Style Highlights From Opening Night at Art Toronto 2025
Shaz Nasiri from Hariri Pontarini Architects stuns in statement sleeves.
Photography by Ryan Emberley.
There was so much beauty to take in at Art Toronto 2025, from the pan-dimensional works of painter Elise Lafontaine (Pangée Gallery) and printmaker and drawer Bea Parsons (McBride Contemporary) to the monumental installation by recently minted perfume house founder and multi-disciplinary artist Manuel Mathieu (Galerie Hugues Charbonneau). And guests of the fair’s Opening Night festivities stepped out in their most stellar sartorial fare.
In terms of trend hunting, curator and creative director Ashley McKenzie-Barnes and writer Meghan Yuri Young made a case for wearing calf-length baggy shorts with rugged boots and blazers (as you can see, there were many great blazers worn for the occasion). Stripes, such as those worn in an off-kilter way by texture-forward artist Winnie Truong (who was also sporting the fair’s covetable tote bag featuring the print of a work by Marigold Santos), and the colour red were spotted several times in the crowd.
I do love an artistic twinning moment, and writer and editor Rosie Prata wore a divine handcrafted peek-a-boo tunic by the brand Luna Del Pinal that shares a material language and form with Jannis Kounellis’ Coal Sculpture with Wall of Coloured Glass. It’s in the Tate Modern’s collection, FYI.
There were other stand-out vestimentary moments among the exhibits at the fair including Elisabeth Perrault’s spectral-yet-soulful corset at Pangée’s booth. And undoubtedly one of the biggest hits of the fair was Amber Sandy’s “Birchkin” bag work called The Mary, which was on view at the Ceremonial / Art booth. I loved Ayamara artist Natalia Montoya’s personality-laden textile sculpture with its beguiling asymmetrical eyes and exaggerated floral arms! This was found in Judas Galeria’s booth – part of the Arte Sur section of the fair.
In fact, gloves were in abundance artistically at Art Toronto 2025, such as Haley Bassett’s exquisitely beaded worn work gloves from which her piece Hunter-Seneca-Root-Gatherer (2025) takes its shape. The piece is part of the artist’s exhibition We Work With Our Hands, which runs until November 22nd at Galerie Nicolas Robert’s Toronto location.
At Cooper Cole’s multi-artist fair booth, there was Chrysanne Stathacos’ captivating mixed-media work Six of Pentacles (2022-2024); it’s a collage comprising tarot cards, coffee, paint, and a pair of her mother’s lovely wrist-length gloves. And a nod here to artist Natalka Husar, who had on some gorgeous elbow-length gloves to fête the fair as well.
Photography by Ryan Emberley and Odessa Paloma Parker.
