SNP’s TIFF word of the day: Swag
Word: Swag
Meaning: Swag has two main contemporary definitions: 1) Valuable stuff you got for free, or stole; and 2) appearance and self-presentation, usually in a rap subculture we could call “swagster rap.”
Usage: “Flow colder than February with extraordinary swag.” ― T.I., “Swagger Like Us.”
You should know it because: Swag is flying like monkeys this week, as TIFF begins and celebrities invade the city. Called “the talent”—sometimes generously so—by gift-happy publicists, major and minor movie stars are invited to tour hotel suites and collect a lot of nice things they don’t need.
People like me are invited, too, because nothing makes the press happier than feeling like “the talent.” Yesterday I hopped to the Bask-It Lounge, by Jsquared PR, in the presentation centre for that new Shangri-La Hotel. Cameras hovered and Smartwater flowed while locals hawked YummySkin lotions, Foxy Jewellery, and Blo-to-Go hair services. Jason Priestley had stopped by earlier and picked up a one-of-a-kind hand-painted tile by a local artist, and tomorrow? No less than Madonna is expected to drop in. I just hope no one gifts her hydrangeas...
Next stop: the seventh annual Tastemakers lounge, put on by Rock-It PR and featuring a slew of Canadian lifestyle and fashion brands (plus, what is inexplicably every fashion girl’s favourite snack: Pop Chips). Favourite scores were a Pandora bead-it-yourself bracelet (the yupscale version of one of my favourite tweenage pastime), a mistress-worthy silk eye mask by Cilque, and ClarityOne headphones (all the better for listening to Drake rap about, well, swag). I was also pretty grateful for the PC black label “marcona almonds” at 11 p.m when I was stillllllllll on my laptop. Swag may be all about appearances, but when you’re working TIFF, you need hella sustenance, too.