An evening at Coach Flagship store

London Fashion Week has held here, so as you can imagine there were lots of fashion and fashion-focused events here. It seems that my Eventbrite was taken over by so many fashion events that one cannot attend all these at the same time. However I like those which are organised with a theme behind them. I attended last week’s Cath Kidston new collection introduction, not for other reason, but because I like the brand. I also attended this week’s “Dream It Possible” event at Coach flagship store at Regent Street, as I found it quite interesting. I will tell you all about it next.

The event started at 6.30 (or, more precisely, that’s what was written on the description of the event on Eventbrite) – more likely at 7.00 – and it was jointly organised by Coach and Refinery29. For those of you not familiar with it, Refinery29 is a “global media company focused on young women” – as you can find it on their website. Refinery29 is essentially a lifestyle website, covering fashion, entertainment and health subjects. I honestly cannot tell you how many times I have looked through their articles to get inspired or research for the blogs at work. They are in depth articles that help me understand what they are talking about, without using too much “jargon”.

So the discussion – or rather short interview – was held between Georgia (the junior fashion editor at Refinery29) and Liv, the founder and CEO of gal-dem, an online and printed magazine written and run by women of colour and queer people. Georgia and Liv talked about gal-dem, how Liv came to launch it and what the difficulties were behind it. I do think that Liv’s views resonated with lots of people in the audience, considering that a lack of resources was a challenge when gal-dem started. Granted now gal-dem is a well-respected and well-funded publication, but things were not as rosy when it started. And this is – I think – the common denominator about everyone who has a dream that is difficult to come into fruition.

I found the discussion extremely helpful and inspiring, as the focus of the talk was to realise your dreams and not to ever underestimate yourself. As human beings, we are immensely powerful and can do everything we’ve ever imagined. This is important for the purpose of this blog – and life in general – as when I started I only thought that I loved writing. I didn’t care about anything else (and still don’t, to a large extent). Sure I’d love to move to a self-hosting service or organise a paid marketing campaign, but this is not my end goal! My goal is to share my experiences in London and show you how this city makes me fall in love every single day and drives me mad at the same time! In this way, I believe that Georgia and Liv’s discussion was illuminating, as well as realistic!

I have to say though that I am not only satisfied with how the evening went, but also with the entire organisation of it. And if they didn’t let us in until after 6.30, this was the only instance I wasn’t a fan of. As soon as we got downstairs, this is a whole different story; there were two servers carrying glasses of prosecco, which was fantastic as we were parched! The bottles were refreshingly cool and I lost count how many times they asked if we wanted refills! (My glass was probably topped up three to four times during the evening…) But it wasn’t only the prosecco; other servers were carrying platters of canapes, all simply delicious. Now I normally shy away from canapes, as sometimes I find their combinations incomprehensible. However with these ones I was impressed! Huge, huge props to the catering service!

The canapes were lovely, so I cannot in good conscience say that one was better than the other! I loved one made from pastry and the last one with gold flecks, but all of them were utterly yummy! And it’s not only about the deliciousness of the canapes or the coolness of the prosecco; all of the downstairs floor of Coach was full of fresh flowers, which was a nice touch. Fresh flowers (pink roses and gypsophila) were so beautiful and complemented the event excellently – and were given as a present to the guests as well. Even though I couldn’t smell their perfume (seriously why don’t flowers smell in London? I’ve always wondered about it…), their sight only made for an inspiring and alluring image. I just adored it!

Finally, there was the gift bag (that alone together with them letting us know that the proceeds would be donated to charity is what really made the difference IMO)! Inside the gift bag there was a beautiful notebook (I think by now I have too many; it’s lucky I’ve started using them!) and a card case that can be personalised, by monogramming it! How unbelievably extraordinary is that! The notebook with the card case were all tied up in a lovely bow. This is such a lovely (and thoughtful idea that – I think – should be followed by any other future event organiser!

All things done (and written), last Tuesday’s Coach x Refinery29 was a discussion I loved attending” Charming, thought-provoking and full of incredible deliciousness, it was that awesome! I can’t wait for more like this one!

Till next time,

Sofia-Maria