The mundanity of Sixth Form life is only bearable with the promise of
the weekend. Friday is eagerly anticipated from that malicious Monday morning,
and the remainder of the week doesn’t even get accounted for - you’re just happy
that they bring you closer to those two blissful days where alarm clocks become
unnecessary bouts of noise. It is rare to find a golden Monday; one without
train delays and decent winter weather. But it was presented to me on Monday 10th
December. What was even more pleasant about this particular Monday is that I
was going to Clothes Show Live at Birmingham’s NEC centre.
It was set to be a good day. With Christmas being round the corner, I
expected to be on the hunt for lovely presents, as well as one or two things
for myself… quite naturally. But the day didn’t exactly go as planned. Either
my expectations were too high, what with this being my first time going, or the
whole event was simply lacking. I’m going to go with the latter, simply because
other spectators at the event have said the same. One being a close friend of
mine and a student at the Fashion Retail Academy, and we generally seem to
think on the same level when if comes to matters involving apparel.
It was like TK Maxx but with a greater surface area. Forget the
hardship of trailing through ever-lasting rails at vintage boutiques; Clothes
Show was on a completely different level, and not necessarily a good one. Last
year’s trend of Rolling Stones t-shirts, countless wannabe Mina dresses and
endless styles of graphic tees were all on display at the event, it could have
been easily mistaken for an indoor market. The only things preventing this
illusion were the occasional established brands such as Bench, Superdry and Fiorelli,
but still, what they had on offer wasn’t exactly exciting enough to invest in.
At the 45 minute long clothes show, I couldn’t help but feel patronised
as a teenage girl. Audience and intention was clear from the outset, with the
presenters luring excited girls in with the promise of topless male models.
Excuse me for being mature, but I’m sure this entire event is meant to be
dedicated to fashion as oppose to the art of removing clothes. It wasn’t helped
with an overly egocentric model prancing around on the catwalk, thinking he was
amazing wearing nothing but random stripes of leather that looked strikingly
similar to a dog eaten waistcoat.
The show was opened by Shane Ward, of X Factor fame, singing his last
single, ‘If that’s okay with you’ and then the show began. I was surprised to find that the opening catwalk was on trend, a first
for the entire day. Autumn/Winter 07 trends strutted down the catwalk,
architecture silhouettes, a la Viktor & Rolf, lead the way followed by Xena
inspired pleated leather skirts.
Midway through the show, American Apparel’s trademark body-con lycra
clothing was shown alongside other bright, neon clad garments. The models
danced to 80s pop, ranging from Cyndi Lauper to Wham, looking like holograms
from a SuperSuper magazine cover page.
Overall, the fashion show was less about fashion and more about style.
Pure entertainment seemed to be the basis of the event, rather than it being
must-go to event for eager fashionistas, which is a shame for all the hype that
goes behind promoting the show was clearly wasted.
At the 45 minute long clothes show, I couldn’t help but feel patronised
as a teenage girl. Audience and intention was clear from the outset, with the
presenters luring excited girls in with the promise of topless male models.
Excuse me for being mature, but I’m sure this entire event is meant to be
dedicated to fashion as oppose to the art of removing clothes. It wasn’t helped
with an overly egocentric model prancing around on the catwalk, thinking he was
amazing wearing nothing but random stripes of leather that looked strikingly
similar to a dog eaten waistcoat. 
