Belfast Fashion Week is back for another season and this time around there is an exciting new aspect to the three-day glamour filled event, the inclusion of Ireland's first ever Fashion and Retail Awards. The exciting new award ceremony will bring Fashion Week to an end on Saturday 18th October at the Baby Grand in the Grand Opera House, Belfast.
The award ceremony, which contains 18 categories, is open to fashion retailers and outlets across Northern Ireland. A few of the categories covered will be best window display and in store merchandising, customer service, advertising or PR campaign, best store manager, shopping centre of the year and commitment to the environment.
Each award is open to all types of retailers, everything from multi national stores to charity shops and vintage stores to independent boutiques. Cathy Martin, event organiser said: "We have such a wealth of talent across the island of Ireland in terms of design and retail excellence, so its time to embrace that and celebrate what we've got, especially in the face of the credit crunch. In fact that sort of environment will ensure the cream rises to the top. We're very excited to see the entries."
Let us not forget the other events taking place, the schedule is hectic and will take up three days over the weekend, those being 16th, 17th and 18th October. Fashionistas, retailers, designers and aspiring designers alike will have lots to see and do and all the while they will be refreshed with ice-cold sparkling beverages provided by sponsors West Coast Cooler. The event will see some of Ireland's top models work the catwalk wearing Minette shoes by local designer Anita Flavin, along with this seasons hottest looks provided by top retailers and international collections. Irish fashion designers will also be featured alongside top international retailers. With all this in mind it is clear that there will be a great deal of exciting as well as original collections to view. Karen Anderson of West Coast Cooler said: "I've seen a preview of the collections and it seems Belfast Fashion Week is bang on trend for Autumn as the shows plan to bring a mix of sexy tailoring, checks and plaids, luxurious lace and a whole host of this season's must have footwear."
There are plenty of events to look forward to. Thursday will see boutiques and designers including Liberty Blue, Raspberry Beret, Oxfam Vintage and Previously Loved. Friday features stores from the Lisburn Road such as Blush, Posh Frocks, Excel and Max Mara. Saturday, the grand finale, features a brunch show with House of Frazer and later on catwalk shows will be held in the Baby Grand from House of Frazer, Kookai, French Connection, Great Plains, Warehouse and Coast.
Our own local model and former Miss Northern Ireland, Kirsty Stewart relaunches her modelling career after taking a short break at the beginning of the year. Since becoming Miss Northern Ireland in 2004 Kirsty's career has gone from strength to strength and she has become one of the most well known faces in modelling in the North and indeed South of Ireland. Kirsty has taken part in the majority of the Fashion Week shows in Belfast and thoroughly enjoys her exciting career. She manages to juggle her hectic modelling career with helping out at her family's butcher shop in Enniskillen and this is where she had been during the first few months of 2008. She now returns to the catwalk with a stunning new look. Expect to see a lot more of Kirsty as she gets back into the swing of things and can currently be seen on the front cover of this month's 'Fate' magazine. With all this in mind Kirsty looks set for much more success.
