The Giant Shoe Tour Continues...

The Giant Shoe Tour has begun! Even though the rain was lashing down against the windows this morning, we donned our wellies and waterproofs and set out on a photographic extravaganza…

First stop was The Cheltenham Lido. We arrived around 9:30 and immediately set the giant shoe up in location. With help from our ‘Lido Lifters’ (Paul, Matt, John, Julie and Jack) the shoe was placed at one end of Lido, in order to get a long, panoramic shot of the pool and the surrounding iconic old buildings. 

The second location of the day was Cheltenham Racecourse by which time the rain had died off.   The racecourse is truly iconic huge and with lots of fab photographic opportunities - such as the grandstand, the finish line, the jumps - it was hard to decide on just one shot. 


Today we were working with top photographers, Oli and Jane, who are helping us put together this portfolio of images for use for CFW marketing purposes.

After packing the shoe back on to the lorry, we sped off back across town to the fabulous Stuart Holmes Hair and Beauty Spa. Lots of faces peeked out of the nearby windows and pedestrians in town all gave a gasp as they saw this giant pink stiletto being unloaded – Success!

We gathered the Stuart Holmes' stylists outside and our photographers were able to capture a fab shot of the group with the regency Stuart Holmes Salon behind.

Just popping over the road took us to our fourth location, Imperial Gardens. With the Queen’s Hotel as a back drop and red, white and blue flowers in the beds, the glamorous giant pink shoe looked right at home.

This is where we all took a well-earned rest and had some delicious lunch provided by Gusto Deli in Montpellier –thank you for supporting The Giant Shoe Tour!

Our aim today was to get lots of shots of the shoe in different locations.  This included a rather funny roundabout shot. We will be publishing the official photographs soon and oh boy, you are in for a treat!

After getting over the dizziness of driving around the roundabout lots of times, we soon arrived at the Pitville Pump Rooms, where shock-horror the sun had come out! We got some beautiful shots of the giant shoe in the foreground leading up to the Pump Rooms with the historic building providing a gorgeous background.

With this shot wrapped up we moved onto our final and by far trickiest location, Cleeve Hill. The wind was blowing a gale but we didn’t let this stop us. We carried the shoe (with our now very tired arms) up the hill to where our creative director had scoped out the best shot could be achieved. He was right! The view was amazing and with a giant pink stiletto in the foreground, the landscape shots are really something different.

So with some fab shots and some tired arms, we called it a day. But don’t think this is end of the shoe! It will be zipping around Cheltenham for the next two months, with its next scheduled appearance at The Courtyard in Montpellier. Pop along for a look. It’s even bigger in real life!


For your chance to win four tickets to Boutique 24 - Cheltenham Fashion Week's designer shopping day at Cowley Manor - Tweet your pictures of The Giant Shoe to @CheltFashionWk

Esther x

The Giant Shoe Tour Begins...

After being kept a closely guarded secret for months, FINALLY the Cheltenham Fashion Week Giant Shoe Tour has begun! The Giant Shoe was unveiled for the first time today at Art Couture Painswick.

Measuring 12ft by 10ft and big enough to accommodate at least four people, the Cheltenham Fashion Week fuchsia pink fibreglass shoe is sure to catch any fashionista’s eye. CFW Creative Director, Sam Bawden was first to try it out.

So how do you go about sourcing a giant fuchsia pink Stiletto you may ask? After exploring many avenues including phone calls to Selfridges we came across our heel, a giant shoe with a very fashionable heritage. First commissioned by New Look head office, the shoe appeared in the window of its flagship store on London’s Oxford Street. Leaving there, the shoe headed up North to Doncaster Racecourse where it was used among other things as a bar and featured at Ladies Day. After seeing many a merry tipple and a hat or two the shoe was then bought through eBay by Kay Bennett in the hope of selling it on to fund a Play Gym for her child minding business. On seeing the shoe advertised in the Spenborough Guardian, Cheltenham Fashion Week quickly snapped it up. Although we were not without competition, the shoe also caught the eye of reality TV star and former glamour model Katie Price, but Cheltenham Fashion Week had the winning bid and now the shoe is ours.

Over the next ten weeks The Giant Shoe Tour will continue its adventure around iconic locations across Cheltenham and sure to meet a celebrity or two along the way.

