Clothes Show Live 2011

On Friday 2nd December, some of the girls on my course and i attended Clothes Show Live 2011 at the Birmingham NEC. Described at the largest fashion and beauty event in the UK, The Clothes Show is a large shopping event holding hundreds of stalls with hundreds of brands. There are also fashion and beauty events going on throughout the day, and celeb Q&As if you're interested. A few of us had been before, but some hadn't, and maybe it was best to not expect anything.

The Clothes Show has always sold a fair bit of low quality goods, but this year that seemed to have taken over a lot of the shopping zones. There was little in between low end and high end at the show this year, meaning there wasn't much choice of shopping. However, this year saw a large take over from the Vintage retailers, more so than before. This may be clinging on to their idea of trying to do things for yourself, as for the first time they've included a "Sknitch" section promoting the idea of shopping second hand and making things for yourself. However, this zone was a little half hearted; i was expecting demonstrations and money saving ideas, but it just seemed to be people trying to sell their wears.

The feel of the show this year felt very young, as though it's a lot more aimed at younger girls, or mum's and daughters, which isn't exactly what 20-something fashion students are after. The strongest point of the show was the pink, beauty zone. It had a great selection from high end to low end make up, and cosmetics, making there something for everyone. My personal favourite was the Models Own stand and their brilliant offer of 3 items for £10 and a make up bag of goodies. I bought myself some nail varnish and got the goody bag too, which was full of Models Own make up; something i've never tried before, but will give me the opportunity to try and i'll consider reviewing some products on here, if you're interested. You can see my thoughts on the polishes i bought here and here.

The Diet Coke Catwalk held fashion shows throughout the day, of which i caught the New Look show. They showcased a range of looks from office wear to Christmas party looks. There was also a beauty stage, a dance area and the OK Catwalk where i caught the tail end of a Q&A with Jeff Brazier and George Lamb. Talking of celebs, we happen to catch sight of TOWIE's Lauren Goodger walking away from her Lauren's Way stand, practically teetering in her whacking great Louboutin stilletos. What topped her off was the fact she wasn't even acknowledging her fans, but getting her 'people' to tell them she wasn't doing pictures; how incredibly rude! I found it ridiculous that someone so half famous was being so rude to poor influenced girls, without those girls she would be nowhere so i found it a little hard to take.

Where the Clothes Show excelled this year was the fashion show on the main stage, entitled A Night in A Department Store. They had clearly worked hard on the performance, and it really shone threw. They presented everything from Bridal to Hip Hop, with stars BB from E4's Dirty Sexy Things, America and Ireland's Next Top Model Winner Jade Thompson and Kimberly Wyatt from Her Majesty and the Wolves in the show. To kick off there was a little introduction from George Lamb and B&INTM judge Grace Woodward, followed by a performance from X Factor winner Alexandra Burke; what a star studded affair!

I decided to wear something comfortable and pretty, as we had a long way to go and it's always very hot in the NEC.

Playsuit: Topshop | Cardigan: H&M | Necklace: H&M | Tights: Primark | Boots: Missguided (Past Season) | Bag: Primark

It was the right decision as i was comfortable all day!

K|xo