The LOOK Show 2011 A/W ( my view of a disappointing day)

So this is a long post but for a very good reason, this was a happy snap before everything.

What we wore my outfit:

Rogers & Rogers top I think via sue ryder shop

Leggings: Tesco

Sandals: Primark

Necklace H&M 

So as you know (as I said it about a billion times because I was so excited) I was lucky enough to win tickets for The Look Show, so I invited one of my best friends Eve to come along. We were really excited to see the new Westfield Stratford City centre, and could not wait to see what Look had in store for us this year. After a long, hot sweaty tube journey we finally got there and I can't say this enough it was mental we were there at around 12 and every space was filled with people. 

The place it's self is amazing, you have everything under one roof, but it was completely swamped which meant that shop's looked more like market stalls with queue's spilling out the doors for everything even Starbucks! Primark at one point was closed because there were too many shoppers in there, so me and Eve were a tad stressed but knew that the show would be soon and we could relax and enjoy. Oh how wrong we were ......

This is the bar in the centre looks lovely.

So we were going to meet the gorgeous Victoria and her friend who I could not wait to see because we had such a laugh last year, but my signal kept failing so me and Eve went to get our tickets and thought we would see her at the show. We went to the Look lounge which was amazing but we got told directions, and then it seemed that they wanted people to move on so we decided to head to the show and see if they would seat us. We asked some security staff where it was as the directions we were given weren't very clear, and there were so many shoppers it was overwhelming. He directed us ahead so we were told at the Look lounge we would be on the balcony, we were looking up to see were it was sectioned off and where the seating was. We couldn't see anything and were starting to think that this was not going to be good, we bumped into Lily and Gemma and after quick hugs they went to get some lunch as I thought we would see everyone later anyway. I phoned Victoria and told her we were upstairs and she said they were just getting their tickets and be with us soon, so Eve and I headed to find a seat to chill. 

 1st view not to bad still not great my camera was on max zoom here after being moved twice more  .....

 Final view, the white thing in front actual cut off the end of the cut walk when I sat down. Me and Eve trying to make the best of it.

This is where it all went wrong, the seats we were shown to first were just near the restaurant booths, but we were told it would be cut off for us and there would be seating. My phone signal failed so had no way of knowing where Victoria was and where her and her friend were seated, anyway we had to wait for forty five minutes before being let in. Than when we saw the view it was already disappointing it was so far away and I panicked that I wouldn't get any photos, then we got told to move and were placed by the corner of the booth were we couldn't see a thing as the balcony blocked the catwalk. I started to feel very drained and needed to sit down (being five months pregnant), we weren't able to have chairs where we were, so got moved back to where there were about twenty people in this small space (I did get a chair). So goodie bags in hand Eve and I were trying to make the most of it. 


Looking down no one had been seated yet and it had been age's, guest's were given some champs ( I did hear some people upstairs had theirs taken away) I just had water as they had no juice or anything. Then it was time to play musical chairs again, and we were moved to the other end of the balcony where the view was awful we had a huge white thing in front of us and could barely see the catwalk, the public had a better view.  Then some people were invited downstairs for seating ( lucky people and glad they got seats) others like Lauren were moved and got possibly the worst view I have ever seen at an event, she didn't stay (she will be writing a post too). Also was shocked to spot people who were Look staff helping with seating, sitting down in the third row glad to see that the staff got seats above guests, fair enough if there were some seats left over but there were at least twenty people all upstairs all looking just as gutted and fed up. After another hour the show began and to be honest we were going to leave, then Emma and Hannah come and were shocked like us that as guests we were nowhere near and couldn't see much. We just chatted and had a laugh and looked at our goodie bag bits instead, we didn't have a clue what collection was what as we couldn't see the screen. We made a game of trying to guess, we needed a laugh and felt complete void from the whole thing.

Blink and you will miss her, Sarah harding took to the catwalk, notice on the left side third row back the staff in white t-shirts (who helped seat people) at least got a nice seat, always good to know guests come first. (again photo take with max zoom)

The only way I got these shots was to have the camera between my legs ( glam) as I said before the white thing (which you can see in the last photo top right) blocked our view. I would post the rest but whats the point, no idea who's collection this was and because I couldn't see it I gave up caring. (These were taken at max zoom)

As soon as the show finished that was it, no time to mingle with anyone (did get a quick chance to see Steph) or anything so a very, very hungry Eve and I just wanted to leave and forget the whole day so we headed to Oxford street cold, tired and gutted. I don't know what went wrong but if you compare this to last years, it comes nowhere close. I thank Look magazine for the goodie bag but not the show it wasn't an event and when your pregnant it was the last thing I needed feeling stress. Eve made up for it by making me laugh and we took a heap of photos of displays on Oxford St (will post soon), So thank you Eve for saving the day. I spoke to Victoria and her view didn't sound much better, anyway glad for the people who did get seats and enjoyed the show shame I couldn't be one of them. 

Emma, Hannah, Tabitha and Steph and me.

I wanted to show you catwalk collection's, I wanted to say I had the time of my life but I can't lie and feel that I needed to speak for the non blogging guests too. Some had spent a heap of money on a special outfit and paid £60 to travel down for it, this is for them too. I'm sure you will see fab posts about it too (like Sarah from Temp Sec), but I hope this will help event peeps (not just Look) to know that if you invite people we get excited and we make effort to be there so please, please think about the little things they do make a different. So yeah, Look have messaged me and I will be sending them my feedback about the day (nicely of course) so will let you know. Anyway sorry this was so long, it's not a hate post at all I just wanted to have my say. 

Update From Look Magazine:

I was more than a little shocked when I looked in my inbox and saw that Ali Hall herself had emailed me (she's the editor), she expressed how sorry she was and said that they valve my feedback. They held it at Westfield this year because of the high volume of entries they receive, and wanted more readers to enjoy the experience. Anyway I won't go into every detail but I'm more than happy with their response, and I'm glad they got back to me that's all I wanted. As Ali knows I love the magazine (and by way of apology) she also gave me a complimentary six-month subscription, which she really didn't have to.

I didn't write this to cause trouble or because I think I'm special and should get any special treatment, as I said before it was just to have my say and also because everyone had asked me if I had a great time (I won't lie). I didn't write this post to gain anything except a response from them, so I'm so happy that Ali herself got back to me to let me and others know that they are sorry and are looking into the breakdowns in the agreed production processes. 

I hope (even if I'm not lucky enough to go to the next one) that it runs smoothly next time, as I love the idea of the show and think it's great for their readers. I'm glad to have read that some of you had a great time at the show, thank you to Ali Hall for your email and to the lovely Lara. P.S good luck with the new baby Ali x

So that's that, thank you for all your comments I'm glad you can see why I have written this and if you went I hope you did have fun. Now looking forward to seeing the collections.