For your chance to win four tickets to Boutique 24 - Cheltenham Fashion Week’s designer shopping day at Cowley Manor – tweet your pictures of The Giant Shoe to @CheltFashionWK. 


Also for a full itinerary of Cheltenham Fashion Week events and to book tickets visit www.cheltenhamfashionweek.com. Alternatively purchase your tickets by phone on 0844 880 8094 or visit the Cheltenham Fashion Week Box Office on the first floor of the Regents Arcade, Cheltenham.


Ellie xx

Selina Blow presents 'A Night at the Movies'

Last night saw the very first Cheltenham Fashion Week event and it was a fabulous success. We would like to thank everyone who supported the event. It gave a real teaser for what is to come in September...

The evening took place at the utterly gorgeous Barnsley House. Cotswold stone and rose bushes abounded, the gardens of Barnsley House were manicured to perfection, with not a blade of grass out of place.

Guests started arriving in Barnsley House's private cinema just after 7.30pm. Once inside, the glamour of Cheltenham Fashion Week's first event took over. Moet and canapés circulated – of which the miniature fish and chips were our favourite.  Moet & Chandon were the sponsor for the evening - it was great to have them onboard.

At around 8ish guests were guided into the legendary pink cinema, and yes, it is as good as the pictures! We sunk down into the large pink sofas and started munching on our popcorn just in time for Selina Blow to enter.

Dressed in a fuchsia pink jacket (the exact shade of Cheltenham Fashion Week pink) with a wide checked shirt underneath, Selina started recounting her life and road to success along with amazing anecdotes about her late sister-in-law Isabella Blow and Alexandra McQueen. With fear of just repeating exactly what Selina said (you should have been there I’m afraid!) she began by confessing she has little to no technical expertise and absolutely no knowledge on how to design for mass production in industry.

But this is exactly how she likes it! Selina describes how she designs with pure creativity and has her own fabric designs woven in order to create a real masterpiece. 


With models wearing her creations there, Selina invited us feel and touch the intricate textiles and try on her garments. She explained how she has no interest in the fast fashion culture of modern times, which in her opinion churns out garments with no craftsmanship or quality. She rather honestly explained how the commercial fashion magazines have moved from celebrating creativity and design, to producing repetitive ‘vanilla fashion’ – and whilst this pedestrian style OK for some, for Selina ‘it’s simply not her!’

With the talk drawing to a close, Selina answered the questions that we were all desperate to ask.

So if yesterday evening was a taster for what is to come during Cheltenham Fashion Week (September 17-22), expect glamour, creativity, passion, eccentricity and above all a desire to celebrate everything fashion!

Tickets are selling fast so hurry! You can buy them at The Cheltenham Festivals Box Office, First Floor, Regent Arcade, Cheltenham or by telephoning 0844 880 8094

Esther xx

Professional Images by 'All in the Image'

A Cheltenham Fashion Week Tan

We at Silver Ball all are excitedly preparing for the very first Cheltenham Fashion Week event this evening (11 July): a ‘Night at the Movies’ with Selina Blow. The event only has a couple of tickets remaining so we are expecting a stylish, fashion conscious crowd all wanting to look their best. With this in mind what better excuse to pamper and preen ourselves?!

With the soggy summer we’ve had so far, the deep, rich, summer glow we have yearned for since February is yet to happen. Well no longer. Gill at the Gilli Tan Club offers a spray tan that really is the most natural looking around - and with tan-a-holic Ellie’s approval, it must be something to shout about!

Gill offers a spray tan called ‘Urban Tan’ and she was thrilled to tell us the benefits of this brand over its competitors. She explained how the base of the tan originates from sugar beets, meaning that it can be safely applied to skin without the plastics and chemicals that make up some spray tans. She praised the natural ingredients that build this tan, making clear to us the obvious health benefits of not coating your body in chemicals.

