Debenhams Press Show - Day 2

DAY 2- MORNING SET UP 

I can't remember the last time I slept so well. After all the commotion and hard work yesterday brought I made sure I had an early night and was well-rested for the chaos of finishing the set up for the press show. 

I was of the impression that the second day would be all hands on deck and a little bit manic but because of how much work we done the day before the day had a more relaxed vibe. By this point everyone had spent some time together and was feeling a lot more comfortable about the situation in hand so we were all working around each other and making plans for the evening ahead which was great and created such a chilled out atmosphere to work in.  

The morning was taken up mostly by mannequin dressing and minor alterations to the clothes and luckily the bags me and Kayleigh needed for our two accessories shelves arrived so we set about making them our priority in the morning, photos of the two shelves appear below. 

 Things really started to come together when the catwalk seating went in simply because of all the space it filled. You got a really good idea after that of how the evening was going to go and where everything was etc. 

 As the morning gave way into the afternoon we had photographers arrive, interviews being conducted and the lighting was finalised. Stylists also arrived along with their interns to sort out models outfits etc so as the day wore on the hall got more and more crowded and we became more aware of how little time we had left. The negative side to there being so many extra bodies as well was that the visual team got less time with the event organisers and therefore had to to rely a lot more on our gut feeling when making decisions. Turns out everything we done was bang on though which was great to hear. 

Below are the two accessories walls me and Kayleigh done. The first is of our sports luxe trend and the second is our tutti-fruiti trend.

I'll admit that these walls gave me such anxiety because they were literally on either side of the entrance and I was very aware of everyone watching us doing them so you really start to doubt yourself.

In those situations though you just have to try and convince yourself to trust in what you know and in the end we were both really happy with how things turnout out for us. We got a lot of really good compliments in the end and we were happy with the layout and the amount of products used so all in all we done the right thing by just trusting in what we know. 

 The sports luxe trend was by far my favourite, I love simplicity and so the black and white with the iridescent/monochrome colour scheme was right up my street. 

Tutti Fruti on the other hand was all pops of colour, eye catching tropical prints and shoes and really stood out from the rest of the room. From what I've seen on twitter and blogs from the evening this trend in particular was something people really gravitated towards and enjoyed looking at. Personally I was just thrilled none of the stock we velcro'd to the walls fell off as the day progressed! 

The two photos below are of the entrance to the hall and the catwalk area of the hall as a whole so you can see the progress from the photos of the previous day.

It looks sooo premium when you take in the two photos, hard to believe it was a totally empty hall before we were let loose on it! 

 We actually got away at 2pm in the afternoon which was great because me and some of the girls went out for lunch and cocktails (Which were really deserved) before going to the Glasgow store to get changed and glammed up for the evening event. 

THE EVENING EVENT

In true excitable employee fashion we arrived at the press show...super early and immediately regretted how keen we were to get involved in kicking back and enjoying our hard work. 

After awkwardly standing about still wearing our jackets we were thrilled to be handed champagne (which was filled up by waitresses when they got a tad low) and told to stash coats and bags under seats at the catwalk so we were sorted for the fashion show later on. Result!

We then set about searching through the rails and looking at the clothes whilst Scottish bloggers, Debenhams store managers and employees all filtered in the venue with some straggling models bringing up the rear. 

As the hall filled up with all these influential bloggers and employees from our work there was a real buzz of excitement. From what we could hear and were told people loved how the hall looked and all of the work we had put into the layout etc and being able to speak to people we would never usually have the opportunity to speak to was great! 

 Throughout the evening me and the girls got interviewed for some magazine which was one of the most awkward situations of my life having to tell someone who I was wearing (John Rocha leggings and a River Island blouse) and we also had a few situations where the camera man who was filming the event for Debenhams had turned around and was filming us which was also the most bizarre thing ever.

We actually got fantastic lighting for a group selfie since he decided it was something he wanted to film us doing. High-pressure selfies! 

 Some shots of everyone enjoying the event.

 And finally it was time for the fashion show! We took out seats and waited eagerly to see the clothes (which were already in stores but my store is quite small and doesn't receive all the lines) and we were not disappointed with what we saw! 

I tried to take photos of everything but sadly my phone just couldn't hack photographing models without blurring so I've had to make do with the few of mine that did work out. 

 I'm holding Kayleighs glass, I swear I'm not an alcoholic!! 

 See!

 My god the atmosphere in the room changed when the men hit the catwalk in swimwear 

Some of our safari inspired clothing, anchored by Star by Julien Macdonald.

