Vogue Festival 2012

 Yesterday morning, Hannah and I attended Vogue's first festival at The Royal Geographic Society in London which was a two-day series of lectures, interviews, panel discussions and Q&As with some of the best creatives in the fashion industry, including designers, stylists and models such as Christopher Bailey, Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana, Stella McCartney, Tom Ford, Lily Cole, Rachel Zoe... the list goes on.

I wore a tartan dress from Apricot, Studded Fantasy Fabric blazer from Zara, Alba boots and doctor's bag from Topshop.

 

Hannah wore dress and bag from Zara and jacket and boots from New Look.

 

The hall had three counters where you could be beautified: Josh Wood who offered wash-out dyes and temporary extensions, Armani Eyes provided sultry, smoky eyes and Red My Lips matched the perfect red to your skintone. Hannah was matched to Mac Russian Red (one of my favourites), a rich deep red that pops at the same time, and I was matched to Dior Rouge 862, a gorgeous berry stain.

  

We nibbled on salted popcorn, peanut butter brownies (which were A.M.A.Z.I.N.G) and fresh juices.

 

Alexandra Shulman introducing Diane Von Furstenberg:

 

Diane Von Furstenberg then gave a lecture as she flicked through an accompanying slide show, entitled 'Turning a Passion for Life into a Penchant for Business'. It was amazing to see and hear her talking about her life, loves and career, and she was so beautiful and funny. What inspired me the most was that she said she decided the woman she wanted to be when she was young; someone who could pay her own bills, was not reliant on a man and was independent, and she had overcome so many obstacles in her career to get where she is today. Truly incredible.

 

We also saw Vogue features director Jo Ellison interview David Bailey. I find his work so inspirational so was really excited to hear him talk but unfortunately found myself a bit disappointed. He was very funny but wasn't giving me the inside scoop I was expecting or answering Jo's questions directly or concisely. All the same, an experience and interesting to hear some of his stories.

Tim Walker and Kate Phelan talked us through some of their globetrotting fashion shoots which was amazing, I'm such a massive fan of Tim Walker's work and he was so down-to-earth and inspiring. I loved learning about how they put shoots together and the places they discovered that they wove into fashion shoots.

Overall, it was an amazing day which was so worth the ticket price. To be able to learn and be inspired by some of the best people in the industry is an incredible opportunity, and I can't wait until next year's event. The only downside is we didn't have time to do everything! We had to miss fashion question time with British designers including Henry Holland, Christopher Kane and Mary Katrantzou otherwise we would have missed Tim Walker, and we missed the opportunity to have a mock-up Vogue cover portrait. Hopefully next year they'll have a bigger venue as we had to spend a lot of time queuing so we didn't miss anything - luckily Tim Walker did his session twice as there was such a high demand so we were able to make it.