St David's Cardiff Catwalk Shows

This week is Cardiff's first ever Fashion Week, with lots of different events going on around the city centre. As part of the event, the St David's Cardiff shopping centre will be hosting free catwalk shows all weekend.

The shows will give the centre's stores an opportunity to show some of the most stylish looks from their A/W 2012 collections. There have been some great new store openings in the centre, e.g. Vivienne Westwood, so style-savvy shoppers should be in for a treat! Shoppers will be able to take advantage of  a range of exclusive discounts and offers throughout the centre by picking up a St David's cheque-book at one of the fashion shows.

Here are the show times:
Saturday - 11am; 12 noon; 1pm; 2pm; 3pm; 4pm & 7.30pm
Sunday - 11am; 12 noon; 1pm; 2pm; 3pm and 4pm


See you on The Hayes!

Vivienne Westwood store opening in Cardiff

Vivienne Westwood. London - Paris - Cardiff? It has just been confirmed that Vivienne Westwood will be opening a store in Cardiff's St David's 2 development in September. The store will be located opposite John Lewis on The Hayes, and will draw its interior inspiration from the original Vivienne Westwood flagship store  at 44 Conduit Street. 

I am really excited about this opening, as I have always been a big fan of her designs, which manage to combine classic heritage fabrics and styling, together with a contemporary twist. This is the first time that fans of Vivienne Westwood will be able to purchase all of her collections in the city. The store will stock a full range of Gold, Red & MAN Label, Anglomania, Anglomania + Lee jeans, Red Carpet eveningwear dresses, and all accessories including shoes and bags. Croeso i Gymru, Dame Vivienne Westwood!

Lily Donaldson in the custom-made dress that Vivienne Westwood designed for the London 2012 Closing Ceremony. Stunning!

Smashbox launches in Boots

As they are a brand that I have yet to try, I was quite excited when I got an email from Smashbox, informing me of their launch in Boots St Davids Centre, Cardiff on Tuesday 14th August.

To celebrate the launch, fashion photographer Steven Khan will be setting up on the newly opened Smashbox Cosmetics counter in Boots, to shoot with customers from 10am – 4pm, Friday 17th August until Sunday 19th August.

To book a slot with Steven Khan for your flashbulb moment, email smashboxcrew@smashbox.co.uk with your preferred date and time and someone from the Smashbox Crew will get back to you.

Following the shoot, you will receive a USB of professionally shot images that Steven has taken to keep, print and share digitally with friends and family.

For those who aren’t lucky enough to get a booking with Steven during the exclusive in-store photo event, there will also be a travelling Smashbox Cosmetics Photobooth popping up on counter for the weekend. After having their makeup done, customers will be encouraged to create their own photoshoot in the booth with friends, or have a moment in the spotlight alone. 

On  launch day itself (14th August), Smashbox Cosmetics will be giving away 10 'Try It Kits' on the hour every hour, from 11am-4pm.   All Smashbox Cosmetics fans will need to do is be one of the first 10 people to the counter to register their details with a Smashbox Crew member.

Shop11: Glamorgan University Fashion Promotion Popup Shop

This Thursday (1st December), Fashion Promotion students from Glamorgan University will be launching a pop-up shop called ‘Shop11’, in the St David’s Shopping Centre. The shop will be open until Sunday 4^th December. The university's Fashion Deign students have worked together to create a new brand, ‘Stockhom-Lima'. The brand, whose slogan is: “How do you wear yours?”, will offer a range of limited edition (only 25 of each design!) t-shirts. The project is an opportunity for the University’s Fashion Promotion students to gain some valuable experience.

If you would like to find out more about the brand then check out its websites: http://www.stockholm-lima.co.uk/SL/Ethos.html and http://shop11cardiff.tumblr.com/

So if you would like to get your hands on designs from our future fashion talent, why don’t you head on down to St David’s 2 this weekend? I will see you there!

Versace for H & M : Launch Day

A few weeks ago I chose my favourite pieces from the Versace for H & M collaboration. Well, the wait is finally over, as the Versace collection hits Cardiff tomorrow (Thursday 17th November). This is a bit of a coup for the store in Cardiff's St. David's centre, as it is the only store in the Wales and South West region who will be stocking the collection.

What items from the collection will you have in your shopping bag?

If you have got your eyes on a few pieces from the collection, then here's what you'll need to know:

• You should get to the store early if you want to get one of the coloured wristbands which gives you 10 minutes in the Versace zone. There are 14 ten-minute slots altogether.

• The coloured wristbands will be issued to shoppers from 8am, although the store won't open until 9am.
• Queuing will be on the Hayes entrance to the store.
• Every shopper who purchases an item from the Versace collection will receive a 20% off voucher to use in the rest of the store.

So, will you be heading down to the store to buy something from the collection? What pieces have you got your eye on?

Happy Birthday to 2 (St David's 2 that is!) * Penblwydd Hapus

Last week I blogged about attending the South Wales Blogger Meetup, which was organised by St. David's Cardiff. Today, the centre is celebrating its second birthday.

For anyone in Cardiff who is partial to a spot of retail therapy (not me, maybe *obviously* ) the opening of the St David's 2 development was a big event, as it brought a number of big name retailers to Wales for the first time, including REISS and John Lewis. Since it opened in 2009, there have been over 75 million visits, which is a lot of shopping. And it's not just shopping of the window variety, as shoppers have been spending over £1m a day (not all me, honest!). There are now more than 120 stores (a mix of high-street and designer) in the centre. Over the past year alone there have been 33 store openings, including Cath Kidston and Jo Malone. Over the next week or so I will be posting about some of my favourite brands that featured at the Bloggers Meetup. If you are from Cardiff, I would love to know which are your favourite stores in the development. Or are there any particular brands that you would like to see in the Centre? I know that I've got my own wish-list, including 'Space NK' and 'The Kooples' *crosses fingers*.

When I grow up I want to be a Kooples girl

So many beauty products, so little time!