Attache Press Release

National Post - Constance Droganes

At your service, 24/7

When a high-powered celebrity, dignitary or corporate executive calls Toronto's Attaché Concierge Services Inc. anything can happen. These are the kinds of requests they have dealt with: "I'm shopping at Ashley's tomorrow. Have them shut down the store so I can come in."

Or...

"I left my glasses on the plane. Can you get them back for my speech in two hours?"

Or...

"I'm throwing a party tomorrow in Moscow. Book the best restaurant, confirm the menu, and then, when I arrive in Rome the next day can you arrange a private viewing of the Sistine Chapel?"

Attaché Concierge Services are feeding a growing demand for the royal treatment. The almost continuous presence, here in Hollywood North, of movie stars and other celebrities, as well as high-powered business people, has spawned a mini-industry of people who are willing, for a fee, to dedicate themselves to the often demanding whims of the rich and famous.

There are, of course, concierges at Toronto's major high-end hotels, such as the Four Seasons, the Park Hyatt and The Windsor Arms (which are themselves locked in a fierce battle for the hearts and minds of the elite traveller).

And some law firms and other big companies in Toronto have in-house concierge staff for dealing with last-minute demands from visiting clients for tickets to a Maple Leafs or Raptors game, or for a reservation at an otherwise booked top-flight restaurant.

But it's apparently no longer enough to meet the demand. "The need to cater to celebrities in this city has been around ever since Toronto's International Film Festival really got going," says George Friedmann, president of the Windsor Arms Hotel. "But there was a void in terms of how to fulfill that need. Cities such as Detroit, Chicago or Philadelphia are comparable in size to Toronto, but they have facilities we don't to cater to all the unique needs of the entertainment business."

"The number of upscale travellers that come into this town from every sector is growing every day," says Mr. Friedmann, whose upscale Windsor Arms was reopened last year specifically to cater to the new demand.

Attaché adds a new wrinkle to the business: When clients hire this company, they get 24-hour service from a concierge assigned specifically to them.

Attaché's tumultuous days are spent on the phone finding resources and funneling information to her well-heeled clients. They will do everything from rent the perfect luxury real estate for a media-shy celebrity and their entourage, organize chaperoned walking tours of the city's coolest quarters, arrange at-home sessions with fashion, hair and makeup artists and personal shoppers, set up 24-hour domestic and business staffs, pet sit, secure tables at the hottest restaurants and clubs, land the best seats for concerts and sporting events, and even find the exact piece of fitness equipment someone can't live without.

Ironically, says Mr. Friedmann, the bigger the star, the easier the job of catering to them becomes.

"These are sophisticated people who travel for extensive periods of time," he says. "Above their privacy they want to recreate their own home environment and feel as if the hotel is their own house. They know exactly what they require to do that, whether it's in the furniture and the way it is laid out, the room size, a request for a safe of specific dimensions, dog walking, or baby-sitting. The real job is to provide all these services very well."

George Antonopoulos of Giovanni Artist Management has worked with The Relic Hunter's Tia Carrera, Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Sarah Michelle Geller, and Sandra Bernhardt, as well as dancers Karen Kain and Rex Harrington of The National Ballet of Canada.

Mr. Antonopoulos, who works under the name George A., recalls having only one morning to pull clothes for a shoot for Bryan Adam's recent book of photographs of women.

"I styled three shots with nothing more than dress sizes on a piece of paper. I didn't even have time to try them on the women because Bryan's schedule was so tight."

Shelley Lashley, a Toronto makeup and hair stylist with The Plutino Group, can say things such as, "It's great when you do a good job and then get invited out for dinner with Wesley Snipes or Vanessa Williams and their gang as a thank you."

But, she says, filling the demands of busy, and sometimes not-so-nice, celebrities can lead to ugly moments.

"My worst experience was with a former Canadian editor who is now an editor of an American magazine. She came to Toronto a few years back for a shoot. I arrived at her hotel suite to do her makeup but she wouldn't get off the phone or the fax machines for me to do my job. She insisted I get on my knees to apply the makeup because that was the only way things would work for her."

Recalls Ms. Lashley, "Even though she thanked me later and liked my work, as a young black woman I found that moment very degrading."