Edinburgh Fashion Week 2016

Last week Emily and myself were invited along to a bloggers brunch at The Printing Press to celebrate the launch of Edinburgh Fashion Week. This is the second Edinburgh Fashion week and will be happening between Saturday 5th March and Sunday 13th March. The Mound will be transformed into a buzzing style hub over the launch weekend (Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th) with a packed schedule of catwalk shows, pop up workshops and exclusive exhibits. You don't want to miss it. 

Edinburgh Fashion week is hosted by the team at Essential Edinburgh and aims to bring families and shoppers into the city centre, and to celebrate the capitals creativity and style. It's about time Edinburgh's strong style scene was celebrated, and as the city's bloggers you are central to that scene. I for one can't wait to experience the buzz of a fashion week right here in our beautiful city. The Edinburgh Bloggers team will be attending the shows next weekend and will be taking part in the workshops (and enjoying the VIP area) so make sure you say hi.

If you want to attend any of the shows, you have to be quick as tickets are selling fast. Tickets are priced between £5 - £25 (Tickets available here) for more information check out the fashion week programme.

The Schedule

Saturday 5th March

12.00 - Kids Fashion Show

13.30 - Jenners/House of Fraser Fashion Show

15.00 - George Street Collective

16.30 - West End Collective

18.30 - Charity Show and Auction

Sunday 6th March

12.00 - Kids Fashion Show

13.00 - Princes Street Fashion Show

14.00 - John Lewis Presentation

15.00 - Thistle Street Collective

16.00 - The Edinburgh Collective

17.00 - Let's Talk Fashion, panel discussion

18.30 - Edinburgh College of Art Post Graduate Collective Show

But enough about Fashion Week (because you were sensible and booked your tickets in advance) let's talk about the brunch. The Printing Press (attached to the George Hotel) has just launched a new brunch menu and generously allowed us to sample it while listening to the plans for Fashion Week. First of all I need to mention the presentation, everything look so good (almost too good to eat). I tried the croissants and the cucumber smoothie and both were delicious. I can see myself returning to try the full brunch menu.

After everyone was fed and watered we were invited along to ANTA, who will be decorating the VIP area at Fashion Week for a glass of fizz. Now as you all now I'm not one to turn down a free drink so I happily made my way along George Street to the ANTA store. ANTA is a store I've walked past and admired the window display many times, but have never ventured into. The store itself is beautifully laid out and so much bigger than you'd think. Not knowing much about the brand I was pleasently surprised to hear everything they sell if made right here in the Scotland, with the majority being made just down the road in the Scottish Borders. They sell a beautiful range of homeware and tartans (which they design themselves). You can see their full range online or just pop into the store. By the end of the event, everyone was wishing for a tartan wall in their house. 

The lovely Helen and Kim from Wardrobe Conversations

I look forward to seeing you all at Fashion Week this weekend. Now to decide what to wear?

Jen x

Edinburgh Bloggers Competition! Chance to attend the #EdFashionWeek BRUNCH!

Hello Edinburgh Bloggers!

We have a spare invite to attend an exclusive invite only Bloggers BRUNCH to help Celebrate the Launch of Edinburgh Fashion Week 2016!!

All you have to do is....

1. Take a Selfie at an Edinburgh Landmark
2. Repost this image
3. Use #EdinburghBloggers
4. Use 'EdFashionweek and #EdinEvents

The winner will be chosen at random, announced on Thursday the 18th at 8pm! Tweet us, Instagram us or Facebook us for the chance to win!

Read about Edinburgh Fashion Week http://edinburghbloggers.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/press-release-edinburgh-fashion-week.html

#EdinburghBloggers

Press release: Edinburgh Fashion Week 2016

Edinburgh Fashion Week to Make a Stylish Return to the Capital

Tickets on sale now for award winning event

Now in its second year, Edinburgh Fashion Week (EFW)is making a highly anticipated return to the city next month to inspire Scottish shoppers and style connoisseurs. Hosted from Saturday 5th – Sunday 13thMarch, the must-attend annual event will showcase the hottest Spring/Summer looks, emerging designers and top retailers from across the city centre.

