Forget Prada Bowling Bags, this season’s must-have accessory was a ticket to Clotheshow 2000. Renowned for being the world’s largest fashion and beauty event, Clotheshow 2000, in association with the British Heart Foundation, has undergone a major makeover. 

A new look, a new attitude, themed rooms, celebrity DJ’s and a stack of shopping inbetween – it was all change at the Birmingham NEC from Friday December 8 to Wednesday December 13. 

T4 and Big Breakfast cutie, Dermot O’Leary and Don’t Try This At Home’s, Kate Thornton whipped the crowd into a frenzy as they hosted catwalk shows in the British Heart Foundation Fashion Theatre (BHF).  Select Models were out and about scouting for new talent, which meant you could have been joining the likes of Erin O’Connor, Vernon Kaye, and Lisa Ratliffe (the face of Calvin Klein) who’ve all been discovered in previous years at the Clotheshow event.  Melanie Sykes hosted the Galaxy stage introducing celebrity special guests and top pop acts. 
 
 

Bit of a shop-a-holic?… 

If so (and aren't we all) then you could browse along the “high street” that cut through each of the rooms and you'd have found: 

Red room/ Style Bazaar - Decked out in Portobello road market style, this is where you could get hold of cool bargain clothes.  You could  groove as you shopped with DJs from Galaxy FM as well as live bands! 

Pink room/ Hair & Beauty - Pamper yourself & experiment with the latest products in up-to-the-minute colours.  Celebrity hair and makeup artists were available to give you hot beauty tips and help with makeovers. 

Purple room/ Club wear & Street wear - This was the place to check out the best in urban and street style as Ministry provided the sounds and dancers rocked to the beats on the central stage. 

Green room/ Menswear & Active wear – You could make sure you'll look your best in the gym this winter with the latest sports gear, and take time to browse through the new styles.
A visit to the BHF mega stand was not to be missed where you were made to look and feel great! 

Blue room/ Designer Wear - Here was a chance to get to meet the up and coming new talent plus established designers like Ben de Lisi, John Richmond, and David Fielden.  And there was the College catwalk showcasing the work of the stars of the future. 

The best in high street brands including Timberland, FCUK, Ted Baker, Fruit of the Loom, Fiorelli, Jeffrey Rogers, and Barretts meant  that you were tempted to more than just window-shop. 

But there was relief for the weary fashion aficionado. Pamper zones, manicures, facials and make-up advice were on hand for those in need, or simply to relax in one of the chill-out zones. 

Clotheshow 2000 was presented in association with the British Heart Foundation for the third year running. And an absolute must-see at this year’s event was the BHF Fashion Theatre – anything could be expected from the spectacular to the brilliantly dramatic on their catwalk as models ‘danced’ down the catwalk and celebrities talked up the action with 6 performances a day.

Mitsubishi Motors worked in association with the British Heart Foundation (BHF) to help raise over £150,000 for additional research into Britain's biggest single killer — Heart Disease.
On the BHF stand at the Show a chic Mitsubishi Shogun Pinin 3 door was centre stage as first prize in their show raffle. 
Miranda Ford, The British Heart Foundation’s Director of Fundraising said: "The BHF is delighted to offer the Shogun Pinin 3 door as a major prize on our stand. As the main associate of the Clothes Show for the third year running, this is a great opportunity to promote looking good and feeling good to a young and vibrant audience."
"The £150,000 the BHF hope to raise by offering the Mitsubishi as the star prize will be enough to pay for six extra British Heart Foundation Nurses this year." 

In addition to this, the BBC Haymarket Exhibitions, the British Heart Foundation and the Asian Fashion Industry  joined forces to launch an exciting new campaign to increase awareness of heart disease amongst the UK's South Asian communities. This new initiative is designed to help pass the key messages about healthy life style and prevention of heart disease using fashion as its' underlying inspiration. Pictured above is the Indian Supermodel Farheen Khan announcing the initiative.

Finallly perhaps a good way to report on what the show was like is to share with you this e-mail we received from one of the winners of our pre show competition for tickets to the show.

"Dear all at www.birmingham101.com,
        just writing to say we had an amazing time on friday. I think 
you could say we were in our element. We got there at 11 and stayed 
until it closed.....even then we could have done with more time 
shopping. The fashion show was wicked...we were rather cheeky and moved
right to the front for a closer look. Definately a fab bit of 
thinking.....ie close ups of semiclad FIT men. NICE!! It was a really 
random day which started off with us getting up ridiculously early to 
catch our train...but it was worth it.
Thanx muchly
from Lynn and co.