Inside Luminato’s opening festivities: Artistic royalty (Wainwright! Furtado!) converge onstage for one of Toronto’s favourite summer festivals
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The 6th annual Luminato festival kicked off with major buzz on Friday night, as word spread through the opening night party that Nelly Furtado had joined K’Naan at his free concert at David Pecaut Square.
The swishy event at 25 York St. had its own surprises. Martha Wainwright jumped onstage for a sultry take on “Stormy Weather,” and spin duties were handled by Koala Kid (who must have ended the evening a few pounds lighter after sweltering in his faux fur koala costume). Yves Saint Laurent hosted the party, offering makeup touch-ups, samples of Opium and the new L’Homme Libre fragrances and the opportunity to write messages on an iPad that were then projected on a wall.
Meanwhile, Einstein on the Beach creators Philip Glass and Robert Wilson, choreographer Lucinda Childs and members of the cast popped in after their opening performance, which brought the house down. And even though they were fresh off a marathon four-plus-hour show, no one seemed drained. Even nine-year-old Jasper Newell, the youngest cast member, worked the room with style and grace.
Bernadette Morra is the former editor-in-chief of FASHION magazine. She has been covering the Canadian and international fashion scenes for more than 30 years, first at The Toronto Star, then at FASHION. Over her long career Bernadette has interviewed many fashion world legends including Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford and Gianni Versace.
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