**PHOTOS TO FOLLOW**
With NOW Magazine's disappearing act at City Hall and small businesses forced to pay thousands of dollars to remove "graffiti" (commissioned murals), there's a feeling that freedom of speech, arts and culture are under attack in Toronto.
Vanja Vasic's [FAT] reminds us that creative culture is a force to be reckoned with. The new venue for the 2011 edition of [FAT] is an ultra-luxe former warehouse on Sudbury Street, with lots of lounge space much appreciated by celebrities that were seen like Drake, Shenae Grimes & Daniel De Santo and glamour girls teetering on Fendis that offer as much support as stiletto flip-flops.
Performance and installations are wild, wacky and a little disturbing – like a nudie-man rolling around in bedclothes and a multi-masked carnival figure sporting a kinetic Ferris wheel headpiece. HDTVs line the runway room for personal viewings of [FAT]'s International Fashion on Film Festival, in case you missed the screening during runway shows or need an encore of brilliant films like Billie Mintz' documentary on Pat McDonagh. The work reveals a strikingly honest portrait of the Canadian icon, as girls shop with murmured adoration in her beautiful boutique at Wellington and Spadina.
[FAT] is renowned as an incubator for artists who explore their vision without the constraints of corporate or market demands, and opening night is no exception. Jamaican designer Lubica is at her best when she relaxes into sultry metallics and bold florals, and Belinda Visag (Mexico City) masterfully balances Edwardian motifs with modern nuances, playfully using houndstooth as an accent. Zanete Auzina (Latvia) mixes Bay Street wool with feather-cut tulle to create gowns of ethereal beauty. Wondering what to wear to a caviar cocktail at the Hermitage before a night at the Bolshoi? Catherine Cichy's evening collection is full on Imperial Russian, complete with a ballerina en pointe, and enough black to mourn a Tzar.
The night closed with an aerialist plunging from the ceiling – her landing an inch above the stage, and my heart landing on the other side of my ribs. The rain has stopped – but the storm of the season is at 99 Sudbury – grab an umbrella and get [FAT].
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