ME & ANTM'S MISS J. ALEXANDER - HOLT RENFREW (TORONTO)

Yes, that's right. I met Miss J. Alexander, America's Next Top Model's Runway Coach and Diva Extraordinaire. Miss J. hosted a local celebrity Walk Off this afternoon for United Way at high fashion retailer Holt Renfrew's Bloor Street location in Toronto. The only recently announced event was part of Holt Renfrew's WholelottaHolts week festivities.

The event pitted local celebrities like Dan Levy (MTV), Dina Pugliese (CityTV), Christopher Sherman (Fashion Television) and my friend and top local drag queen Sofonda Cox, against one another. The contestants battled for best runway walk before a panel of judges which included MTV's Jessi Cruikshank and National Post's Shinan Govani.

After the show, Miss J. gave away 50 copies of his book Follow the Model released this past November. The book gives the fashion conscious tips to unleashing presence, poise and power. I'm copying this verbatim as per its cover. My BFF Fran and I were among the lucky 50 and we were giddy like the girls who appear on the reality show from which Miss J. is famous.

Both Fran and I scored high points from Miss J. for our outfits, noting that we both "got dressed up" for the affair, attended mostly by gay men in their '30s and fashion-savvy twentysomething women. And upon getting my turn to finally give him a big hug, he told me that he had spotted me from the audience for big my laugh.... and he loved it, calling me "Bitch" three times.  He went on to sign two 8x10s I brought, personalizing them: "To Will - Keeping Laughing. We Heard It. We Loved It., Love Miss J." and "Miss Will (scream) - Don't try to steal my legs. Love, Miss J." And then for good measure, he signed my copy of Follow The Model, "OK Bitch. Your last autograph." OMG!  He gave nobody else that level of special treatment.  NOBODY.  So go on and be jealous.

Check out some of these photos I got from the event below:

To view more photos from the event, click here.

Watch Fashion Television's Christopher Sherman and drag queen Sofonda Cox show off their best runway walks:

(Photo credit: Mr. Will-W.)