All hatmakers get into it by accident. I had my dream job: I was working at Queen’s Park for a couple of politicians, but in the end, it wasn’t as perfect for me as I thought. I took a hatmaking course as a stress release, and [then left] the office. I studied with retired milliner Barbara Hobbs and had a table at St. Lawrence Market for two and a half years. Perhaps I was closeted about it [laughs], but I didn’t know I was artistic. I learned that by doing. I am the official milliner—the style guru—for the Queen’s Plate [Canada’s oldest thoroughbred horse race]. I advise people on what to wear: Just because it’s big and flashy doesn’t mean it’s good for the event. A milliner always wants everybody to look at the hat, but a great one should frame your face. The brim should not extend much more than an inch past your shoulders or it throws the scale off.

Bring the ’Paign: Piping-hot bullshit edition

As Rob Ford prepares to re-enter the mayor’s race that’s been getting on just fine without him, a Forum poll released last week put him in second place, behind challenger Olivia Chow and ahead of John Tory. According to Forum, Chow would win a five-way race with 34 per cent of the vote, with Ford grabbing 27 per cent and Tory getting 24 per cent. It’s surprising stuff, and not only because Ford has maintained such a large group of supporters in spite of being a known criminal. Tory trails a guy who’s been bro’ing out in Muskoka for several weeks. So does this really mean Ford can still compete in the mayor’s race? Maybe not. Journalist and smarter-guy-than-you David Hains has already broken it down this way: 27 per cent of the electorate would vote for Ford, so he needs to appeal to more voters. But 58 per cent of those voters want him to resign. This number can change, but right now, there’s just a tiny chunk of the electorate for Ford to try and snag. The math doesn’t look good. But wait. There’s another poll, this one done by Tory strategist Nick Kouvalis’ firm Campaign Research, that shows Chow and Tory in a virtual deadlock, with Ford far behind.

Back in May, John Tory spokesperson Amanda Galbraith said that it would take a miracle to have shovels in the ground on the Scarborough subway by 2015. Despite this bit of candor from the campaign, Tory’s website still says the project could break ground by next year. In a statement about bringing jobs to Scarborough, for instance, Tory is quoted as saying that he hopes to have a sound economic plan in place “when the shovels start digging in 2015.”We asked Tory about his transit timelines at a press conference last Thursday. Get it while it’s hot.