#LRFS WRAP Party

Last night the Leeds RAG Fashion Show put on a WRAP party at Harvey Nichols to celebrate their success following last weeks fashion show. Harvey Nichols were kind enough to host the little soiree, opening their doors just for all the lucky Leeds students offering 10% discount in store and free drinks at their pop-up bars placed on every floor.

It is not often that us students get treated like VIPs but with the Harvey Nichols team on hand, offering free makeovers and styling tips it sure made for a fun night. Much to my sadness my DSLR had to stay safely in my bag all night with no photography officially allowed. But hey, they never said no instagramming! So apart from a cheeky outfit post shoot post a few too many cocktails, you can have a sneak peek into my night though my trusty little iPhone as a sort of 'instapost'.  

What I'm Wearing: Nasty Gal Shearling Jacket, Gap Silk Tank, Topshop Floral Trousers & Kurt Geiger Boots.

And say hello to my gorgeous friend Hayley. Little did we know we were wear colour coordinated outfits to this event. Matching!

What Hayley's Wearing: Nookie Jacket & Skirt, H&M Top, New Look Boots & Fiorelli Bag.

The clocks struck 6 and out came the specially design merchandise for the exclusive event.

Flashing your student card on entry, saw the return of a handful of free drink vouchers *oh hello* which were available to use on all of the strategically placed bars on each of the 4 floors of the Leeds store.

With the drinks flowing Hayley & I browsed though the store looking at all the beautiful pieces that were featured in last weeks show. Despite the rather enticing 10%, the Moncler Bomber and patent Louboutin's were still rather out of my painfully limited student budget *sigh*.

I seriously need this Maison Scotch jacket in my life!

The store was looking as beautiful as ever with wonderful visuals and gorgeous garments on display.

The gorgeous Lavinia at the Trish McEvoy counter gave us both makeovers after deciding that neither of us had done our make up to any form of acceptable standard. She used a lip product called 'instant pick me up' which is a clear gloss that intensifies your natural lip colour, I spent the whole night walking around with luscious red lips without worrying if there was lipstick on my teeth. Strongly recommended product!

What do you think?

Of course we had to stop off at Yo Sushi for a quite bit, that smell is just too hard to resist!

Cheeky little selfie snap.

Glittery blue Miu Miu, oh how I love you.

So, I need this Celine sunglasses in my life. My favourite fashion blogger Audrey of 'Be Frassy' wears them in all her posts and they serious work with everything. Check out her Paris based fashion blog here.

These vintage style watches by Olivia Burton were positively divine. A new emerging label from London selling some of the most gorgeous watch designs. Think Patek Philippe meets vintage Cartier at extremely affordable prices. Adding one of those to my 'must have' list.

Also adding these to that every growing list (serious almost as long as Santa's naughty and nice list - perhaps longer!?)

Well, of course I couldn't leave without a little something. Thank you to LRFS, Harvey Nichols Leeds and of course Hayley for a glorious night.

(Lets hope my parents pick up the not so subtle hints, after all it is my birthday very soon)

Blackhouse #LRFS

Last week finally saw the big night that so many of us here at Leeds University were waiting for, the infamous Leeds Rag Fashion Show sponsored by Harvey Nichols. So you've all seen my winning dress for the Harvey Nichols design competition (if not click here), but the big night was finally upon us and of course my gorgeous mummy and little sister Rachael had to come up for the show. 

Leeds is just so far from London, it has to be a pretty good reason for any of my family to visit but this sure was a good enough one, and with mummy up, I finally had an excuse to stop eating like a student see ya beans on toast , so we paid a visit to the infamous steak house, Blackhouse in Leeds city centre.

Roni, look absolute gorge in her vintage baby cord shirt dress, whilst sipping on her classic mohito.

I opted for the champagne mojito in my Topshop collar, Zara blouse & LF bralet.

And my beautiful little sister went for a Strawberry Sunset mocktail (cannot believe she is only 13, I was still in my green GAP cords when I was her age - oh how times have changed!).

We were rather undecided when it came to starters with all of us just wanting everything on the menu, so to avoid anyone from having food envy seriously nothing worse, we ordered tonnes to share.

