The Fairy tale comes to life for The Dollshouse

A whole host of beautiful dolls came bursting into life on Saturday as The Dollhouse sprinkled its magic on the Bullring. A fashion show that showcased all the latest High Street trends currently available in the Bullring from the likes of Selfridges, Cos, Reiss, Karen Millen, H &M, Next and Gap,to name but a few, The Dollshouse sparkled with its bright colours, bold prints and array of designs. It was a fashion moment to cherish!

A glorious Dollhouse and stage area had been set up for VIPs and lucky competition winners, but as usual the Bullring balconies were filled to bursting point by interested viewers. A gorgeous ‘Flutterby’ opened the show wearing a glorious headpiece that could’ve been made by Philip Treacy. She was the magic charm that bought the fairy story to life.  Colour Pop was the first chapter, a blaze of colours and styles that paid tribute to both the block  and colour clashing that has been such a big story this season and into next season. This was a vibrant collection – I particularly loved the androgynous Kooples styling from Selfridges, and the orange draped dress from Joseph.

The second chapter was the Fairytale romance. Full of dusky pinks, nudes and ivory shades, this began with an amazing French connection strapless dress that was styled a la Leon Garfield’s ‘The wedding Ghost’.. There were lots of frills, ruffles and beading in this collection. One dress from H&M was very reminiscent of  Carrie Bradshaw, worn by a model  who looked like a baby Bardot with acres of long fake pearls. Simply stunning. Menswear consisted of coll linens. long shorts and cotton scarves for that Brideshead Revisited feel.

Alice in Wonderland style florals were next on the agenda in ‘Garden Party’. These were floral prints of all description, from watered Monet prints to large and colourful bright flowers. There were pansies, dragonflies and butterflies in this English Country garden themed set.  The models resembled woodland nymphs as they modelled short flirty skirts and long maxis. For men there were cool and casual  gingham prints perfect for picnics in the park.

The dolls were next attacking ‘The  dressing up box’. This was a collection based on cool white – but with colour pop accessories. There were Bianca Jagger style trouser suits worn by a stunning model who resembled the  Pierrot doll so popular in 1980s bedrooms, a gorgeous St Tropez style bikini and jumper worn by the beautiful Bardot-a-like. Standout piece was a showstopping dress by Reiss with fringing attached.

A mouth-watering opal fruit of a collection was up next from ‘Fruit Salad’. Taking inspiration from Stella McCartney’s iconic fruit dress and Miucci Prada’s banana fixation, this was a collection that was good enough to eat. From fruit prints, to citrus shades, this was a bright and beautiful collection that mixed prints to great effect.

Preppy style was celebrated in ‘Summer Afternoon’. Stripes, dots and prints were heavily featured in this collection. This was a very fresh  collection, evoking the coolness and elegance of the English Country Garden Party. Particularly loved the 1950s style Karen Millen dress.

There was just one collection left to enjoy. Feast of Fashion was evocative of the bright colours/knits and textures so beloved of Missoni and Vivienne Westwood. This collection was introduced by a cute cartoonish character who danced, giggled and posed amongst the ‘dolls’. This collection was an amazingly eclectic collection of colours and patterns – with the odd pom-pom thrown in!

With that, it was time for the dolls to go back into the box…well, at least until the next performance!

Special mention to the fabulous make-up artists at YSL Debenhams for their work , and the hair stylists from Regis at Debenhams who created the exquisite hair styles.

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