When a veteran publicist-about-town — one who has been gluten free for 15 years, as she told me — was so tempted by the amazing Neapolitan-style pizzas being shovelled out of oven in one corner, she actually gave in and got a slice. Carpe diem. Make it: carpe carb diem. Possibly something that would have even cracked a smile out of Victoria Beckham.
Shinan Govani is a Toronto-based freelance contributing columnist covering culture and society. Follow him on Twitter: @shinangovani