With Gills qualifications and her experience in the tanning field explained it was now our time to experiment! Urban Tan, unlike many spray tans offered in salons, has scope to accommodate for our individual colouring. Rather than simply offering a light, medium and dark colour scale, there are four different tan shades; SunSpray, Celebrity, Chocolate and Sunset. These range from a ‘sun kissed glow’ to ‘a deep, dark luscious tan’ with each shade offering a different colour and depth. Crucially, these four colours can be combined. For example the ‘Celebrity’ tan shade can be blended with ‘Chocolate’ - this is the combination I chose, as I wanted to stay clear of the ‘dark tan’ label but still wanted depth to my colour. However it soon became clear that there’s an endless lists of combinations to try and tan colours to create.

Veteran tanner Ellie was now in overdrive! And Gill wasn’t finished. She finally explained how Urban Tan offers a ‘developer’ that can be added to the colour combinations we had chosen. This developer would extenuate the colour we had chosen adding depth as the tan developed over the next 6 – 8 hours. Being blonde, Alex and I most certainly did not want to finish up as a Katie Price look-a-like’s so we passed, however as a self-confessed tanning addict and with naturally much darker colouring Ellie gave it a go!

So with our paper pants and shoes in hand we each stepped into the tanning tent, reappearing looking like we stepped off a plane from the south of France. All shocked and laughing at our instant paper pant tan line, we donned our baggiest clothes (so not to rub our new colour) and let our fab new tan dry and develop. Oh, and I must add the lack of digestive biscuit smell! Normally when the developing tan reacts with the proteins in our skin it produces a smell akin to a digestive biscuit, however with a choice of fragrances to add to your tan this smell is all but gone.

Walking back into the Silver Ball office we definitely turned a few heads… yes yes, we have just popped off to the Caribbean in our lunch hour!  

To contact Gill:

07932594090

gillitanclub@gmail.com

Esther x

Sharks, Shoes & Selina

As any fashion admirer will know, Christian Louboutin is the Adonis of sumptuous, sexy and sensuous soles. For me, my adoration of fashion is not contained to just Cheltenham Fashion Week. Thursday was my birthday and the Christian Louboutin exhibition at The Design Museum was coming to an end, so what better excuse for a trip to London. With a Louboutin creation costing the indulger anywhere from £500, my visit was aspirational I must admit, although a girl can dream…

If unlike me you haven’t absorbed every inch of information about Christian Louboutin, to give you an idea of where his design ideas come from, Louboutin had three sisters. The iconic Parisian shoe designer tailored his craft designing shoes for the dancers of the Folies Bergère in Paris, progressing to work at top French fashion houses such as Yves Saint Lauren and Chanel. Today, any A-List event attended by the likes of Lady Gaga, Joan Collins and Sarah Jessica-Parker would be incomplete without the flash of an iconic Christian Louboutin red sole.    

Celebrating a 20 year career of thinking outside the (shoe) box, The Design Museum exhibition explored all corners of Louboutin’s career.

Passing the red neon Entrée lights and ducking under the arched entrance we stepped into a cave of creation and were immersed in a designer footwear nirvana! Bejewelled with black walls, red velvet curtains and theatrical lighting, the surroundings where quintessentially Louboutin.

Focal points of the exhibition included a mind blowing life-size hologram show of burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese. A hologram so real it was easy to believe it was truly her. Also, hidden behind thick black velvet curtains and displayed under bell jars, Louboutin's 2007 Fetish collection could be found. This area was easily bypassed yet a must see for the inquisitive and open minded among us. Outrageous like the rest of Louboutin’s collection, but is anything less to be expected!?

The exhibition cleverly avoided looking like a conventional shoe shop by displaying the shoes in inventive ways; from suspending them from hula-hoops and reflecting shoes into mirrors, to presenting shoes on a rotating fairground carousels and placed on podiums in an Alice & Wonderland fashion.

During my time in London, I also visited the Damien Hirst collection exhibiting at Tate Modern. I have always been intrigued by the controversial character of Damien Hirst. Like Louboutin the exhibition did not disappoint, but truthfully how could a life sized Great White Shark in Formaldehyde, a room in which one is surrounded by live butterflies and lifetimes collection of cigarette butts in a giant ash tray disappoint! The exhibition remains at Tate Modern until the 9th September, so if you find yourself on a rainy afternoon in London, love him or hate him, it really is a must.

