Organisers have declared this year’s Style Birmingham as a huge success with fashion shows and events across the city.
From Friday to Sunday, Birmingham was the destination for fashionistas keen to track the latest trends and pick up hints from top stylists.
Around 7,000 people bought tickets for the main catwalk shows at the Town Hall and thousands more took part in other events.
Hosted by television presenter George Lamb, the Town Hall shows formed the centrepiece of Style Birmingham and featured designs from Birmingham-born designer Osman Yousefzada.
Featuring creations from high street names such as Next and Jigsaw, department stores like House of Fraser and Harvey Nichols and independents including Disorder, the shows aimed to show all that Birmingham can offer on the fashion front.
The Bullring’s catwalk event, called The Show, offered a more surreal take on the definitive looks for autumn and winter.
Spectators at the Bullring were taken on a journey by a mysterious narrator through the key trends on the elaborate set on the Lower West Mall.
With dramatic make-up and high impact hair created by The Body Shop and Regis at Debenhams, The Show included luxurious trends in the form of Masterpiece, Enchanted Forest, Into the Wild, Eccentricity and Hyperreality, while the soon-to-open Forever 21, the recently opened Lipsy and Thomas Sabo joined another 20 of Bullring’s retailers to set the stage awash with leopard print, faux fur and feathers.
Louise Hamer-Brown, head of marketing at Bullring, said: “The Show offered shoppers something that we can guarantee they will never have seen before. Everything from the styling to the set design, and the music selection to the extravagant make-up had been carefully selected to ensure that Bullring offered something different.”
Meanwhile, over at The Pavilions, Birmingham-born international model Ruth Crilly was strutting her stuff on the catwalk.
Makeover workshops, beauty events and style promotions were also taking place at The Mailbox, House of Fraser, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, the Great Western Arcade and individual retailers.
Alan Chatham, chairman of Retail Birmingham, said: “We’re delighted by the positive feedback from our retailers about the impact of the event on sales figures over the weekend, from independent stores to big name brands.
“In the short term this has given a real tangible boost to stores in the city centre, and we are confident that in the longer term events such as these will encourage new groups of shoppers to visit Birmingham as their destination of choice.”
www.stylebirmingham.com
www.browsebullring.co.uk/theshow
www.pavilionsshopping.com
www.mailboxlife.com