BLACKHOUSE SHARING PLATE with fish cakes, salt and pepper chicken skewer, calamari and duck spring roll  

BABY SCALLOPS sautéed in garlic with bacon 

GARLIC KING PRAWNS in the shell with crusty bread 

The starters was positively delicious with everyone of us scavenging for the last of the scallops. Just look at that mouthful, crispy bacon and baby scallop, could you seriously ask for more? The sharer platter was perfect, and as advised by the delightful waiter it was only suitable for two hungry tums thank goodness we ordered extras. Next stop mains, of course Roni and I went for the biggest juiciest steaks on the menu, whilst Ray and mum opted for vegi options, which they both also adored. 

FISH & CHIPS with pickled onions, crushed minted peas and fresh tartar 

Rae's fish and chips were delicious, we all couldn't help but have a little bite of her rather generous portion. And how cute is the little pot of pickled onions?

WILD MUSHROOM TART with leek and brie 

SPECIAL: RIB EYE STEAK with dauphinoise potatoes & red wine jus

RIB EYE STEAK with skin on fries

Roni & I both ordered our steaks blue and the waiter almost squealed with delight and offered to give us both high fives. 

Next came desert and I know both mummy and Roni were super excited for the desert menu. Roni opted for the red velvet cake whilst both mummy and Rae went for the sticky toffee pudding which were all melt in the mouth good. My lemon sorbet wasn't the best but I still managed to finish every last bit.

RED VELVET CAKE with kumquat clotted cream 

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING with vanilla ice cream 

LEMON SORBET 

I must say, it was pretty tricky to choose what to have from the rather vast menu. Often the sign of a big menu is that the restaurant isn't very good and they offer everything to draw in customers, but at Blackhouse this is certainly not the case. Although the menu is rather large, every item we offered was absolutely delicious and left us wanting to go back the next day and the next day until we had tried everything on the menu. They must just employ rather talented chefs. 

If you don't live in Leeds, not to worry as they have lots of other restaurants dotted around the country. With a divine menu and an exquisite wine and cocktail list Blackhouse is the perfect place for a date, birthday dinner or night out with friends. Strongly recommended and I cannot wait to return for another feast.

We hopped in a taxi up to the VIP pre show champagne reception where my dress was on display in all its glory. Nibbles from one of my favourite little cafe's in Leeds, Froth & Fodder were passed round as little canapés and of course we all had a few two many despite being full to the brim after our delicious meal. The Refectory was decorated beautfully in its seven deadly sins theme with live models interacting with the VIP's acting wonderful as their delegated 'sin', until the doors opened and we all flooded in to grab our seats and see what glorious treats were waiting in our goodie bags.

We were all very excited to sit in our VIP seats at the Leeds Rag Fashion Show and couldn't wait to see what the ridiculous hard committee had prepared for us. 

The lights dimmed and the show kicked off, sadly I was too busy clapping and cheering for all the rather handsome male models that strutted their stuff down the catwalk to take photos, but be sure to check out the LRFS for more pictures and videos from the show (click here). The show featured gorgeous models in equally as gorgeous pieces courtesy of Harvey Nichols as well as the one of a kind vintage pieces which for me really stole the show. Going though all the sins in perfect styled outfits with performances from violinist, dancers, singers, harpist, in-between each set really transformed the event into a full blown spectacle. 

An amazing night, well done to the amazing committee who made the event such a success!

Harvey Nichols Design Competition

Every year Leeds university throw a huge fashion show as part of Rag Week and this year they launched a competition in conjunction with Harvey Nichols to design an outfit in the theme of seven deadly sins. After flicking through far too many copies of Vogue for inspiration, I decided to go down the route of lust and envy to create a design that not only oozed sex appeal but would also be the envy of all those who caught their eye on the hundreds of sparkling crystals on the front. Following a number of trips to Berwick Street to get fabrics, copious orders of Swarovski crystals and days behind the sewing machine the dress is finally ready for its big debut in the Leeds Rag Fashion Show tomorrow night. What do you guys think?