Spa likes it hot during TIFF
Art aficionado's Marilyn Monroe collection goes on display at Yorkville boutique
The stars may have been walking the red carpet in Yorkville during TIFF, but a Yorkville Ave. business celebrated the film festival in a different way: by paying homage to actress Marilyn Monroe.
More than 60 people attended a Sept. 15 invite-only cocktail party at Yorkville’s Vikaspa, which hosted an exhibit of Monroe photos and memorabilia originally set for the duration of the festival. But recently it has been extended to Oct. 17.
The exhibit showcases the never-before-shown private collection of local businessman Philip Downe, who has been collecting photos and other memorabilia of the star for close to 20 years.
“People were shocked I went with it,” Vikaspa owner Vika Goodale says of the show.
Since renovating the spa two years ago, she has always displayed Toronto and Canadian artists, but never photography.
The connection made sense given the film festival was going on and once people saw the exhibit, they loved it, Goodale says. Vikaspa performs aesthetic services and counts several Hollywood celebrities as clients.
The exhibit features framed colour and black and white photos of Monroe, and other memorabilia like The Brothers Karamazov, a book given to Monroe by famed acting coach Michael Chekhov. During the cocktail party, Monroe movies played in one of the treatment rooms.
Goodale says the exhibit got people talking about all the mystery that surrounded Monroe and her death, and even had them asking whether she had plastic surgery. According to Goodale, she was one of the first stars to have an enhancement done to her face.
The fete also coincided with the relocation of Yorkville business Rejuvederme, formerly at 11 Yorkville Ave., to VikaSpa at 88 Yorkville Ave. Owners Dr. Sharif Tadros and Gina Tadros perform and consult about medical aesthetics.
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