Sarah Brown pops into Graduate Fashion Week

As I blogged yesterday, Graduate Fashion Week holds a special place in my heart (in a non-schmaltzy way, you understand!), and so I rocked up to day two of this year's event to see how it was settling into its new home, Earls Court 2.
I arrived just ten minutes before Sarah Brown, wife of Gordon, was scheduled for a photocall; she attended at least one catwalk show - saw her presented with a handmade, lace bouquet at the end of Somerset's - and did a walk about. I am guessing that it may have had something to do with the government's drive to encourage skills in the fashion industry, but equally she does a lot of charitable work so it could have been something to do with that... maybe I should have been a bit more inquisitive! Will be looking out for more unexpected visitors over the course of the next two days...
The event's main sponsor, to the tune of about £500k, is River Island, which was coming to the end of its current contract this year - I was pleased to hear that they've confirmed at least a further year's sponsorship for GFW, as this kind of support is absolutely vital for the continuation of the event. I was also interested to note that Sarah Walters, who as brand manager at New Look had helped move the brand past value retailer to fashion player, is now with River Island and has been for the past six months; it suggests that there may be some interesting initiatives in the pipeline from RI, so will be watching closely...
Having been held in Battersea Park Arena for the last few years, GFW had been a little difficult to get to, although the location did mitigate for some of this, and the tents erred to the sweltering, over-crowded side. As Earls Court 2 is a massive hangar style space the layout and feel of the event was very different indeed - it was a Marmite issue - some loved the better layout of stands, additional space, the air con, and the convenient location; others liked the intimacy of the former location, the park. I think, on balance that most felt it an improvement, and that's a tricky one to achieve with so many people to please.
I made it to three shows: Somerset, Northampton, Westminster. UCCA Epsom is actually today, so that one's for later. It is interesting watching the common themes which crop up across all shows, but some are executed so stylishly, some are great, but still need some extra push to take it to the next level. I am going to be checking out the GFW Daily, both for the reports and also because had my piccie taken by the Editor, Piers, so might make an appearance - fame at last!