Events: Winter Kate brunch 2011

On Saturday I was invited to attend a brunch and catwalk show at Bacanal London to see the newest collection from Winter Kate, the ready-to-wear label owned by Nicole Richie. Given that it was a daytime affair and that the word "brunch" was involved, I was expecting a quiet afternoon of tea, browsing the clothes and maybe some eggs.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

To set the scene, I should start by saying that the event started at 2pm. This is arguably a bit late for a brunch, but the world of fashion is not one bound by the limits of time. The menu consisted of three courses with not an egg in sight (my first, and definitely not the last, surprise of the day), but it was lovely all the same. After tucking into the first course, "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" starting to play and who should appear but Banbury Cross, the Marilyn Monroe-a-like burlesque performer, show girl and all-round vintage beauty queen. After getting over the initial shock of seeing nipple tassels before my main course, I pulled myself together and thoroughly enjoyed Miss Cross' performance, although I was filled with terrible body envy. She looked absolutely incredible, even when pretty much naked and jiggling around! I'll have what she's having, please.

Banbury Cross actually performed twice during the event, but I only managed to film it the second time - here's a feast for your eyes:


After the food had all been served and cleared away, it was time for the catwalk show. As always, my camera and I weren't getting along very well, and unfortunately I missed a few of the pieces. I did manage to capture some of them, however, but please excuse my poor photography skills.









The collection was very typical of Nicole Richie's design style, featuring an array of extremely wearable vintage-inspired looks. There was heavy emphasis on rich fabrics, particularly velvet, mixed with fringe detail and subtle embossing. It appears that Winter Kate are going to be big on the kimono style this coming season, and the more slouchy and oversized the sleeves the better. I am a fan.

After the show and the second performance by Miss Cross, things took yet another unexpected turn. As you can hear at the end of the video I have posted, a loud siren-like sound was blasted out, and two girls in fancy underwear walked out and proceeded to dance on chairs. And before I knew it, everyone was dancing. And I mean everyone! On tables, on chairs, in the aisles - and I have absolutely no idea where it came from or why!




People were dancing so hard that for a second I thought perhaps one of the guests was perhaps a timelord and that we'd been transported to Magaluf at 2am. But we hadn't, for course. We were still in Belgravia, and it was only 4pm. Who knew velvet kimonos would have such an affect on people?!

In conclusion, the event was a lot of fun and I enjoyed myself a lot, but I still don't really understand what happened! Thanks for having me though, Winter Kate. Next time I'll bring my glow sticks and feather boa with me!