it's not every monday night you get the offer to shop the wardrobe of some of london's most fashionable ladies, so when the chance presents itself - you accept! the invitation also promised cocktails and cupcakes, and - if you know me at all - these are a few of my favourite things. i met my pal the café cat outside of foyles on charing cross road just after six, and we headed on up to the gallery soho for voucher codes' biggest blogger party of the year... swap shop 2014!
already claiming to be bigger and better than last year's event, we were also promised delicious goodies from some of london's best and tastiest caterers, as well as generously donated pieces from some of the uk's high street darlings; dorothy perkins, matalan and boden to name a few!
the premise of the swap is simple; bring in five of your unwanted or unworn wardrobe fillers, get stamps for each - depending on quality and brand - and use those stamps to 'purchase' the pieces from your fellow bloggers; with hundreds of items only 'costing' one stamp, it was easy to come away with a mini haul... and that i did!
i traded in a few nice pieces; a dahlia dress that's sat unworn for far too long, a pair of top shop shoes that don't quite 'work', a dorothy perkins coat (that rebekah actually scored in last year's swap shop!) and a couple of new look ditties that i no longer wear, and earned myself eight stamps (a bonus stamp for twitter promotion was earned too!). eight! sally and i got busy shopping amongst the hoards of notable bloggers in the room, pointing out (but never really stopping to chat to) the recognisable faces as we shopped. it's a funny thing, recognising a face but not knowing how to approach them. i'd interacted with a handful of these girls at one time or another, but in a room full of familiar faces, it's kind of awkward to say hello.
twitter and instagram were awash with bloggers uploading selfies in their new picks, selfies with new friends, and - naturally, selfies from the photobooth with new friends (check out the hashtag #vcSwapShop14 for all the pics!). i scored some really sweet new pieces to update my wardrobe - a few of which still have tags attached! keep your eyes peeled for some style posts over the next few weeks - i can't wait to show you my haul!
after we'd done swapping, we headed back down stairs for watch the girls crafting at the "pinned it, made it!" table, where they were busy customising black tights, and stood in awe as twistina created lavish balloon head pieces to enhance everyone's already super stylish outfits. we drank cocktails, ate delicious cajun chicken from mother clucker, and devoured the sweets and treats table, before heading off with our sweet goody bags and our new wardrobe fillers.
thank you very much to the lovely folk at voucher codes for the invite, and to party sponsors dorothy perkins, boden and matalan for their generosity; it was heaps of fun!