After all that London influence, tomorrow will see the first event of Cheltenham Fashion Week, and our very own piece of the capital comes to the Cotswolds in the form of Selina Blow.  The top fashion designer will be hosting an intimate audience at the exclusive pink cinema at Barnsley House. We are all looking forward to hearing her talk about her passion for colour, textiles and design. This event will give a sneak insight into what is yet to come from Cheltenham Fashion Week. With just four tickets left this really will be the hottest ticket in town!!

Ellie xxx

Selina Blow At Barnsley House

As Esther has already mentioned, we have an exciting event right round the corner to give you all a little taster of what fabulous things Cheltenham Fashion Week has in store.

For those who just can't wait for the Fashion Week to commence on the 17th September, you'll be glad to know that the very first CFW event is next Wednesday 11th July. "A Night At The Movies" with a fashionable introduction by Selina Blow at Barnsley House is a night not to be missed by lovers of fashion, chick flicks, champagne and pink cinema seats!

The very girly evening will involve a talk from the fabulous fashion designer Selina Blow herself about her love of fashion and inspirational life, to be followed by doing what us girls do best: watching a chick while snacking on popcorn and drinking champagne, all in the name of fashion! The event will be a great way to experience CFW early and me, Esther and Ellie can't wait to attend and meet some fellow fashion lovers.

We're clearly not the only ones excited, as tickets are almost sold out! So if you are interested in attending the event (and testing out those amazing pink cinema chairs) you should buy your tickets as soon as possible before they run out!

The Selina Blow event starts at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from The Cheltenham Festivals Box Office on the first floor of the Regent Arcade. Alternatively tickets can be purchased online at www.cheltenhamfashionweek.co.uk or by phone on 0844 8808094.

In other news, the day that we have been hearing about ever since our first day at Silver Ball PR has arrived: Ellie's birthday. She was welcomed by a balloon and tinsel decorated desk this morning and has even brought in her own cupcakes to celebrate! This is a cupcake-friendly office, so donations are always welcome.

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Alex 

x

Photo shoots in the rain!

Monday saw the latest Cheltenham Fashion Week shoot for Cotswold Style magazine.  I have never been on a photoshoot so for me it was very exciting. I was eager to see the workings of a fashion shoot, what roles everyone took on and how the logistics panned out. I wasn’t disappointed!

I arrived at the top secret shoot location to a group of hair and make-up artists, stylists and of course photographers, with the shoot in full swing. Everyone was go-go-go. Sam ran over as soon as we arrived, of course just as excited as we were at what was going on, and gave us a big hug. She soon had to run, being pulled in all directions by everyone, but of course seeing her vision come to life meant she was on cloud nine!

Being an onlooker to the shoot didn’t last long as my spare hands were soon needed. I was called over by photographer Spencer to hold the lighting tower. Mondays adverse wet weather conditions were throwing a bit of a spanner in the works. It wasn’t a problem though, as we held umbrellas over the technical equipment and anchored props and equipment down so they wouldn’t blow away.

The rain did eventually let up and photographers Spencer and Phil were able to capture some fab shots. The shoot had THE most amazing feature, and we all had a little pose with it once the photographers had worked their magic. What it is though you’ll just have to wait and see… See August’s issue of Cotswold Style when it hits the shelves later this month!

Cheltenham Fashion Week's first official public event is just around the corner. Next Wednesday will see a little teaser event taking place with top designer Selina Blow.  Cheltenham Fashion Week is not until September but this event hopefully will whet people's appetite and show attendees what fab-u-lous-ness they can expect from Cheltenham Fashion Week's full calendar of events later in the year.  

The evening with Selina Blow will take place at Cirencester’s Barnsley House, where fuchsia pink sofas fill the private cinema! What better way to relax than with a glass of Moet, enjoy a mini fashion show and then watch a good old chic flick. 


It’s set to be an intimate audience with the designer, as Selina talks of her love for intricate textiles and quality design. One of Cheltenham Fashion Week’s central mottos is to ‘Celebrate everything that is fashion’ - so what better way than with a successful designer designing not for money or fame, but simply because she loves creating beautiful garments.


Tickets for the Selina Blow event, priced at £25, are selling out fast so be sure to buy yours ASAP. To buy tickets, visit www.cheltenhamfashionweek.co.uk 


Esther x