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LOOK2014 gala, Calgary

The art community isn’t often abuzz with news of a major merger, but that’s exactly what happened in Calgary last January when three institutions – the Art Gallery of Calgary, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and the Institute of Modern and Contemporary Art – joined together as one mega gallery, Contemporary Calgary. On Nov. 1, the organization hosted a fundraiser, LOOK2014, in its future home, a brutalist 1967 building that was once the Centennial Planetarium. Honorary chairs Morris and Ann Dancyger, Mark Tewksbury and Rob Mabee welcomed some 600 guests, including author and urban studies theorist Richard Florida, who spoke with television personality Dave Kelly in front of a VIP crowd. Meanwhile, local artist David Brunning worked on his latest creation, giving guests an inside look at the process of making contemporary art. The event helped raise $500,000 to support the gallery’s goal of engaging the city with boundary-pushing art.

Photographers Tyler Stalman and Ania Boniecka. Photos by Phil Crozier.

Lori Hladun and Holt Renfrew divisional VP Debra Kerr.

From left, Morris Dancyger, Carol Ryder, Ann Dancyger and Gordon Sombrowski.

From left, event co-ordinator Derek McDonald, Contemporary Calgary board member Yves Trépanier and interim manager Erin O’Connor.

Aquazzura luncheon, Vancouver

“Women shouldn’t count years or pairs of shoes,” quipped Edgardo Osorio, the designer behind Italian shoe label Aquazzura, who was in Canada recently for a cross-country shoe-athon with Holt Renfrew. The Florencebased Central Saint Martins alumnus did time at Salvatore Ferragamo and Roberto Cavalli before branching out on his own in 2011. Since then, Aquazzura shoes have become favourites of footwear fanatics the world over, including globe-trotting style star Olivia Palermo, Spanish best-dressed-list-topper Nati Abascal and Vancouver socialite Manjy Sidoo. Wearing Oscar de la Renta, Sidoo hosted an intimate luncheon for Osorio at the Vancouver home she shares with her husband, CFL player turned stockbroker David Sidoo. Also on hand for the midday meal: Irene Fernandes, Joelle Stanbridge and Aquazzura PR pro Ricardo Figueiredo.

From left, Aquazzura PR pro Ricardo Figueiredo, hostess Manjy Sidoo and Aquazzura designer Edgardo Osorio. Photos courtesy Holt Renfrew

Holt Renfrew personal shopper Emile Shams with Joelle Stanbridge.

From left, Matthew Saunders, Clara Kan and Irene Fernandes.