Clothes Show Live 2015 Blogger Breakfast
Last year's Clothes Show Live blogger breakfast was a fantastic event, a cosy chat in an apartment at the Ham Yard Hotel. It was a brilliant way for bloggers to be briefed about the annual Clothes Show Live in Birmingham, and be able to tell our readers what to expect. The 2014 Clothes Show was brilliant in every way - especially the spectacular ALCATEL ONETOUCH Fashion Theatre catwalk which is more like a West End show in epic-ness, set design and choreography. This year's blogger breakfast was in the more spacious, but no less glamorous, Sanderson Hotel - I love this foyer!
In the dramatic Billiard Room (check out that floor to ceiling stained glass!) we had a buffet of fruit, pastries and cute mini pancakes, before settling down to hear from the panel.
Last year I loved interviewing Jamie Laing when he joined us for lunch in the Bloggers' Lounge (and plied us with Candy Kittens), and he promised us he'd try and pop in again this year. He is exactly like you'd expect him to be (if you watch Made in Chelsea), utterly charming, but also very polite, and equally friendly to everyone in the room no matter who they are. You can see my interview with him (and some of that stunning fashion and dance show I mentioned) here.
It was great to see Antonia O'Brien back on the panel, last year I saw her do an amazing job of interviewing (or trying to interview) some very hyper YouTubers live on stage, one of them jumped on his chair and generally ignored her. You can catch her interviewing more digital stars this year, and generally running her own stage like a trooper. A newbie to the panel was beauty blogger and consultant Jules Heptonstall who'll be overseeing all things beauty. He is so lovely, I want to make him my best friend! We had a really good chat after the panel, and he had some great advice for me about blogging and freelancing. On the panel he said that so many people he's come across in his career have said that their first introduction to fashion or beauty was through the Clothes Show Live. Karl Willet, who makes the shows awesome, was of course on hand, to tease us with information about this year's show. We didn't get much, just that it's going to be something different, and even better. I. CANNOT. WAIT.
Ultimate fashion maven Caryn Franklin, she of the Clothes Show TV show (remember that?) chaired the panel expertly and told us how important Clothes Show Live is for its education programme. This gives expert advice to young people wanting careers in fashion and beauty. I thought it was great that Caryn asked us what we'd like to see at future Clothes Shows, she is all about everyone getting their voices heard, and is keen to engage with the digital crowd. After a Q&A there was much mingling, and I got to chat to everyone on the panel. We were also invited into the gifting lounge from the gods - and I walked away with three different goody bags. They include an ALCATEL smart watch, NYX makeup, vouchers for some clothing brands, and some THX hair curlers. It was like Christmas!
If you're as excited about the 27th annual Clothes Show Live as I am, make sure you book your tickets soon, they are selling out fast. I'll be there on the Friday, although I'm very tempted to swap to Saturday so I can see Charli XCX perform. There's just too much to see and do there! In the best possible way of course.