Last week I was invited to an exclusive fashion show presented by Harvey Nichols. The fashion show, was held at the gorgeous Victoria Quarter in Leeds, the hub for designer fashion in the city. Although it was raining before I arrived, as soon as I entered the Victoria Quarter I was greeted with drinks and canapes to get me into the mood for the evening ahead.

Organised by Harvey Nichols events manager, Katherine Busby there were crowds of very stylish people mingling amongst themselves as they waited for the show to start. I soon started to feel the same atmospheric social buzz which surrounded me and I met two lovely Leeds Fashion bloggers, Jen from A Little Bird Told Me and Lucy from Miss Lucy Loves who were also at the event.

Lucy and Jen doing their ‘fashion blogging pose’

As we discussed blogging, fashion amongst other things I was then introduced to another fashion blogger, the eccentric and very lovable Elenor Snare from the blog Magic Square Foundation.

After more canapes and mingling, we were directed towards the fashion show where Harvey Nichols presented their Autumn/Winter 2011 collections from a whole host of designers. As we took our place on the front row (ok…everyone did but still the fashion front row!) I managed to get some pictures of the collection as the models strutted down the catwalk and the fantastic thing about this is that unlike the fashion weeks of London and Paris, these collections could be bought there an then with my 10% Harvey Nichols voucher which accompanied my invite…

Havery Nichols FROW

Left to Right: Ellie, Jen, Lucy and Me

The catwalk show included some of the hottest trends which we are almost certain to see on this autumn and winter and I must say if I had enough cash to splash I would be spreeing on a few of these ‘to die for’ items.

Scene 1: Nostalgia

The grey and purples seemed to be colours for Harvey Nichols ‘Nostalgia’ theme, with both the ladies and the menswear sporting the trend as well as some of our favourites which included browns and black.

As well as the colours, fur seemed to be making a comeback however this time in a more subtle way with jackets embellished with the trend and scarves.

Scene 2: Fetish

Next scene was the ‘Fetish’ and I must say it the looks certainly got a few heads turning, with head to toe leather being one of them as well as some excitement from the crowds as female and male models posed in some very gorgeous and sexy underswear.

Scene 3: Print

One of my favourite trends was print.  Often autumn and winter brings the awakening of dark colours, and it is nice to see some vibrant colours and patterns hitting the scene and I was in love with some of the pieces from Harvey Nichols ‘Print’ collection.

Although, I loved some of the menswear trend, the Galliano jeans certainly caught my attention as they were plastered with newspaper style text, quite poignant given the recent news of his arrest and court appearance.

Scene 4: Androgyny

Next up was ‘Androgyny’ fusing the traditional distinction between male and female fashion.  My favourite look had to be the white shirt from 3.1, the Wang leggings and bag and the Edelman shoes, showing that the Androgyny trend can look masculine as well as feminine in one.

For menwear, jeans tucked into boots and scarves around the waist seemed was cropping up on the runway, however I am not to sure how many men will adopt the latter trend.

Scene 4: Jewel Tones

Lastly ‘Jewel Tones’ showcased some gorgeous evening dresses with strong deep colours to make a show stopping statement.  However, I thought the white ‘Lavin’ dress with Louboutin bag and shoes, was a breath of fresh air from the long and flowy evening dresses likely to over power my petite frame.

For the men I was in love with the midnight blue jacket by Paul Smith, something which I can see many men flocking to get their hands on.

As the fashion show closed we were transported to the Harvey Nichols store to take a look, browse and even buy some of the gorgeous pieces in the collections.  Whilst browsing I met the bubbly Sabrina from Sabrina Suggests, talking to me about her shoe blog and her fetish from anything to do with shoes.

She was in awe of the Camila Skovgaard wedged boots pictured below, which we later learned that if unzipped they could be turned into ankle boots.  I love it when versatility takes place in fashion and boots like this justify us spending a little bit extra of quality and versatility.

After a browse round the store, we were taken to our seats to enjoy dinner with some more wonderful press people!  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to take pictures, however it might have been because I was too busy enjoying the food and the wonderful company all courtesy of Harvey Nichols and Katherine Busby.

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