Brighton Fashion Weekend

As a guest of the lovely folk at Brighton Frocks, I recently spent some time amongst the sartorially elegant and the beautiful at Brighton's Fashion Weekend. The annual event ran over three days and included a fashion emporium, special film screenings, open studios, widespread fashion installations and all manner of workshops around the city. The main event was a theatrical catwalk show at the Metropole Hilton on Friday night, featuring collections from Brighton's finest. I arrived in time for the dress-rehearsal (below).

Backstage before the show, things were exactly as you would imagine: an absolute frenzy of chaotic activity. It was a real buzz, as event organisers ran around barking one order into a mobile while simultaneously receiving another on their walkie-talkie. Meanwhile, photographers snapped away as models in varying states of undress queued impatiently around make-up tables. There was none of the cattiness that one might expect from such an event. All the - entirely amateur and voluntary - models were friendly and visibly nervous. While, front of house, punters jostled for seats or lorded it up in the VIP section, nails were being bitten backstage.



The next day, there was a lower-key show on a small runway in the same room as a fashion emporium. The scaled-down nature of this one (just a couple of collections and far fewer models) meant things were positively serene compared to the previous night. Before the show, models (who dwarfed all the normal-sized humans in the room) posed for photos and waited for things to get under way.


Despite the success of the previous night's show, there was no complacency amongst the models, some of whom found a quiet spot backstage for one last practice.

The insanely talented Emma (below, left) from Owl And The Grapes was the official reviewer of the weekend, so you can read a much more insightful and entertaining account of all the fun and games here.

Review by Rob Townsend.
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