Ziggi Studio invited me to attend the Birmingham Asiana Wedding Show yesterday at the Hilton Metropole Hotel! I was quite excited and really looking forward to some fashion trend spotting, especially as I’d found my own wedding outfit here at this show in 2008.
However, I have to say I was disappointed this time around. The exhibition itself was a lot smaller than I expected and most of the big fashion houses who advertise in Asiana Magazine/Asiana Wedding Magazine weren’t even there! I liked the fashion show itself, but the catwalk slots were running late and don’t even get me started on the queuing situation – I went from being the 4th person in the queue (and in line to get a good seat for the show and take lots of photos to share with you) to being something like 30th in the queue and that’s not even including the load of other random people in a separate queue that got let in first :(
It seems to me like the Birmingham Asiana show is the poor relative of the London Asiana show which is taking place in a few weeks. Perhaps it’s a sign of the times that exhibitors can’t afford to be at both shows so they all go for the London show?
Ok enough ranting, these were my highlights to the event:
Ziggi Studio
I really liked the regal theme of the sherwanis in the “Rajwada” collection which Ziggi Studio showcased on the catwalk, and I’m not just saying this because they got me complementary tickets for the show! Having spoken to Ziggi himself I know all the hard work that he’s put into the collection, and he’s a really nice guy too. I’ll be posting a full review of his collection, but as a preview, the outfit above was one of my favourites.
Mona Vora
Although they didn't exhibit on the catwalk show, in a room full of reds and golds, this dress on the Mona Vora exhibition stand really stood out to me. I’m not sure if you can see it in the photo but I’m loving the silver and pink colour theme.
I’ll be posting all my photos from the catwalk show including collections from Khushboos by Chand, Harkirans, Kyles Collection, Posh Boutique, Sache and of course Ziggi Studio.
If you attended the exhibition or catwalk show I’d love to know what you thought, if you’re a bride did you find what you were looking for? Do you think attending this event was money well spent?
Awful exhibition. Will never go again at this venue
ReplyDeletei have to agree it wasnt all that great
ReplyDeletethe models are always the same too! about time asiana had new faces! they have d same girls over n over again.
ReplyDeleteThe Fashion show was brilliant, the white male models stole the show with their dancing and humour. They had me in stitches! Hats off to them. The asian models need to try something new and learn from the fab four.
ReplyDeleteTaz
Agree with Taz if it wasnt for the four dancers it would have been a very boring fashion show!
ReplyDeleteThe exhibition was very poor for what they were charging, I would have seen more just going around Soho Road for free!!
Asiana needs new faces (models male and females) as you have over used the same models again and again and sick of seeing them.
ReplyDeleteA better venue as i expected it to be at the main NEC, the exhibition walk ways very narrow and cramped!
Asian models should stop being boring by walking up and down the catwalk and try something new.
And agreeing with the last comment, Asiana needs a bigger variety and better deals!
Hope i am not asking for too much!
Taz
what non-sense! there were so many new faces on the catwalk as well as a mixture of ethnicities. and the regular models were there as they are excellent at their job and they represent asiana as a brand. yes the four dancer/models were breath takingly good but we need to bear in mind that this was a 'fashion show' and obviously there would be simple modelling of the outfits too where brides-to-be can see how the outfits look. some segments were slow paced but i think that was nice as it gave me more time to see the ensembles that caught my eye. i fell in love with a few outfits so i think it was a job well done in my eyes.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with the above - I can't fault any of the models and dancers at the catwalk show. Ok so we've seen some of these faces before, but if they're good at what they do there's no reason to stop using them!
ReplyDeleteJust a bit of extra info - the whole catwalk show was put together by Caramel Model Management (there's a link to them in the "fashion links" on the left under "modelling")
Fair enough, but have you ever been to the english fashion show? They walk up and down the catwalk with presence, attitude and really sell the garment by the different kind of postures. The collection of clothes were brilliant but the rest...
ReplyDeleteGood attempt but Asiana did not win me over so will not be going again or recommending it.
Taz
Fair enough, but have you ever been to the english fashion show? They walk up and down the catwalk with presence, attitude and really sell the garment by the different kind of postures. The collection of clothes were brilliant but the rest...
ReplyDeleteGood attempt but Asiana did not win me over so will not be going again or recommending it.
Taz
I think, people are forgetting key fundemental reasons for Bridal shows. They are there to showcase latest bridal wear for brides to be to get ideas from... and to help them find and purchase that dream outfit. Asiana shows seem to have lost that message somewhere along the lines. The Designers that show thier clothes are no big names, i would rather spend a day in birmingham and visit the shops where id get better luck in finding my outfit.
ReplyDeleteI think the Bridal shows, not just Asiana, but other Asian wedding shows too, need to have a balance, have models who know how to carry the outfits and sell them. just becasue they are good models in the magazine doesnt mean they are good on the catwalk. Some of these Asian models are awful on the catwalk but they probably come cheap. Elements of Choreography in the shows is nice and because Asian weddings are fully of bollywood, drama, song and dance its nice to have bursts of entertainment in a show, however it should be tastefully done, companies like Oops catwalk productions started this trend and are very successul in balancing the entertainment and fashion with very good models. Just one other very troubling point, we loved Ziggi's collection but useage of Rifles in a show is in my opinion really not a good message - what are we endorsing here? - especially in the current climate with such a huge rise in gun and knife crimes.
Asiana aught to be more tactful and monitor thier show content.
Hey, I have reviewed (kind of) the Asian Woman Bridal Show that took place at Wembley stadium on saturday 23rd and 24th January on myblog. Looks like you the Birmingham show was a million miles better than the london one!!! The London one was really bad, and although I havent been able to review the fashion show i took some picture and im sure you will agree..they were all old stock!!! the cheek!!!
ReplyDeleteKhiraki.blogspot.com
My my!!! people don’t seem to be very impressed with the models. But hey I must say they were all Mashallah very pretty and looked very professional at what they were doing. HOWEVER….since this was a bridal show isn’t it about time that ASIANA got real looking women to do the job. Real brides are not insect thin…in a day and age were young girls are already under so much pressure. Don’t you think by advertising “your garments by stick thin women” sends out the wrong message? I do not want to get too political here but when “will I be able to go to a fashion show were I will see beautiful curvier looking women walking down the ramp”.
ReplyDeleteALSO PLEASE PLEASE GET SOME MORE MANLY LOOKING MALE MODELS as they all seem to have more foundation on then all the female models put together.
The venue certainly needs to be bigger, as I only walked around half the hall and was feeling extremely claustrophobic with people pushing and shoving around me.
On a whole it was average and I must say I did enjoy the catwalk and some of the designs were fantastic. The Asiana Fashion show has so much potential TO DO BETTER! Lets hope they take on board all the messages left by people as constructive criticism and come out with a bigger and better show next year. ALL THE BEST X
Why is this exhibition held at this venue? It is expensive (parking cost drinks room etc)and does not lend itself well to exhibiting.
ReplyDeletewhy are people always so critical of the models. I was on of the models selected by caramel to walk on the main runway stage. We work evry hard and are good at what we do. We rehearse for days before hand and make sure we perfect our show. Asian people are always so critical about weight beauty face walk etc. Do you know how difficult it is to walk in heavy bridal attire and 6 inch heals?! And then to walk to elegance and attitude. Just appreciate what we do instead of slagging us of all. There were so many girls at the event that were snipping about us
ReplyDelete