Fashion Flash Mob

Hey kitty cats, another quick Manchester event for y’all – you all know how I love supporting this city and our fab fashion sense (even if I do say so myself!).

This one with a new one for me, my first event at the Manchester Arndale. Now, despite being an inaugral part of Manchester city centre, with with over 240 shops and major department stores, plus restaurants and fast food outlets, it seems that in the past the Arndale hasn’t been engaging with the huge Manc fashion scene as much it perhaps could have. I mean, it hosts hundreds of fashion stores right in the city centre – it’s high street fashion heaven! 

However, that is all changing and recently the Arndale has made a huge, brave leap into the fashion and social networking world.. And I am so lucky to be involved with it!

Last weekend I was invited to Fashion Flash Mob, a three day event running over a long weekend, and I was lucky enough to be invited over on Friday night to have a sneak peak before the busiest days, Saturday and Sunday, kicked off.

So what is a Fashion Flash Mob? Well, kittens, it’s basically in the name! Over 1,000 pieces of new spring fashions were modeled by professional dancers popping up in fashion show-come-dance routine flashmobs in four locations dotted around the Arndale centre. They concentrated on key trends from the Spring/Summer 2013 collections and included some huge retail brand names, including Ark, River Island, Dorothy Perkins, Lipsy, American Apparel, Warehouse, New Look and many more – phew!

Arriving on Friday evening, I was able to catch the Pop pop-up show (what a mouthful) at the Halle Square area, near to Fm Boutique and the Early Leaning centre. I really loved this collection, as there were so many items I found myself liking even though I hardly ever go in this shop. It definitely caught my eye and now I’ll make a point of stopping by Pop in the near future, which is exactly the point of an event like this. As a typical shopper, the effect certainly worked on me!

The second show I watched was the less fashionable Manchester City store pop-up routine – not exactly my style but it had the added help of taking place on a rotating record-shaped stage, with lights, music and crowds to boot. This one took place in Exchange Court near Next and definitely attracted a huge crowd. I’m sure even more people would have gathered here on the Saturday, it really was an exciting sight!

As an added bonus, directly after each five minute show, a limited amount of exclusive envelopes containing numbers to watching customers giving them the chance to win an instant prize back in store. One lucky customer would have a winning number matching to one at the retailer’s till. Prizes up for grabs include £50 gift cards, handbags, sunglasses and clothing items from the new SS13 ranges. What a treat, eh? Other promotions over the weekend saw selected ‘flash sale’ discounts in some stores for one hour only after the dance performances – everyone loves a bargain!

I finished off my fashion fix with a stop by the pop-up Evans stand on the first floor, which showcased some of their most popular Spring/Summer 2013 trends. I was talked through the collection by a couple of super friendly and enthusiastic Evans colleagues, who raved about the embellishments and bright prints on the new items. For anyone who thought Evans was a bit “mumsy” (hands up, me included) it certainly isn’t anymore!

After I watched both shows and visited the Evans concession, I went back to Halle Square where they had a number of pop up beauty counters – I think five or six – where brands such as Superdrug, Lush, Bumble and Bumble, Superdry and Hotel Chocolat were demonstrating their hair and make-up products. Although offering makeovers, I came straight from work with a face full of make-up, so decided to simply try out some products instead. Unfortunately, as I arrived so late I didn’t have time to try out the Hotel Chocolat, Bumble and Bumble and Body Shop products but I was taked through The Fragrance Shop and Superdry products – who knew Superdry had a make-up range?!

However, I spent a lot of time with the lovely lady on the Lush counter – I swear they have the best customer service ever! She showed me their colour wheel based on a colour therapy theory (a bit out there, but I rolled with it, quite literally as we had to spin the wheel to decide our colours!). I closed my eyes, spun the wheel and picked out the first three colours I was subconsciously drawn to – surprisingly, two pinks and a blue. These were supposedly traits of mine and equated to Calm, Charm and Passion! What d’ya think, kittens?

I had a lovely time on my quick tour of the event and I only wish I had more time to spend with the ever lovely Arndale employees – I was made to feel so welcome and I couldn’t have felt comfortable enough. Everyone I spoke to was so enthusiastic about their roles in the day and I was left looking forward to the next event – I still am! David Allinson, centre director, said of the event “we wanted to do something a bit different instead of a usual fashion catwalk show and felt the immediacy of the flashmob fashion event was in keeping with our customers’ interests and lifestyles. Everyone is so busy these days we thought it was the perfect way to showcase fashion on the move.” 

So kittens, what’s your favourite fashion show location? Do you like the idea of pop up fashion shows whist your shopping? Would you get your hair and makeup done whilst shopping? Leave me a comment below and let me know! And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, like my Facebook page and subscribe to my Youtube channel to keep up to date with all things fashion!