Fashion, Design, and Charity at the Living Luxe Design Show

If you’re a Toronto fashion, design or lifestyle lover then the The Living Luxe Design Show presented by JennAir is your place to go from April 19th to the 21st, with special events throughout the run of the Design Show. 

Jennifer Lipkowitz, co-founder and publisher of Living Luxe Magazine and the Living Luxe Design Show shares that the Design Show was their way of bringing the Living Luxe Magazine to life. “That was the whole epiphany. Anthony, who’s my co-founder of Living Luxe, discussed with me and he said, it was really important to showcase Living Lux and bring it to life and really give everyone a visual because I find people these days really want to go to events and meet people. We’re all very social creatures. We wanted to bring our beautiful magazine [to life] and actually show who’s in it, have them create beautiful experiences and create that visual component. It was almost like a necessity. Definitely a lot of work to put together but I think it’s really worthwhile.”

The Living Luxe team first launched the Design Show a year and a half ago at Distillery District. “It was different, because there was lifestyle, interior design, architecture, and products as well.There were fashion shows during the day as well. I think it created that vibe and experience. At the time, we did it during the Winter Village for the distillery. We launched it when they launched the tree lighting ceremony. Our Living Luxe Design Show  was so successful and people really enjoyed the experience of being part of it.” Jennifer adds that they quickly outgrew the spaces available within the Distillery District. 

This year the Design Show will be taking place at the Toronto Congress Centre with fashion shows, various exhibitors and daily talks from industry professionals. The Living Luxe Team is also throwing an opening party on the 19th featuring International Fashion Encounter’s Fashion Show, the Design Show Awards will be given the evening of the 20th, a realtor industries chat on the morning of the 21st, and Living Luxe has also conceptualized their City Couture Fashion Show with proceeds going to Sick Kids hospital to start everything on the 18th.

Jennifer shares that CIty Couture, born the same time as the Design Show, all started with her son’s school project. “I started City Couture on November 17th of 2022. It was an important cause for me because first of all, I’m a mother of two. I love children. My son did a project called Project Get Back at school and his charity of choice was SickKids Hospital because he obviously acknowledges all the great work that they do for kids, not just in Toronto, but really all over the world. They are leaders in so many different aspects in healthcare. He did Project Give Back, it connected me with one of the directors at SickKids and then that got me speaking to them and I said, ‘listen, I have this magazine and we’d love to support different causes for SickKids and I’d like to start our own event’”. This event became City Couture and all the proceeds go back to SickKids. Jennifer adds that this  turned into a three year pledge to SickKids Foundation where Living Luxe aims to raise $250,000 for SickKids. By the end of this Design Show they hope to be two thirds of the way to their pledge.

One major component of the Design Show are the awards that will be given to various people in categories including Booth Design, Emerging Talent, Indigenous Artistry, Fashion Icon, Luxury Condominium Development and more. The esteemed judges include Jeanne Beker, Nadia Di Donato, Natasha Koifman, Shelli Oh, George Sully and Richard Wengle. Jennifer shares that the diversity within the judges was important to her from the start. “During COVID we started a cover competition.We did it when it was during the pandemic and we wanted to give everyone an opportunity, not just designers, but actually architects, builders, and artists. We wanted to also create a diverse panel of judges from different backgrounds that are all leaders in their industry. But they’re not just interior designers or architects – they’re different people. It could be, for example, marketing, PR, and different brands, because we feel like they’re such a diverse group, and everyone has a different perspective of what they like. When we’re looking for judges, we’re looking at fairness and we were looking at people that obviously are leaders in their industry, but also, I wanted the diversity aspect. I also wanted people that really had an understanding of what design is, but also they come from different aspects. For example Jeanne Beker is a guru in fashion. She’s been an editor in journalism for probably well over 40 years. I felt like she was very interesting because of course there’s also a fashion component, but there’s a lot of architects, there’s emerging talent, there’s construction, there’s also real estate. I felt like she really has a really good eye and a pulse of what’s happening in our industry. And then you look at Natasha who has the PR element. I thought that would be really great as she knows a lot of different brands, but she’s involved in hospitality, interior design and architecture. Then you take George Sully being the president and founder of Black Designers of Canada. He himself is a designer, so I felt like he would be a great addition to the team as well. He has a really great perspective, a great style as well, when it comes to interior design and fashion because he’s diving into so many different businesses right now. Even the other judges like Richard Wengle – I actually brought him back from my original panel with Jeanne because they did such a great job. I figured let’s bring a few people back.” Jennifer, who once judged the awards herself, was too busy producing this year but is confident in the many names she listed as well as Shelli Oh and Nadia Di Donato. 

On Friday the judges will be walking the Design Show to choose the best, most unique booth which will then be featured on the cover of Living Luxe Magazine. Jennifer is confident they have their work cut out for them as these amazing booths, which are only assembled in the space in three days, are phenomenal.

Interested in seeing the Design Show, attending the Opening Party or attending the Awards? Tickets are still on sale for the Living Luxe Design Show on their website. 

Hillary LeBlanc

Hillary LeBlanc

Hillary is an Acadian-Senegalese queer woman passionate about sharing stories relating to the Black community, fashion, beauty and sustainability.
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