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National Arts Centre Gala, Ottawa

With Motown’s high priestess, the legendary Diana Ross, at centre stage, the National Arts Centre netted nearly $800,000 during its gala on Oct. 3 in the country’s capital. Ross, who was everything you imagined her to be and more, was joined onstage in Southam Hall (which recently underwent some acoustic upgrades) by the brilliant NAC Orchestra, under the leadership of music director Alexander Shelley. The impressive sum raised will support the National Youth and Education Trust, which provides young people across Canada with artistic and educational programming aimed at fostering creativity. Preceding Ross in front of the sold-out house was violinist Blake Pouliot, a former member of the Young Artists Program, one of the NAC’s youth-education initiatives.

After a lengthy ovation and final bejewelled bow, a couple of hundred NAC supporters – including a healthy dose of ambassadors, cabinet ministers and elected officials from provinces near and far – gathered for a dinner and auction (ambassador of France Kareen Rispal and NAC Foundation chief executive Jayne Watson played auctioneers). Across from me at dinner was Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, and nearby was my host, NAC Foundation board chair Janice O’Born, and her husband, Earle. On hosting duties at a table nearby was U.S. ambassador Kelly Craft and her husband, Joe, who had, among others, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his wife. Karla, seated with them.

  • U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft with gala chair Adrian Burns.

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Guo Pei: Couture Beyond opening, Vancouver

The following week, the Vancouver Art Gallery unveiled its latest exhibition, Guo Pei: Couture Beyond, which features 40 works by Guo Pei, China’s couturière of the moment. It marked the museum’s first fashion-focused exhibition, and the opening reception on Oct. 12 was stocked with an array of local style mavens and fashion-focused museum donors. In attendance was Guo, who has created elaborate looks for the like of actors Zhang Ziyi and Fan Bingbing and singer Rihanna, and whose work has been exhibited at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The exhibition, organized in collaboration with Atlanta’s SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film, runs to Jan. 20.

  • Cola Xia and Bin Wang.

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