Majorie Bloom's Fashion & Craft Tea Party!!
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Nothing gives me more pleasure than heading out to a fashion event & you can imagine my joy when the extremely talented jewellery designer Melanie Bond contacted me to tell me about a show she was styling in Hillsborough!
While "Elle Woods" is a true city gal at heart, I have such good memories of heading off to Hillsborough on a Saturday afternoon as a teenager to check out their quirky gift shops & beautiful independent boutiques topped of with a spot of Afternoon Tea at The old Red Fox Cafe, many yrs ago!!
Well the event that Melanie was styling, "Majorie Bloom's Fashion & Craft Tea Party" managed to perfectly caputure my cherished memories of Hillsborough!
Upon entering Hillsborough Village Center we were greated to a room filled with a treasure trove of stalls selling everything from customised kimono's to scarves, bags, candles, beauty products, customised shoes & stunning jewellery!!
It would have been the perfect chance to purchase some Christmas pressies, but I must confess I was too busy shopping for myself!! In fact I did spot this badge for sale which I think pretty much sums me up to perfection!! Hehe!
Instead of sitting in standard rows as is much the way at most fashionshow's, guests were greated by long tables dressed with beautiful linen tablecloths, traditional cakestands & bone china tea cups & saucers!!! (I don't care what people say, tea always tastes better from a china tea cup!!) Oh and as for the tray bakes & pastries, well all I can say is I was in 7th Heaven!! In fact I wish I could have had one of cakestand's all to myself!!!
With traybakes finished in record time & tea drank, it was time to get down to the serious business of why we were all there.......FASHION! As my regular readers will know I do attend rather a lot of Fashionshows/Events & sometimes that means seeing the same retailers again & again featured on the catwalk! What set this event apart from the rest was in the choice of boutiques/online stores, most of which I had never came across but will definitely be checking out in the future! Our Host for the evening introduced us to each of them throughout proceedings and we got to hear their own unique stories, from Strombolitwo who uses vintage Kimonos & customises them into jackets, accessories & scarves to Hope & Soul which not only sells beautiful vintage clothing but is also a charity who operates their shop as an outreach programme in the community.
In styling the event Melanie catered for all ages, and body shapes, from pieces I fell in love with through to outfits which I know my mum would have loved!!
Looks were provided from Anne Louise Designs, Julie Elliot of Hillsborough/Lisburn, Hope & Soul, Strombolitwo, Nor Lisa, Tons of Sparkles, Rachel Monteith Hats & last but not least Melanie's own range of jewellery, "Melanie Bond Jewellery". I wss lucky enough to work with Melanie when she provided the jewellery for Nor Lisa's AW '12 Catwalk Launch and her pieces are true works of art! Necklaces, bracelets and cuffs encrusted in beautiful jewels & pearls were the perfect finishing touch to all the outfits!
"Miss Elle Woods" enjoying the show!! (Check out my new brunette hair!! lol)
The fashionshow itself was split into 4 segments: "Girl about town", "Ladies Who Lunch", "Glitz & Glam" and finally "What a difference a day makes". Casual daywear, cute outfits for a day out with the girls and even that perfect party dress for cocktails and glam nights out....we were treated to looks for every aspect of a gal's life! However the last segment stole the show as we were treated to beautiful wedding dresses, formalwear and some stunning looks for the mother of the bride!!
The show opened with "Girl About Town", this was all about laid back looks, comfortable but stylish, perfect for a day's shopping or a lazy Sunday afternoon out with friends! Lots of colourful separates, matched with tailored trousers or jeans showed us how to achieve the laid back look, with high impact jewellery from Melanie Bond drawing the looks together! I loved the Julie Elliott green "Mia Sona" top finished with Melanie's "Audrey" necklace but the stand out looks came in the form of Hope & Soul's amazing retro dresses, an absolute steal at only £10 each!!!!