The launch weekend on the 5th and 6th March will see The Mound transformed into a buzzing, indoor style hub, which will feature a packed schedule of cutting edge catwalk shows, pop up workshops with industry insiders and exclusive exhibits. Shows will incorporate Princes Street and George Street favourites including River Island, Gap, LK Bennett, Jigsaw and John Lewis as well as collaborations from Thistle Street and West End retailers. Postgraduate designers from Edinburgh College of Art will close the launch weekend on Sunday with a creative collective. Show attendees can preview the 2016 collections from over 25 high street heroes and chic boutiques and take advantage of an exclusive EFWdiscount card to help them re-create their favourite looks. 

This year, the event will partner will breast cancer charity Walk the Walk to host a one-of-a-kind Moonwalk show on Saturday 5th March. An array of Scottish celebrities, sports personalities and designers will be involved in the extravaganza which will culminate in an exciting live auction. Other collaborators include iconic Edinburgh blogger Satisfashion and fashion movement Scot Street Style amongst others.

Following the weekend launch, participating retailers willbe running exclusive promotions across the city and the event will close with the Edinburgh Charity Fashion Show on Friday 11th & Saturday 12th of March in The Biscuit Factory.

Hosted by Essential Edinburgh, Edinburgh Fashion Week was launched in 2015 to bring families and shoppers into the city centre, to celebrate the capital’s creativity and style. 

Roddy Smith, Chief Executive of Essential Edinburgh – the company behind Edinburgh Fashion Week and EdinEvents – said:

“Edinburgh Fashion Week is a wonderful opportunity for diverse city centre fashion retailers to come together and showcase their offerings this Spring. The mix of High Street favourites, chic boutiques and new up and coming design talent will surely offer trends for everyone’s tastes. 

“Coming into the beautiful city centre, whether to shop, eat, drink or be entertained is a wonderful experience and our five annual events help to encourage residents and locals to re-discover what they love about Edinburgh. It is no wonder that towards the end of 2015 Edinburgh was voted the top city to live in the UK- jumping 97 places in the rankings since 2013.”

Alan Thomlinson, Store Manager of Jenners/House of Fraser says: “We’re delighted to be involved once again in Edinburgh Fashion Week.  There’s a fantastic mix of retailers taking part and we’re really looking forward to showing visitors what Edinburgh has to offer in terms of style.  With catwalk shows, pop-up tutorials and week-long promotions, there is something for everyone at this year’s event.”

Sara Morris, Press Assistant at Oliver Bonas says: “Edinburgh Fashion Week provides the perfect platform for passionate, creative independent retailers like our self to showcase their latest collections.  The city has such a strong style scene and we can’t wait for the buzz around the capital during the event.”

Retailers taking part include Jenners/House of Fraser, ANTA, John Lewis, Gap, Next, Debenhams, Pretty Green, River Island, French Connection, LK Bennett, Jigsaw, Oliver Bonas, Kakao by K, ALC, Covet, BISCUIT, 21st Century Kilts, Just G Boutique, Marina Rinaldi, Sam Brown Boutique, Odyssey Boutique and Jojo Maman Bebe.  Refreshments will be provided by Tigerlily.

Tickets to Edinburgh Fashion Week go on sale today (8thFebruary) on the Essential Edinburgh website www.edinevents.com, with single show and VIP packages available.  Prices range from free - £25 and early bird tickets will be available from 8th – 19th February.

TICKET TYPE	COST
Kid’s Fashion Show (unreserved seating)	Free booking
General admission to one show	£11.50
Early Bird ticket to one show (running from 8th – 19th February)	£8
ANTA VIP ticket (not included in Early Bird)	£22
The Moonwalk Charity Show (not included in Early Bird, all proceeds go to MoonWalk)	£25
Edinburgh College of Art Postgraduate Collective	£11.50
Let’s Talk Fashion panel discussion	£5
John Lewis Presentation	£5

