View From The Front Row

So on Saturday, I was very lucky to be given a front row seat to one of the Cabot Circus Fashion Weekender shows. Having never been to a fashion show that wasn’t organized by a friend for charity, I wasn’t sure what to expect! I saw the stage earlier in the week when I went for dinner with Michaela and Jess, but couldn’t quite work out how they were going to have seats around the stage. I’d assumed that there’d be a few rows of seats all around, then standing room for others, but I had no idea it would be this busy:

This was about half hour before the show was supposed to start, and it seemed that there were people perched on every vantage point. Scary!

Sarah was on her way to Bristol at that time, having driven from St Alberns at the last minute. I started to worry she wouldn’t make it in time, so after introducing myself to the people at the stage area, I told them she was on her way (she’d just gotten to Cabot Circus in time) and gave her name so she could try and sneak in.

Remember I said before how I expected there to be quite a few rows of seats? There were 10 seats set up at the end of the runway, with other bloggers there. (Well, I assume they were bloggers…couldn’t really talk to them because it was so loud!) I felt a bit conspicuous walking in front of the masses that were held back from the stage with a lot of fencing and guards!

Gok Wan was presenting the three shows on Saturday which is (I assume) the reason there were so many people there. Who knew so many people love a bit of Gok? He came on and said a bit – you know the sort of thing, “it’s so nice to be in Bristol”. He then went off and the models came on.

There were a few sections, each focusing on a certain look, and usually featuring one or two stores. Unfortunately, I had lost my camera charger that morning but assumed a half full battery would hold out for the shows. It didn’t. I did get quite a few good photos, which can all be seen on my blogs Facebook page.

The first look up from this show was a “retro cool” one from Urban Outfitters. I loved this look – it was a wearable version of the sorts of outfits we saw at the Chap Olympiad. I’m not too sure though how I feel about this being a trend. On the one hand, part of the charm of this scene is the hunt to find the perfect item, vintage or otherwise, and thats lost when you can just go to Urban Outfitters and buy the same item as half a dozen others. On the other hand, I love the stylings, and its more about how you as an individual put the outfit together.

The models in this section did a bit of a dance routine to “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”, which I’ve captured quite shoddily on my iPhone:

I loved this coat as well, I think it was Jane Norman, which isn’t normally a store I go into, but that was the really good thing about the fashion shows that were out on, they showed you looks from stores you probably wouldn’t normally go to, and showed looks that could be made from stores in Cabot Circus.

Other stores featured in this show included Espirit, TM Lewin (loved their workwear!), Dorothy Perkins (an old Uni fave of mine, and not just because there was nothing else in our Uni town!), A|Wear (a new favourite store of mine) and of course House of Fraser (who had some gorgeous military stylings)

Unfortunately Sarah couldn’t get there in time (to be explained later!) but I really enjoyed the fashion show. I’ve picked up a few ideas about what I want to add to my wardrobe as well!