Where: 40 Holborn Viaduct
Joanne Black Style: Blue Balenciaga dress, Lanvin shoes and a Bottega Veneta bag.
Sometimes I do wish shopping was more like attending a fashion show. You arrive, you sit back with a glass of champagne – and in this case a cupcake – you watch someone else trying on the latest clothes, and you walk away with ideas for a whole new wardrobe.
Of course, there is an obvious flaw in my armchair shopper approach. What works on one person doesn’t work on another – a message clear to all those attending Tuesday’s ladies evening and fashion show. The event was more than just a trip through the latest trends. It was designed to give women access to advice and guidance from experts in finance, astrology, law, interior design, massage and styling (me!).
After watching a solicitor’s office transformed into a Central London catwalk, I was inundated with requests from women keen to know what would work well with their body shapes. Dressed in ‘summer’ blue outfits – from Jigsaw and Reiss – my two colleagues Jacqui Wales and Jackie Scully helped me share the styling secrets that no woman should ever be without.
I was delighted to see Jennifer Aston, my former Aston and Hayes tutor, at the event. Thankfully, she didn’t mention the ‘summery’ highlights that are running through my hair at the moment. I’m not sure they’d ever make it onto the syllabus!