Clothes Show

The clothes show is held ever year and runs over the first week of December In time for all that Christmas shopping this year it was held from the 2nd Dec till the 7Th Dec what ever the date is it always runs from a Friday till Wednesday at the Birmingham NEC & is on from about 9am till 6pm.

HOW TO GET THERE
We travelled there by car on the M42 Junction 6 and parked relatively close by it cost £7 and there where 5 bays and as ...
...years they have separated the Clothes Show into separate rooms calling them The yellow room, the purple room, the blue room and the pink room they now just have one large open area and have everything together in different zones. Which I don't really think works because my sister went for specific hair, make-up and perfume things but as every thing had now been thrown together you couldn't really organise yourself to go to a specific room to get ... more

The clothes show is held ever year and runs over the first week of December In time for all that Christmas shopping this year it was held from the 2nd Dec till the 7Th Dec what ever the date is it always runs from a Friday till Wednesday at the Birmingham NEC & is on from about 9am till 6pm.

HOW TO GET THERE
We travelled there by car on the M42 Junction 6 and parked relatively close by it cost £7 and there where 5 bays and as we where quite late we got in the last bay number 5 there was a courtesy bus but there where queues of people trying to get on so we walked it was about 20 minutes away and it was freezing but simple as you just follow the crowds but can be very cold! I wouldn't suggest getting dropped off because the queues off the M42 can be quite long and I think if my dad had dropped us off he could have quite easily gone mad!
If I went again I would probably go by National Express like I did the previous time it works out at about £25 including your ticket and they pick you up and drop you off near the entrance so it is a real bargain. You can also go by train and get a train directly into to NEC but it all depends where you live and how easy that would be. I considered this but it was just as cheap to take the car.

HOW MUCH ??
We purchased our ticket from the Internet for £21 and a £2.50 booking fee, which seemed a bit silly but I know a lot of ticket companies do it so we just grinned and bared it. I think £21 is a lot for the show because it is like paying to go to a glorified market and why should you pay to shop. I know the show is included but £21 for 45 mins really? and All those poor gals buying all their Christmas presents they must be broke.

THE ROOMS
In the past years they have separated the Clothes Show into separate rooms calling them The yellow room, the purple room, the blue room and the pink room they now just have one large open area and have everything together in different zones. Which I don't really think works because my sister went for specific hair, make-up and perfume things but as every thing had now been thrown together you couldn't really organise yourself to go to a specific room to get the thing you wants so you cant prioritise your shopping you just have to follow the crowds and go to which stalls you can when you see them.
THE YELLOW ZONE - This year it was described as "Camden Market meets Portobello Road" Well if they say so in this area there was a big Kiss stage, which was entertaining people by giving away free caps and Punkyfish empty bags?? There was also live competition between unknown DJ's and dancers where people had to shout loud for the one they wanted to win. This is ok if you want to listen to screaming kids all day but I thought it was a bit of a lame gap filler there wasn't anyone famous on there well except for Kenzie from Blazing Squads new band Friday Hill who played a couple of times throughout the day but it wasn't anything to shout about.
In that area you had a large Barry m stall selling mainly goodie bags but there was that many kids around the stall you couldn't get to see the proper Make-up so we didn't really bother. You then have the beauty café, KDK London, pure and Native-by-Native.
THE PURPLE ZONE - This was probably my best zone it was made up of stalls and make shift shops with the likes of Paul Frank, Golddigga, Criminal, Playboy, Mikey, Pineapple, Dunlop, Lambretta, Punkyfish, Kangol and Dunlop selling clothes, shoes and accessories.
In this zone you could also go and watch a live catwalk show of all the spring/summer Oasis clothes and accessories for next year which was quite good it was on every 45 mins and lasted for about 30 minutes and then you would be entertained for 15 minutes by a non famous presenter getting people on the stage and getting them to either do a strut, have a make over or have a singing competition to win prizes it was funny and entertaining so it passed the time which was good.
This area also had a boyfriend playpen which looked like the most interesting thing at the show it was a cordoned off area with half naked models welcoming in the boys to chill out listen to music, play with the latest Nokia handsets and print out pictures from there mobiles free of charge which was quite good for the lads anyway.
THE BLUE ZONE - This zone appealed to a lot of people bur I cant say I really got to see a lot of it as it was sort of the designer area of the show with make shift shops selling French Connection, Fiorelli, All Saints, David Bitton, Hooch/Bench, Ringspun, Juicy Couture, Zandra Rhodes, Betty Jackson, Calver and Wilson and David Fielden.

This zone also had its very own Cat walk which my sister loved and couldn't get her away from it was a bit more professional than the Oasis cat walk. There where female and male models all very slim and beautiful of course and they where modelling the new Whistles line the clothes where much more outrageous and not stuff you would actually buy it was more like something you see on the TV. There was also a champagne bar in this zone, which was very designer it was being hosted by Eve magazine, classy but not free so we didn't enter into here. You did get a free copy of Eve magazine though.
THE PINK ZONE - The pink zone is what we got most excited about before we went to the Clothes Show but came away very disappointed there where the big names there and the stalls where big but you just couldn't get near there was too many giggly girls buying goodie bags and not many people actually buying anything just wanting to have a look. You could buy from companies such as Superdrug, Miners, Tigi, Rimmel, Bourjois, Umberto Gianni, Oral B and Remington. This area has a lot of try before you buy areas which is nice you can have "free make overs" but do not be deceived you are very much expected to buy the stuff After and if you don't they aren't very happy. You could also pay £15 for a 15minute restyle on the Umberto Gianni stand but the queues went on for miles. There was also a stand that was offering free tooth crystals and another offering free hair straightening demo's on anyone.

