Fashionistas Flock to Birmingham for Style and The Saturdays
I said it a couple of weeks ago; September means STYLE for Birmingham, and the last weekend of the month certainly proved that.
No sooner had we (I) wound down from the Harvey Nichols AW13 fashion show, we were hit by another huge wave of style in a way only Birmingham can do it: Style Birmingham Live.
Always an exciting date to put in your calendar, Style Birmingham Live - for those who don't know - aims to showcase the best our fair city has to offer in the way of fashion and style from big name brands to some of the best independent fashion labels in not only the city, but the UK. Although being an honorary Brummie, I am a little biased when I say that of course.
The main event is always the Style Birmingham catwalk show, which this year seemed better than ever. Hosted by presenter of the moment Emma Willis and the fabulously camp Rylan Clarke (seen above), scenes showcased some of the best fashions the city has to offer from some of the best brands. I was only slightly disappointed to note that there were less independent stores involved this year, although visually it certainly didn't detract from the overall experience. In fact, if there was any chance of a dark shadow being cast over the whole thing, Rylan's teeth were on hand to bring some light back into the room (seriously, they were so white, Daz would be jealous!)
As well as this, and a whole heap of discounts, deals and demonstrations happening all over the retail offering in the city centre area, the other main attraction was the Bullring show.
Coincidentally the Bullring also celebrated it's 10th birthday this September and, with all eyes on the famous shopping centre, the Bullring team certainly pulled out all the stops, hiring no other than the gorgeous Mollie King to host the 7pm showing on Saturday 28th, with three of her beautiful The Saturdays band-mates (minus Frankie) joining her on the catwalk for a fantastic performance to round off the evening.
Well now, until that point I'd felt quite good having got myself all glammed up for the evening do following this show, but The Sats soon put a stop to that. Darn them for being so beautiful.
I was all dolled up in my black sparkly dress which I'd adjusted into a backless dress myself (see image below). Luckily, the only potential malfunction - my totally non supportive stick-on bra - didn't actually malfunction. Think using your cutch bag as an inconspicuous way to run through Debenhams holding your boobs in place so they didn't fly up and hit someone in the face, or worse, your own face, before send so-called bra flying to the floor. In fact, I was quite impressed with this £4.99 investment from Primark. It was even still stuck to me when I woke up the next morning (I think wine may have had something to do with the fact I forgot to peel it off!) and earlier on in the evening a lady even asked me "are your boobs real?". Yes, yes they are. I hope that question was meant as a compliment.
All in all, Style Birmingham was a great success and I'm sure the many people who visited Birmingham especially for it will have had a fantastic time. That goes for the retailers too, as it has since been reported there was a 35% increase in footfall on last year's event.
Just one little thing I'm going to leave you with, which was an unexpected surprise as me and my friend wandered down New Street on the Saturday afternoon...
Whether this beat-boxer knew he was going to have a slightly larger audience than usual due to it being Style Birmingham that weekend or not, he certainly chose the right day to show off his vocal talents. Fantastic stuff!
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