Last night i was lucky enough to attend Graduate Fashion Week Gala and Awards, having written for the magazine, the lovely Emma at The Dressing Up Box, editor of Fashionista, invited me and friend along. Some how i manage to sneak my self into events, god knows how i wonder - but this was truly different. The main ethos of GFW is to hunt out new talent in the form of graduate fashion designers, from all over the country (and now Europe) students come together to present their capsule collections to industry insiders. The event took place at Earls Court and ran over three days, which is open to the public to watch the shows, yet the main attraction is the Gala evening whereby the awards are dished out to the best collections. There is a strong panel of judges ranging from the CEO of River Island, Lorraine Candy editor of Elle, Dylan Jones editor of GQ (squeal!) and the amazzzzing Alberta Ferretti.

It was so refreshing to see that the creative, fashion industry is alive even after the doom 'n gloom of the recession. The entire venue was alive with both passion and ambition, which is pretty inspiring for a student myself!

Anyway enough ramble, more onto the event!

First up, i had to post a photo of the goodie bag ovbs!

Within the goodie bag there was some mineral water (yadada), a weird bracelet that is too fug to post (sorry), some L'Oreal Frizz ease cream (bonus) and of course, the main highlight: a copy of Fashionista magazine complete with one's own article.

So obviously i nabbed as many as possible!

I went along with my friend Daniella, and we met Emma and her lovely friend Emma at Earls Court, for a drinks reception.

Emma, Emma & Daniella, all looking a little bit fabulous!

Myself, looking grumps!

Daniella, at Between Every Line, everyone double takes her, its sickening, she even got street snapped by Japanease Vogue about five minutes before we came in!

After drinking some what three - four glasses of champers (it would be rude to not accept free drinks), we made our way into the venue, where i spotted many faces of fashion, including:

Erin O' Connor

Crazy pink haired Zandra Rhodes

The ever beautiful Bonnie Wright, massive HP fan - had to restrain one's self.

eee! Nicola from Girls Aloud, strikingly beautiful in vintage Vivienne Westwood.

She was lovely, i managed to chat to her as she was leaving. So nice and down to earth, and i managed to have a photo with her, which remains on my friends camera, so i'll post that once she sends it my way!

I also managed to spot Emma Hill, the creative director of Mulberry. The poor women didn't know what had hit her when i sprung upon her! The night before she won a Glamour Award for best accessories, she was the master mind behind the Alexa, of course she deserves awards. Emma was a lovely lady, stopped for a chat (and alas another photo) about her disgustingly beautiful pink-leopard print Alexa clutch as well her new AW10 dress. Big envy right there. She gave my bayswater a stroke and told me 'to enjoy my bag!.' I want her to be my friend asap.

Yes, that is the small kid from Divsity, And yes, i did have my photo taken with them - the shame!

The catwalk.

Diveristy opening the show - very random.

Bonnie Wright handing out an award.

One collection of the finalist list.

Nicola Roberts.

My awful iPhone camera.

Lorraine Candy, editor of Elle.

Alexander McQueen won an award too, his CEO on behalf of Lee accepted the award, it was very sad to hear his moving speech and see the hint of tears in his eyes. However, it was wonderful to see that Lee's designs were the basis behind so many of the students work and collections, gone but never forgotten.

Dylan Jones, the suave editor of GQ.

The winning collection by Rebecca Thomson, of Manchester University of Art,won the £20,000 River Island Gold Award, presented by italian designer and simply fabulous Alberta Ferretti.

This was one hell of a fabulous night - bring on next year ;)