THE CLOTHES
I think this is what a lot of people go for we didn't but this is where we spent the most time looking because there are just so many stalls. We trawled for hours looking around what we could and a lot of the independent sellers where all just selling the same thing at exactly the same price so it was very tedious and very boring looking at the same old thing! The designer stalls well they weren't up to much by my standards a lot where selling rejects French Connection where the main culprits of this ok they where saying they where rejects but you really don't want to buy a reject from what is supposed to be an up market clothes function. All the other things where last seasons clothes being sold at wholesale prices. I know this as my aunty owns a shop and sells Chilli Pepper and all the things she had sold for winter where they're at the wholesale price. The only thing was that the stuff on the stall you could tell was just the left overs and not the actual best seller because if they where they wouldn't still be left with them! I even asked Paul Frank about a Tee shirt I wanted and she asked if it was a Christmas design and I said I assumed it was as it had a pic of Paul Frank Ice Skating on and she said they where only selling last seasons tee's and then tried to fob me off with something else. Not impressed!!
Playboy also seemed to be doing ok they where selling off all their slippers for £10 which are usually £15 and I suppose they would be good for Christmas pressies but they where then selling shoes which I hadn't even seen in the shops they where that bag they where selling them for £30 and £40 and they had the hugest heels on. No surprise that they where half price really.

THE ACCESSORIES
The jewellery wasn't really up to anything either there was a lot of stalls selling those beaded necklaces 3 for £10 I am sure you have all seen the stall in your market fashion jewellery I think they call it. In other words cheap tat. I think the best jewellery stand was Mikey it was priced quite highly but stood out from a lot of the other stalls as it was selling good quality silver jewellery. If you wanted anything Specific you would have been struggling.

HAIR and MAKE-UP
All the stalls looked the part and somewhere offering quite good discounts but you don't want to be waiting around all day to buy a shampoo with £1 off! There where a lot of people queuing for makeovers and there was a stall offering free acrylic nail extensions for £30 which wasn't so busy. I think this was because a lot of people already had nail extensions and it you can go to your local salon and get them done for £30 but you cant get a hair restyle for £15 by a trained Umberto Gianni stylist.
There was also the opportunity to get your teeth lasered white for £250 instead of £500 whether that was a bargain or not I don't know but there was a lady having it done and it didn't look too comfortable and I am not even sure if she was just a model for the company.
The make up demos I feel are a bit of a con. My sister wanted to have one but me and my mum advised her not to I learnt my lesson from the last Clothes Show that I went to. I let someone try out this new face powder on me which you could also use as eyeshadow, lipstick and nail polish. I don't know what happened after that but the next thing my mum was doing was handing over £30 for the make up brain washed or what.

MODEL SCOUTS
These did make me laugh they go round picking people from the crowds taking their pictures and entering them into a main competition where they pick one and offer them a modelling competition Storm and Select model management where there and so where a few of their models signing autographs would you believe! I do actually know someone who got scouted at the Clothes Show and who is now a successful model so it is possible but a very big long shot. I think they said in the 15 years that Clothes Show has been running 17 Models have been taken on by Select so it isn't a lot and I think a lot of people pin their hopes on getting spotted well its obvious everyone who goes to the Clothes Show is dressed to kill (even me how sad) mostly to be scouted but other just to look the part and not look like a scruff!

THE ACTUAL SHOW
The show is probably the best part of the Clothes Show and is on for 45 minutes it used to be very boring and mainly just models dressed in outrageous clothes down the cat walk but this time I thought it was excellent there was modelling, dancing and acting all rolled into one. Each set of clothing had a theme. There was a mix of male and female models the male ones being the most exciting. The lights, background graphics, costumes and dance routines where amazing, I felt the show was well put together and a huge improvement from previous years. You could see the show 5 times a day and as we had one of the late ones we where bored waiting around and me and my mum where expecting the worst but it actually turned out ok and we left feeling quite entertained. Each year there is usually a famous singer at the show the last time we went it was Darius Danesh before he was properly famous that's how good the last one was, but this year we got the wonderful Simon Webbe which was really good he was so relaxed and sang his new perfectly defiantly the highlight of my day! On previous days Charlotte Church and the Sugababes sang but I am glad we got Simon Webbe he was lovely.

There is always a lot of hype about the Clothes show live and it does get a lot of visitors and a lot of press coverage but it really isn't all its cracked up to be. I used to go to the Clothes show ever year about 5 years back and I decided to go this year for some bizarre reason. I had a feeling that I shouldn't have bothered and I was right the Clothes show had in fact got worse over the years. When you leave the Clothes show do not give out goodie bags there are hardly any freebies except for a dairy stand offering free milkshakes, yoghurts and cheese! There where a lot of stalls this year offering goodie bags at a price which ranged from £1-£2 for a magazine with a sample sized pack of face wipes and some li lets and about £6-£10 for a Barry M goodie bag which apparently had over £15 worth of make-up, a Tigi goodie bag which was £10 and supposedly had £15 worth of freebies and a Punkyfish goodie bag with over £20 worth of goodies. Well wow weeee what a great discount I don't think and you couldn't actually see what was in these bag so you can imagine it was all the things that people really didn't want but because they are at the Clothes show they just have to buy something! I personally didn't buy anything except for an over priced hotdog and bottle of water which came to £4.20! I personally wouldn't bother with the Clothes show again I think it has one down hill quite a lot and the place is packed with young people who really have no concept of what is good and what isn't the whole day just ended up giving me a headache. If I ever went again I wouldn't go on a Sunday because you just don't get a look in.
 

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