(Outfit: Gap trousers, French Connection shirt £45, Stan Smith trainers - all current)
Yesterday I styled and presented a charity lunch for 200 ladies at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens - a place which is dear to my heart and which will probably be known to many of you. The glass in the glasshouses is 100 years old and desperately needs replacing, so the aim of the lunch was to help to raise money towards the £1m target. I was invited by the Trustees and the Gardens' PR Company to style the event way back in February and it was lovely to see everything come to fruition at last.
I always start such busy days in really casual, practical clothes because there is a huge amount of running around to do before an event starts. I usually end up getting changed in a cupboard about two minutes before we start, which was exactly the case yesterday.
The function rooms at the Botanical Gardens have recently been re-furbished and they looked amazing. It's a great venue for a wedding or function and the gardens are so beautiful that you can be sure of fantastic photographs. So much thought and effort went in to making everything look fantastic which was no mean feat for small but very dedicated team.
The clothes for the event were lent to me by House of Fraser, Reiss, Jigsaw and Karen Millen, with bits and bobs bought from other brands.
This is a very grainy shot of the ladies in their "Ascot" look but I like the relaxed feel to it. We had a couple of press photographers so I will share some more photos at a later date. During the event we took a metaphorical walk through the summer season, covering looks for a wedding, Henley, a trip to the tennis plus a festival or picnic. Some of the hats for the Ascot look were provided by Sally from Sharper Millinery. For anyone who needs a hat for a special event, Sally is the lady to contact!
Although I had been doing the groundwork for several weeks, the clothes and shoes were finally collected on Monday, taken home to be hung up and organised, packed and taken to the event on Wednesday, packed and returned home Wednesday night and re-packed to be returned to the stores today. This is how I was looking this morning - a little wrung out I think - and still wearing trainers, albeit different ones, for more dashing around town.
(Outfit: GAP trousers, Jigsaw coatigan £149, Whistles scarf £45, (all current) Nike trainers, Kate Spade bag - older)