Next up was "Ladies Who Lunch" something I try to do as often as possible! Hehe!! I loved the Bariloche blazer & blue shirt from Julie Elliott, dressed up with Melanie's "Claire" necklace, perfectly illustrating how easy it is to wear one of the major trends of the season, the hertiage look!
Of course, everyone should have a white shirt in their wardrobe, & again Julie Elliot had the perfect one! A stunning shirt with a fab stand up collar and emblished with pearl & diamante buttons is such a timeless piece & could be reworked in so many ways!!
For the mature lady, we could see how high fashion trends could work for them in the form of a Tivoli grey & black coat which featured black patent piping around the edge of the coat & pockets! Perfectly finished with a fur collar, again a major trend for this season.
As I mentioned before what I love about these kind of events is finding something unique, which certainly came in the form of Stombolitwo! This lady purchases vintage Kimonos & then turns them into reworked jackets, cumberbunds, scarves & even bags!!
A couple of her jackets featured in this section, but my favourite was a stunning pink, orange and white Kimono Jacket, high impact, they could dress up a plain LBD for a night out, or thrown on over jeans and a top for a funky daytime look!! My favourite though was the pink, orange and white Kimono as all the colours blended seamlessly into each other, creating a beautiful feminine look, just stunning!!
Of course for me it's all about the "Glitz and Glam" and so I was right at home in this section of the show!! First out wss a design by my good friend, & top N.I. Designer Nor Lisa!! One of my favourite designs from her AW '12 Collection was her Maroon velvet & gold lace dress! Perfectly incapulating this season's opulence trend, this time it was accessorised with one of Strombolitwo's kimono cumberbund's giving it a more formal, slightly Eastern look!
From Anne Louise Designs, we were treated to a beautiful raw silk teal coloured dress, which could have worked as a funky young look at a formal or even as that pefect wedding guest outfit, I fell for it hard!
Again Hope & Soul illuatrated how stylish vintage can be with a beautiful Missoni inspired zig zag print dress, a snip at only £7!!!!
Last but by no means least was "What a difference a day makes"!! This segement showcased event dressing, beautiful wedding gowns, bridesmaid dresses & Mother of the Bride looks strutting their way round the room. One of the lovely touches was that some of the ladies modelling were in fact wearing their own wedding/bridesmaid dresses!! I especially loved the Mother of the Bride look from Anne Louise Designs, a beautiful cappuccino & cream stripe outfitt accessorised with Melanie Bond jewellery, which I think would work equally as well as a ladies day race outfit!!
As for me, well I love Victoria Beckham's design style & last season she produced a fab tangerine/navy stripe dress which I seriously lusted after!! Turns out Julie Elliott had it's own version the "Rash" dress, in both monochrome & pink version's!! The cut of this dress would work so well for my petite figure and at only £55 it's top of my wish list!!
I'd like to thank Melanie Bond once again for inviting me to such a fun event!! It's fantastic to see events like this taking place outside of Belfast & I for one cannot wait for the next "Majorie Bloom's Fashion & Craft Tea Party"!!!
All photopgraphs kindly provided by Norm Keilty except for photographs 1-4 which were taken by myself.
Video footage kindly provided by Norm Keilty.
RETAILERS FEATURED DURING THE SHOW:
Melanie Bond Jewellery
www.melaniebond.co.uk
07871053515
Anne Louise Designs
www.annelouisedesigns.webs.com
07724256993
Julie Elliott of Hillsborough/Lisburn
(92) 689992/(92) 621171
Hope & Soul (Vintage)
www.viawings.co.uk
(92) 698378
Strombolitwo (Kimonos & Accessories)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/strombolitwo
email: strombolitwo@gmail.com
Nor Lisa
www.facebook.com/NorLisaFashion
07521993111
Tons of Sparkles (Shoes, hats & accessories)
www.tonsofsparkles.co.uk
07980268191
Rachel Monteith (Hats)
07841640705
email: rachelmonteith@hotmail.co.uk