SHOW SCHEDULE CONFIRMED TO DATE

SATURDAY 5TH MARCH
TIME	SHOW
12 noon	Kid’s fashion show
1.30pm	House of Frasers/Jenners
3.00pm	George Street
4.30pm	West End
6.30pm	The Moonwalk Charity Auction
SUNDAY 6TH MARCH
12 noon	Kid’s Fashion Show
1.00pm	Princes Street
2.00pm	John Lewis Presentation
3.00pm	Thistle Street
4.30pm	Edinburgh Collective
5.30pm	Let’s Talk Fashion Panel Discussion
6.30pm	Edinburgh College of Art Postgraduate Collective

#EdFashionWeek #EdinEvents

Blogger of the Month - Love From Scotland

Our first 2016 Blogger of the Month is the lovely Kate (Smidge) from Love From Scotland, a Scottish travel blog based right here in Edinburgh. 

Tell us a little about your blog?

Love from Scotland is a personal travel blog about living in Scotland, as simple as that! I write about things to do in my adopted home city of Edinburgh and the best travel experiences Scotland has to offer. My favourite thing to do is to go on an adventure!  I like nothing more than planning a trip, pulling on my hiking boots, packing up the tent and my camera and heading out into the world. My blog is about my life and I love writing about it.

What do you love most about blogging?

Apart from writing, photography and going on trips, I love the blogging community. I’ve been blogging in various guises for over 10 years and along the way I’ve made some brilliant friends. I also love keeping up with people’s lives through their blogs, it is why I really hope that personal blogging is here to stay.

What do you do when you're not blogging?

I work in the Built Environment field; I love midcentury modern architecture, learning about how places work, dealing with climate change and how we plan for urban and rural life. However, because I work in a city I often find myself craving the countryside, as you can imagine many of my city-break trips end up as a busman's holiday!

What do you love most about Edinburgh?

I’m a country girl at heart; having moved from a tiny village in Cheshire aged 18.  Edinburgh, for me is the perfect size for a city, it is not a cliché that you really do live in a village here. I also don’t mind the small ‘degree of separation’ you get here, it makes it feel more like home. I also love that Edinburgh is surrounded by fantastic countryside, which you can reach quickly and without the need for a car.

What are your 3 favourite blog posts (from your own blog)?

• One of my first dates with my husband was to East Lothian and this post about Seacliff Beach always makes me smile.
• The trip that kicked off my obsession with Scotland was to Mhor 84 and the Trossachs. Perthshire is so beautiful.
• I loved planning our drive around the North Coast 500 and everyone’s passion about Scotland. 

What advise would you give to a new blogger?

Find your niche. I started off as a travel blogger, started and abandoned a personal blog and 10 years later have come full circle back to what I really enjoy writing about. Focus on what you enjoy doing rather than the blog itself, content will quickly follow!

Is there anything else you want to tell us?

Every month I do a round-up of the best Scottish blog posts around the internet, the Scottish blogging community is diverse, and our talents in photography, writing and our ‘get up and go’ needs to be celebrated more! If you have a post you’d like to be included, give me a shout. 

Where to Find Smidge (Kate)

Blog - Love From Scotland

Facebook - Smidge Blog

Twitter - @_smidge

Instagram - @_smidge

Pinterest - @smidgeblog 

Bloglovin - Love From Scotland

Make sure you go and check out Smidge's blog and follow her on Social Media. We will be picking a new blogger to feature every month. Bloggers of the Month will get a feature post like this one, a side bar advert for your blog and links via our social media throughout the month.

For your chance to be our next blogger of the month, make sure your signed up to our blog list. You can get on the list by filling in the form here.

Holly Blue Salon

Last Thursday evening, I was invited along to Holly Blue Beauty Salon's bring a friend event. Holly Blue Beauty is a nail & beauty salon in Morningside which specializes in manicures (especially nail art) and HD Brow treatments. I was lucky enough to have been in earlier in the week to test out their HD Brows treatment, and can honestly tell you they know what they're doing at Holly Blue Beauty. You can read my review of my treatment over on my blog - Tartan Brunette (sorry about the shocking before pictures). To have a look at some of the nail designs the team have done, check out their Facebook page.

