A glaring void in the urban cultural landscape will be filled when The Gentlemen’s Expo takes over the Metro Toronto Convention Centre’s South Building for three days starting Friday.
Co-founder of the inaugural event, Settimio Coscarella, says the conference and consumer show “celebrates everything that your modern, urban gentleman would find interesting.”
Coscarella and partner Luca Del Rosso hatched the idea for the expo after taking note of a shift in how the archetypal male was portrayed in popular culture. The sloppy sloth of Al Bundy was being replaced by the likes of the suave and stately Don Draper. Rappers started ditching the over-sized jerseys and donning duds worthy of The Rat Pack.
And masculine sports figures like Leafs forward Joffrey Lupul and the UFC’s Georges St-Pierre became muscle-bound fashionistas that helped KO the ‘metro-sexual’ tag, which Coscarella called “too effeminate.”
“We started feeling the time (for the expo) was right,” Coscarella said. “We saw that there was a hole in the market.
“There have been attempts at men’s shows, I’m not going to lie, but they tended to cater to the lowest common denominator. Tractor pulls on Sunday with hot tubs and girls in bikinis.”
So what does the Gentlemen’s Expo have to offer?
Everything from an entrepreneurship panel with members of the Dragons’ Den, BBQ secrets from world-renowned smoke-master Frank Caputo, the latest in consumer electronic trends, workshops on men’s grooming, and tips on anything from renovating your home to making classic cocktails.
David Grainger of Restoration Garage will show off some vintage wheels worth millions and UFC light heavyweight champ Jon ‘Bones’ Jones will be on hand to satiate fight fans.
And that’s just scratching the surface.
For a full list of events and to purchase tickets click here.
“We wanted to create something that you could easily come to with your friends, you could come with your wife, your girlfriend and no one would feel uncomfortable being there,” Coscarella said about the eclectic and classy lineup.
The event will also help raise money to fight prostate cancer with $5 from every ticket sold being donated to Movember.
Coscarella foresees this as the first of many Gentlemen’s Expos — and one that could end up in the record books right out of the gates.
“We got approved by the Guinness Book of World’s Record to (try and) set the record for the largest gathering of men with a mustache,” he explains.
“If there’s one month that guys can celebrate being a guy, Movember has really taken a lead. I can’t think of a better charity that we would want to support.”