The BSB Team spent the weekend getting our make-up and nails done for free, being showered with free beauty products and Editor-At-Large Rachel Charlton even ending up sipping champagne on an exclusive VIP table with a reality TV star.
No, sadly, we have not yet entered the world of fashion blogging royalty, but we did have the chance to attend ‘Britain & Ireland’s Next Top Model Live’, which had been advertised as ‘The Ultimate Girls’ Day Out’. And what a day it turned out to be.
Held in London’s Excel Exhibition Centre over the last weekend in October, ‘Next Top Model’ is a day out of fashion, beauty, catwalk shows and expert advice, topped off with endless free samples and a ‘dress-to-impress’ galore attitude of attendees.
When Set Loose With A Press Badge…
First, we took advantage of the makeovers offered by Revlon and the London College of Beauty, where I ditched my staple smoky eye look for a day and asked to be given a 'natural' look and Rachel C got a manicure - all for free, of course!:
Rachel Charlton, Starting A Riot...
Later on, Rachel spent time with The Only Way is Essex’s Amy Childs - who was promoting her new clothing line - chatting over champagne at the press bar. It would have been a fabulous occasion, had she not then spilt her drink over the star and got rugby-tackled out of the area by her security. Quite hilarious, if I do say so myself...
Rachel sneaks a shot of Amy over the press table, shortly before becoming 'BFFs'
The Catwalk
The winner of this year's Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model, Jade Thompson, starred in a spectacular catwalk extravaganza in the evening, along with the other girls from the TV show, mixed in with the addition of talented (and may we say ‘oh-so-topless’) male dancers and musical performances from Luminites and Bluey Robinson.
The show was a mix of concepts with regular costumes changes to make it feel like you were watching an entirely different show after each change altogether. Extravagant and exotically decorated lingerie was modelled alongside fairy wings and capes a lá ‘Victoria’s Secret’ and we fell in love with the luxe evening dresses to-die-for in opposing monochrome looks of ‘ice-queen’ white or ‘femme fatale’ black. The girls rocked a trashy-yet-classy look in leather and fishnets – an antithesis to the earlier display of a more floral 50’s inspired theme. They donned Perspex ‘stripper heels’ with feminine dresses and yet, it all worked.
For fashion fanatics, Britain & Ireland’s Next Top Model Live offered a haven of catwalk shows, clothes, beauty, accessories and style activities galore. We’d be utterly thrilled to reclaim our press passes back next year, guys. Not that we’re trying to hint or anything…
Check out some more photos from our fashion day out:
Editor-at-Large Rachel Charlton and BINTM Judge Grace Woodward!
Designer Joey Bevan with his models backstage after his show
Text: Rachel Michaella Finn
Photos: Anna Peaston, Claire Napier, Rachel Charlton-Dailey, Rachel Michaella Finn
Illustration: Claire Napier
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