The Clothes Show 2010

The behemoth that is The Clothes Show made its annual stop at Birmingham’s NEC, and yet again was extremely well attended. The vibrant colour themed halls played host to the massive crowd of eager attendees who were on a variety of personal missions be it getting that free makeover, bagging that fashionable must have at a reasonable price or, just doing research for some college project. The Clothes Show has always been a joy to visit despite the obvious drawbacks of just the sheer amount of people who go there, and even with patently obvious problems in the world economic situation, there seems to be no let up in those interested in fashion, whether it’s make-up, clothes, jewelry or nail art etc.

We’ve seen other shows diminish over the years, but not so for The Clothes Show, and as expected, all the usual suspects were there, Rimmel (doing makeovers for £5.00), Paul Smith (with their atypical unfeasibly large queue awaiting entry outside), Pantenne (giving out free samples of their latest shampoo range and filming for the 'swish factor'). The stylish spectacle of the major names in the business were surrounded by catwalks, such as the Red Carpet Designer Catwalk, the Clothes Show Live's Image catwalk and the Cosmopolitan Stage (with people from the TV show 'The Only Way Is Essex' giving out goodie bags). The opportunities for free samples and competitions, and signing up to mailing lists was as usual, overwhelming, but to relieve you from that the Gatecrasher bar was within reach, where you could have a cocktail and listen to music from the live DJ. If that’s not your style there were even masseurs there to ease that stress away, with the ever so tempting offer of “you pay whatever you feel the service was worth”, with the addition of the guideline “anywhere from £5 to £20”.

If that doesn’t sound like the complete picture you’d be right, because as well as the fashion world other stalls were present too, such as the RAF (with the chance to sit in a pilot seat proving too much for some, and fortunately, the members of staff who were there were obliging in posing for photographs), the “Get On Campaign” (free scooter rides for younger people) and, Christian Audigier, who were selling designer wine and champagne bottles. Also there were “Style Magazine” who were trying to promote shopping in Birmingham, and in doing so, giving you the chance to sign up to their mailing list and win a pair of shoes. Who could resist!?

But of course, the main attraction? The main Fashion Show hosted by none other then the fabulous, Gok Wan. This years show theme? “A Night At The Movies”, but before the show proper began, the audience were treated to superb performances by Sunday Girl and Inju5tice. With the albeit brief but excellent performances done, the show opens, Mission Impossible style, with an excellent gymnast/dancer making his way through a “laser” security system with James Bond / Ethan Hunt precision, eventually giving a triumphant fist in the air as he reaches his prize, only for the alarms to sound, and the main dance troupe to make their appearance. Other themes to be included were the Wild West, Sci Fi, Gothic / Horror, Gangsters and many more.

This is our third year in attendance at the show, but in that limited time we’ve seen the show continually improve, building upon and learning from the previous years leviathan effort of a spectacle. In short, the Clothes Show at the NEC is an event that you simply must attend if you have even the most vaguest of interest in fashion, our only complaint for this year was, there was not enough Gok. I never thought I’d say that.

By Hunter & Bugrach