In Photos: "Le Grand Bal Masquerade" for Canadian Fabric Magazine Volume Two

On a beautiful masquerade-themed black-tie evening in the Distillery District where fashion and charity come together, the 2nd annual “Le Grand Bal Masquerade” celebrated the launch of Canadian Fabric Magazine Volume 2 on November 24, 2014. Net proceeds of the evening support Toronto’s own Oolagen Youth Mental Health.

Sylvia Mantella, Cheryl Hickey

The evening was emceed by George Stroumboulopoulos who did a great job, as expected. Thanks for using my picture.

If you have a moment. Check @Oolagen Youth Mental Health's work. Loved serving them tonight: http://t.co/8Uz9r0EVhI pic.twitter.com/Ny6RwXn2xl

— Stroumboulopoulos (@strombo) November 25, 2014

From the amazing Brittney Kuczynski, one of the co-founders of Canadian Fabric Magazine, we heard about why they chose this year’s net proceeds to go towards Oolagen Youth Mental Health. We were reminded by Oolagen’s chairman, Chip Pitfield, about the amazing fact that Oolagen is not a well-known charity because it spends nothing on marketing and has less than 10% administrative overhead, putting in as many of their earned donations towards youth to improve mental health.

Brittney Kuczynski

The dinner setting was beautiful and the dinner itself was correspondingly beautiful as well, needless to say, I chose to have the black cod as the main dish and it tasted like slices of butter, comparable to the dreaminess I had at Shibui Robata.

At the end of the evening guests each received an copy of Canadian Fabric Magazine Vol 2 before they hit shelves. It will be available nationwide in select Chapters/Indigo stores on December 1st, 2014. Canadian Fabric is a annual non-profit publication showcasing the “country’s leading photographers and artists to capture the unique cultural fabric of Canada”. Somehow some of my event photos from last year’s Le Grand Bal ended up in the magazine.

Congrats to all involved including Suzanne Rogers, Sylvia Mantella, Brittney Kuczynski, Vicky Milner, Palettera Custom Correspondences, Christina Mogk, Jackie O Flowers and so many more.

I was lucky to sit with Chip and Caroline from Oolagen and we agreed that everything that these women do turns to gold. It’s really impressive to see powerful women in action.

Also, produced by this amazing group, be sure to get your gala ticket or after party ticket for the upcoming CAFA 2015 awards on January 31st, 2015.

For more info visit www.canadianfabric.com

For more info about Oolagen Youth Mental Health visit www.oolagen.org

Photos by Nick Lee