As with most events, the evening started with a glass of wine and canapes and a look around the beautiful salon. A few other Edinburgh Bloggers were also there, so it was a good chance for a catch up. Staff were offering hand massages, which were very popular. Unfortunately trying to carry a drink, camera and eating canapes is hard enough without freshly moisturised hands, so I gave the massage a miss. Although I have it on good authority they were very relaxing and hands were left feeling super soft.

Through in the treatment room, they were doing HD Brows demos. Everyone was keen to have their brows filled in by a professional and there were plenty of #browsonfleek that night! The chat then turned to all our past brow mistakes, from over plucking to let our friends do them before a night out. It's comforting in a way to know me and my friends weren't the only ones. Ladies never trust anyone with tweezers after a couple of vodkas - its never going to end well. Luckily we now know better and leave it to the professionals. 

Jen

Luxury Networking

If you follow this blog, you'll already know how much we at Edinburgh Bloggers love the Of One Mind Networking events (read about previous events here and here). I've been lucky enough to attend a few of their events, and every single one has been great. The most recent 2 events however have been extra special, involving a couple of my favourite things flash cars and cocktails (not necessarily in that order).

Back in December (on a very wet, windy and miserable night), Of One Mind hosted an event at Lamborghini in Edinburgh. This is the first event that my husband has ever asked to come along to, which I think says it all. What more could you want, drinking yummy cocktails surrounded by supercars. When else to you get the chance to get up close to cars like this (we even got to sit in a couple). We had a great time, sitting in all the cars, checking out the powerful engines and dreaming of one day being able to afford one. Unfortunately at around £300,000 that day is a long way off! In fact we all had a good laugh at the available credit options, for only £100,000 deposit and £3500 a month for the next 37 months, not forgetting a final payment of £160,000 you too could own a Lamborghini! Although they did have toy ones for only £8, so something for every budget.

As usual with Of One Mind Events, Juniper provided the drinks for the night, with unique cocktails created using Haig Club Whisky (the David Beckham one) and Daffy's gin were there, offering tasters. The Edinburgh Watch company were also there with a small selection of their watches. My husband likes his watches, so I had to keep him away, before the night got expensive (the watches start at around £3000, but are investment pieces).

As if spending a night at Lamborghini wasn't enough, the next Of One Mind event in January was held in Aston Martin. Now I'm not going to lie to you I was a little bit excited about this one, not fussed about Lamborghini's (their too low and sporty for me) but an Aston Martin is my dream car. Although they are much more reasonably priced than the Lamborghini's their still outwith my price range (one day). Once again Juniper were doing the drinks, and this time they brought along a huge range and we nearly had a full bar to choose from, unfortunately for me I had my car so couldn't try any of the cocktails. 

Edinburgh Watch company were back out with a larger range of their beautiful watches, their stand was very popular and hard to get a good look at. If your ever looking for a high end, luxury watch definitely check out Edinburgh Watch Company as they have a great range, and can help you source exactly what your looking for.

As well as beautiful watches and plenty of drinks, the guys from Knockhill Racing Circuit where there along with a few racing drivers. Throughout the night they had interviews with promising young drivers; Aiden Moffat, Rory Skinner and Ross Wylie, who all did incredibly well speaking in front of the large crowd. Around 200 people attended this event, which is amazing and shows just how popular these kind of events are.

As with the Lamborghini event I spent most of the night, checking out the cars. Luckily for me, a member of staff from the garage was more than happy to open the cars so I could have a sit in them. He even let me start one up, so I could hear the engine roar - probably as close as I'll ever get to driving one. As well as the beautiful Aston Martin's the garage also had a range of Rolls Royce's which were very impressive. These cars take luxury to the next level (one had spot lights in the ceiling and a rose gold dash), they were insane. Again when else do you get the opportunity to sit in cars like that.

The next Of One Mind Event is on Friday 26th February at Uncover Lab, Edinburgh. Check out their website or 'Like' their Facebook page to find out more. 

Of One Mind also do a lot more than networking events, as a luxury concierge service they can source almost anything for you, get you into exclusive events and help set up brand partnerships. You can find more information on their website - link. Hopefully I'll see you at the next event.

Jen