Spotlight on Hull Fashion Week - Catwalk Finale Saturday 11th April 2015

Hull Fashion Week (HFW) hit the streets of Hull during early April, a series of events all around the city centre from the 4th to the Finale on the 11th.

I may have had a bit of a sleep since, or perhaps been busy taking part in an international month long April A to Z Blogging Challenge, considering it's now the 11th May, a whole month later.  So whilst the HFW twitter byline was Fashion Never Sleeps - I guess my byline should be Mars Always Sleeps... or spends a lot of time writing alphabetically during April...

On the plus side who doesn't want to still be reading about HFW in May?

The Finale
An early morning downpour made for a rather soggy breakfast, but by the time I skidded into view of Hull City Hall (blaming the roadworks for my tardy appearance) I was under the balcony rather than on it.  Oops!

The Finale kicks off with the traditional balcony welcome

By this time, the sun was shining and the blue skies made for a much better first photograph of the day - it could only get better.

All the things a blogger needs for a busy day of Fashion!

My definition of better involved a well dressed wrist, portions of Thieving Harry's coffee served with orange chocolate flapjack, a programme for the day and making sure I had plenty of room for my notes!

The Catwalk Finale was presented by Nineties Boy (Luke Chambers) and Keeley Donovan from Look North, with added glam and sparkle provided by our very own Hugh Rice and Celebrity Guest Stylist and Make Up Artist Lewis-Duncan Weedon.

Luke and Keeley make a start with introductions all round and you can just spot Lewis-Duncan waiting to make his entrance!

Then we stalled... I'm still not quite sure why we got off to a late start but we soon got back on track, in the meantime it gave me chance to catch up with the lovely #HullBloggers - a great group of folk who have also been working their way through HFW for your reading pleasure.

Yes, yes, it *always* gets this messy, er I mean, busy at the Bloggers Hub!

First up was the Sportswear Catwalk and I couldn't resist a cheeky tweet about odd shaped balls, childish and an old  joke I know!  I adored the riding boots that came strutting down the catwalk - as someone who personally goes from boots to sandals/converse, without an inbetween phase, a good boot always catches my eye...

No shoe fetish?!  Wait, what am I doing at a Fashion Event? Oh I wear clothes, phew!

Even the Mascots joined in the Catwalk fun with a "Walk Off" between the two!

We had boxing tips with Tommy Coyle demonstrated by the audience on stage, throwing their first (and hopefully only) punch of the day... I certainly didn't hear about any casualties; although I may have accidentally elbowed someone in the coffee queue later on!

Boxing Tips with Tommy Coyle

Festival Wear was a popular catwalk, unsurprising as Hull hosts a broad range of festivals throughout the year, outfits here catering to our ideal of sunny summer festivals, with less for the muddy field variety but I guess there are only so many ways you can style a variety of wet weather gear and wellies!

Bonus Flashback Post - Silver & Mud - How to wear great jewellery in a field from 2013

I think this one was popular with my fellow #HullBloggers as there were a lot of photos being snapped during this catwalk!

#HullBloggers - Hard at Work for Hull Fashion Week

Then it was time for a masterclass in Upcycyling old outfits!

Upcycled from old outfits

First we had a mini catwalk of the outfits and then our guest presenters took us through each look and how it had been created... you can certainly get a lot of mileage out of one pair of jeans.

When I borrowed my mum's net curtains in the 80's I'm not sure I was quite so good on the sewing side of upcycling... probably because I had to hang them back up in the window after the night out! (True Story)  

I love this element of fashion as I used to make a lot of my own clothes (badly sewn) although my Grandma's curtains never did make it back on the rail (Another True Story) as they were a more permanent donation to my wardrobe!

Guest presenters talking us through the concept and each outfit.

Next catwalk was Celebration and can I just say from the start that's it's impossible to take a photo of a sparkly dress, especially a wedding dress with a mobile phone... this is where my trusty Xperia Z let me down; I took 6 photos of ethereal ghost like figures before giving up, take my word for it though, both the dresses and the women modelling them were lovely!

Celebration Catwalk sans wedding and sparkly dresses

One of the elements of the day I really enjoyed was the Hair Piece, no, not an actual wig, but the segment of the day where HFW looked at hairstyles with H.Air Blow Dry Bar... Charley over at Rambling of a Beauty Blogger and another model had quick styles created on stage and Charley chatted about blogging from the stage with Lewis-Duncan.

All about Hair, Blogging and Fashion!

I slightly miscalculated how much time I had free at this point, as realising I was hungry I decided to nip out for a bite to eat... only I got sidetracked by the lovely market stalls outside, and guess who forgot to get a sandwich?

Market Stalls at Hull Fashion Week Finale

Actually I blame meeting Karma Feeling for the first time, well who would have predicted that one... the jewellery blogger getting sidetracked by jewellery?!

Karma Feeling at Hull Fashion Week

When I stopped drooling over the lovely bracelets and candles and made my way back into the main hall I'd missed a Catwalk, but was able to catch one of my favourite outfits of the day, a simple style but I've always been a sucker for that dress and boots look... am I finally fashionable?

My favourite look of the day

Just to give you an idea of how popular the shows were, this is a pic I snapped from the stage end, HFW Finale had a great turn out this year and it certainly felt busier all day.

Packed City Hall for the Catwalk Shows

#HullBloggers kept on working, I think a few of us forgot to eat properly during the day - next  year I think we need a food delivery to keep us going!

The audience didn't get off lightly either as there was a quick lesson in how to work the Catwalk, I wonder if we'll see some of these coming through in future Hull Fashion Week events?

Future HFW models get a class in how to work the Catwalk!

I've saved the very popular catwalk and segment that was by Paul Spence and the Hull Workmen's Calendar 2015 models for last, as a special treat for those of you who've scrolled down this far... I can't think why this generated so much buzz, but it was all for a good cause!

Hull Workman - flushed with success from charity fundraiser for HRI in the name of Paul Spence
back in the limelight to help launch the charity Paul.

Hull Fashion Week certainly kept the #HullBloggers busy - given that I've gone collage crazy I had to do a little montage of them too!  Mostly some of the more fun shots taken at the end of the day as we were quite busy during the shows.. Lewis-Duncan gets everywhere... by the way did you know he's an adopted #HullBlogger - fits in just nicely!

#HullBloggers relaxing after a hard day's work at HFW 2015

So for me and the #HullBloggers it was time to pack up and indulge in a little shopping, then for me it was time to crack on with the rest of that alphabet!!

Roll on Hull Fashion Week 2016!

Are you a fashion setter, a follower, one who ignores fashion
or a whatever falls out of your wardrobe person?