Some Debut and Jenny Packham formal wear

Some of our new swimwear ranges.

 And to round up the successful 2 days and evening, some selfies to remind us of the fun we had! 

To give you a round up of how I felt after the two days I would say that any opportunity where I get a chance to take part in events that are above and beyond my usual position are extremely motivating and rewarding. It's also great to meet all the other visual members across parts of Scotland and spend some time getting to know them. After this and the training I was sent on I'm seeing a few of them quite often now! 

For me personally, getting to do things like this gives me a massive boost and a new injection of life into my job and if anything else it's just great to get out of Livingston for a few days and see a different city. 

Oh and did I mention there was free unlimited champagne? 

Debenhams Press Show - Day 1 Prep

One of the benefits of being a visual merchandiser for Debenhams is that there is plenty of opportunities open to you and I was lucky enough to get a chance to participate in the setting up of the North Regions Press Show for SS 15.

Now what our Press Show is is an opportunity to showcase all of our designers and core collections for this season and we invite store managers, bloggers and some head office staff, press etc to come along and have a look at what the stores across the UK will be offering over the coming season. 

So this year the North Region Press Show was held in Glasgows Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) and it was stunning!! I had to get up super early to get from Livingston through to Glasgow but the journey is only just under an hour and Glasgow is one of those places I get a buzz from visiting because it's so rare for me to end up through there, especially on a weekday. 

The photo above is the scene I walked into when I arrived at GOMA, it's one of those venues where you spend the first hour just admiring the ceiling and then you eventually crash back to reality when you have to start actually working and unloading the vans. If you ever get the chance, pay a visit to it because the space and height is pretty amazing as well as the architecture itself. 

The start of the day was like any occasion where you're out with new people, really quiet and people were unsure where everyone was from. I was also 10 minutes late to the gallery after being betrayed by my Google maps compas on my phone so everyone was sat in the corner waiting on the lighting guys arriving and i was the late person but once we got started and everyone was working together I met some fantastic people from the Scottish stores and by the end of the two days I had some nice new friends!

Day one of prepping for the show was just sorting out the layout and unwrapping everything that had been delivered from stores across the region and assembling our designer rails, lots of heavy listing and whatnot really for the first few hours, at least until we had everything out of the rain and into the building. 

Our team for day one was made up mostly of visual supervisors and assistants so it was great to work with others in the company who do the same daily role as myself. I've been with the visual team for 10 months now and it's great when you get to go out and spend time meeting some of the others in the country, I think with visual as well there's a real sense of comradery when we all get together. 

I was lucky enough to be paired with the lovely Kayleigh who is the Dundee visual supervisor and we got to set up and dress the designer rail area and we also got to dress two accessories areas that you won't see in this post but will be in a later one when I discuss part 2 of the event. 

We actually done a huge amount of work during the first day of prep and managed to get all of our mannequins into position and started to dress them for the show the following evening before going home for the day.

Below are a few photos of the day and I'll try to explain where everything is placed so you get an idea of how the layout is and the sheer size of the room.

So if you were walking into the venue the photo above is of the left hand side wall where we wee building out designer rails for people to browse and at the end is a mannequin wearing a selection of clothing from those rails. Each rail is set up for each of the designer/core brands we were showcasing. 

A view of the designer walls after they were built and layout was finalised, you can see the graphics up on the wall representing each collection. 

Behind that white wall is the entrance to the venue so the rails are to the right in this photo. What you can see here is the bottom of the runway for our catwalk show and that faces this substantial mannequin army here that will be dressed in occasion wear. 

This is the same white wall you see in the above photo but the opposite side so this is what you see when you first enter the venue. This was later flanked by two occasion wear graphics on either side. 

Dressed occasion wear mannequins (this was altered slightly the following day) 

Occasion wear mannequins at the venue entrance. 

Occasion wear with the two flanking graphics 

Our designers rails and mannequins after dressing, these were altered slightly the following day and some more stock was added to the rails. 

The view of the catwalk when you walk around the wall into the venue 

Another view of the occasion wear mannequins after dressing 

The goody bags that were gifted to visitors of the press show.

I should point out at this point that the stuff in the goody bags was actually amazing, I was really quite jealous of everyone who got one!! 

So that was the end of the day one prep, once you see the photos you can get an idea of how the room started to come together and all the hard work that went into making the room looking really premium and easy to walk around and look at. 

Later this week I'll post day 2 of the press show prep which really stepped up in the 5 or so hours we had left to spend on it and I will also be writing about being able to attend the event and what went down so stay tuned for that one!