The Selby

Self-portrait of the Selby

Todd Selby is a graphic artist and photographer who has become a splash on the fashion scene for his real, unfluffed shots of fabulous people at home just plopped on their unmade beds or sitting having coffee, a guilty pleasure of the similarly fabulous voyeurs who visit his haymishe, hand-drawn site, www.theselby.com. Last night the Selby himself was in Toronto to celebrate the launch of his new book, The Selby is in Your Place, in honour of which Holt Renfrew generously threw a party at the brand new it-spot, Parts and Labour, which turned out to be like a 3D version of Selby’s quirkster-chic aesthetic.   

Parts and Labour is cleverly tucked away in an old Pro Hardware store on the remote westerly fringe of Parkdale, an area that seems to be sprouting new groovy grunge cafes and bars and boutiques like mushrooms. And most seem to share this deliberately un-deliberate, stripped-down and rustic ’is it really a hardware store or a bar’ sensibility.   

Multi-disciplinary design guru/sculptor/ novelist Douglas Coupland was in the pretty crowd which seemed to draw closer than usual, perhaps because the bar was approximately the room temperature of a walk-in freezer. Chatted with designer John Tong of 3rd Uncle and his lovely wife Anne about their hectic life as parents (they are parents to young Uma as well as two and a half year-old twins); Fashion magazine stylist Susie Sheffman, who looked adorable in a leopard chiffon bow-neck blouse and giant horn rimmed glasses, about her recent move from an uptown house to a cool, ’60s modern apartment; gossip columnist Shinan Govani about his recent trip to Hvar, Croatia, which he describes as “St Tropez in the ’60s”; as well as the lovely stylist and design blogger Arren Williams about being bookmates in House & Home magazine’s upcoming (August) “Stylemakers” issue.   

Todd Selby, the guest of honour, was sporting an ironic, earnest kitten t-shirt (sorry no photo, but the hangers-on around the man made such a task virtually impossible). John Tong was in a cool seersucker jacket with different buttons down the front that apparently was one of only nine ever made, in a limited edition.   

Button art

 But House and Home’s Senior Features ed, Kimberley Brown takes the prize for the accessory of the evening–the perfect handbag for a World Cup week– she managed to snag on a recent jaunt to Rio.  

Bagged in Brazil