It was with slight trepidation that I headed into London on Tuesday afternoon to start preparations for attending the British Fashion Awards (BFAs). On the one hand I was bubbling over with excitement to be in the vicinity of some of this country’s greatest fashion talents. On the other I was completely petrified they’d spot me as an obvious fashion fraud and ban me from entering the Savoy... thankfully this particular fear proved to be unfounded.
My stress levels on the day were not aided by my outfit planning indecision. The lovely Justin and Julia from Stanwells had offered to lend me a dress to wear, but unfortunately they didn't arrive in time and that meant I had to leave for London without a proper outfit plan. Thankfully my route to our apartment for the evening took me directly past Ted Baker’s store on Regent Street. I dashed in and announced to the poor member of staff who approached me to offer their help that I had "10 MINUTES TO GET A DRESS FOR THE BRITISH FASHION AWARDS... TONIGHT!" Despite the time limit I managed (with a fair amount of help) to find a wonderful black 20s style flapper dress that looked great with my Whistles leather jacket thrown over the top and my new Jimmy Choo 'Biker' bag.
Once my outfit drama was sorted I headed straight over to FOUR London to meet up with my co-conspirators for the night; Amanda (The Online Stylist) and Victoria (Frills and Feathers). We had all been offered a complimentary blow-dry from the wonderful stylists at FOUR and thank goodness for that as the combination of wind, rain and outfit planning panic had left me looking utterly dishevelled.
Post blow-dry we scurried around the corner to our apartment for the evening. We were lucky enough to be residing at the wonderful No. 5 Maddox Street; the ideal alternative to staying in a hotel and without losing any of the amenities. We had originally booked a two bedroom apartment and were about to pull straws to see who was going to bunk up together when the concierge announced that we had been upgraded to a three bedroom suite. And what an upgrade it was... fully stocked kitchen, two bathrooms with complimentary REN toiletries and three wonderful bedrooms to catch up on our beauty sleep.
Once we’d settled in and overcome the initial excitement we set about the task at hand, namely getting ready for the 2012 British Fashion Awards. At this point we had been joined by the lovely Laura Johnson (Victoria’s sister and make-up maharishi - www.laurajohnsonmakeup.co.uk) who had undertaken to give each one of us a glam-over in under two hours! The kitchen unit in the Bartlett Suite proved to be the ideal surface to hold all the make-up and utensils needed to get us BFA-ready. My make-up was complete in less than thirty minutes and I loved it! It stayed in place throughout the evening and I was quite upset to remove it when bedtime came round.
We left the apartment just before 6:00pm and arrived about fifteen minutes later at The Savoy Theatre. The ceremony passed quickly in fashion-filled haze of designers, celebrities, models, royals and Prime Minister’s wives (well... there was only one of those). Highlights from the evening include Cara Delevingne's acceptance speech "Thank you for hiring my crazy self!", Manolo Blahnik's genuine emotion while accepting his Outstanding Achievement award and Stella McCartney's excitement and delight at winning the Designer of the Year award. Awkward moment of the night went to Princess Beatrice, who suffered a right-royal-faux-par by referring to Harold Tillman as 'Howard'. Ouch! We finished the evening off at Beat, where the after-party was being held. Although we ended up sloping off early and picking up a cheeky McDonald's on the way back to the apartment.
Thank you to everyone who helped make the night such a wonderful experience; Stanwells, Laura, Ted Baker, Living Rooms UK and FOUR London to name but a few. And thank you to my fellow fashion musketeers Amanda and Victoria – oh what a night! Make sure you check out Amanda and Victoria’s reviews (My British Fashion Awards Adventure/British Fashion Awards 2012) and if you still want more then you can watch my video diary of the day.
