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Tuesday 10 September 2013

Plus North - The Good Stuff! Part 1

I'm not going to dwell any more on this post here. It said what I needed to say. Thank you everyone for your lovely and kind words, it is greatly appreciated, more than you'll know. 

Now, THE GOOD STUFF!

Plus North last year was amazing, and I was expecting more of the same with this year. It surpassed that. It was immense. These are big words for a big occasion, and it was a wonderfully positive and safe space for all.

I got to Manchester earlier than expected, given the rain, and so had time to settle into my room, before a wonderful message at 4ish arrived from Elena saying she and Toni were downstairs. The first of many booby, squishy GOOD hugs were given out, and it was like I'd known Elena forever.

After stealing Becky away from a big meeting, and doling out more hugs, a catch up was called for! This happened during the unpacking of cars, nail painting, sticking of stickers, viewings of venues, playing with mannequins, comparing underwear, and generally EVERYTHING!

We quickly realised we were running a little late for our 9pm dinner date with 25 other rad fatties over at an all you can eat place. You can't make this stuff up, it is all true! 

The food paled in comparison with the company. I got to squeal so many times when I saw faces I 'knew' and loved and got to hug so so many beautiful bodies. It was amazing. I can't believe I finally got to meet Beth, Becky, Steph, Dani, Naomi, Nikki, Emma and Chris, as well so so many more wonderful women. 

I was sad that I'd missed the beautiful Chloe, but I knew I would see her the following day. 

Miss this lady lots already - Elena x
After an light nights sleep (too excited to get much sleeping done!), I bounced up and out the door pretty much!

The shower was heavenly, but I had no time to dally - I wanted to slip into this lovely Koko London number. I picked it up from New Look (now £18!)


I had a little flap that the collar and the necklace was a little too fussy:


But then I thought, STUFF IT! I loved it!

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day - and when you start it with Toni and Elena (who ROCKED shorts!), it really is important to your self worth!

By 9am, I was playing with helium, chatting with Emma & Chris (Meet the Millards), and generally loving life! When Chloe rocked up, I sprinted over to give her the biggest of squishiest hugs - it was like a reunion in a RomCom! Chloe also managed to snap this pic of my love of the PacMan effect detail in the pillar:


Fast forward an hour, and Elena and I wandered into the meeting room for the Best British Bloggers chat. I want to call it a workshop, but it was very much a two way discussion about the service they offer, as well as the people behind the account. 

I had a massive SQUEEEE over meeting @EmGlobetrotter, looking HAWT in her jumpsuit (or jumpsuit effect!) outfit. THOSE SHOES! 

@Amy__Liz looked adorable in her swan print dress and bowler hat. And @Chloe_Rushworth looked so put together in her monochrome shirt. So much fashion love in that room!

Sadly we had to leave before the talk ended - us models were very much in demand - but I did manage a cheeky catch up before suggesting they watched the ROCKING Simply Be catwalk. I'm persuasive, I know!

When standing around in the models room, with gorgeous dresses in my hands, I just stripped off. I didn't think twice about it. We were all given a bra from the Panache range. I was lucky to be given the Andorra in Pearl to wear, with the matching shorts, which I'd collected the evening before from Toni. 

Rather quickly, the whole room was getting changed, trying on their new bras, and getting a fitting from the Panache fitter. A few ladies were looking a little apprehensive with their items, or with the fit, and I tried my upmost to put them at ease. 

The whole modelling thing, is more about the model, than the clothes, in my eyes. It is about us feeling comfortable, confident and OWNING IT on the catwalk. I'm brash and loud, but the Mother Hen came out and I started clucking around the ladies around me to praise and swoon over their outfits. This was out of genuine love for the ladies and whilst some of the clothes were out of comfort zones, they still looked awesome. 

Once my 4 outfits were planned, I snuck out of the room to leave the ladies to it, and was met by Alyssa, over at Twisted Siren, and the posse of pretties who were milling about the stall of shiny handmade wonder. And yes, I did pick out a few treats while I was there!

At some point I also managed to get Chloe to make me this:


as part of her #travellingbadgemaker enterprise!

In between being the receptionist for the MUA for the models, I met with the ravishing Rachel @Catsuitcity, who was having a little model related anxiety. After frog marching her over to Charlotte at Simply Be, who brought a sense of calm to the situation, the perfect outfit was found:

Photo taken by Janie
The Simply Be catwalk rolled round, and we were ushered to our seats. 

Photo taken by Janie

See? So much fun was had! I WHOOPED! Boy did I whoop! I was under the impression my camera on my phone would do for the event, and most of my pictures are rather blurry. For the rest of the shows, I added clapping to my WHOOOOOOPING! 

The ladies exuded confidence and class. Just thinking about it has me out in goosebumps!

The Yours Clothing catwalk was just the same - full of gorgeous women being gorgeous in a range of autumn and winter clothing. 

When trying on our outfits, I did think to myself that Excite clearly know me very well, opting for this:


And this:


The models were gorgeous, both inside and out, supporting each other and keeping the nerves at bay:


For the Curvissa catwalk (which I only have the one image of), I was wearing this jersey cut out sleeve dress:




As will all the catwalk shows on ANTM I've seen, we then did the clapping recap on the catwalk together:

Photo taken by Janie

Look at us all! All happy and clappy and so AWESOME! 

The rest of the day was spent running about and not really having much time to talk to many people. By the time 5pm arrived, I was asked to model for Scarlett & Jo, which will come in part 2!

Much love my lovelies, 

K x

Disclaimer - I am not actually sure which came first, Excite or Curvissa. So I may have my order a little jumbled up! xx

10 comments:

  1. Lovely to finally meet you too!! I wish we could've had more fun with the helium!! Hahaha!!
    Shame we didn't stick around for Karaoke but us oldies were tired old beans and needed our bed. I didn't get to say goodbye either which made me sad!!
    Looking forward to next year already and all the boobie grabbing, although I don't have much to grab ;) !! xxx

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    Replies
    1. It's okay my dear, we met - and really rather lucky we were able to do that. I did think about Mary over in Portugal, and how great it would have been if she could have been there.

      xx

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  2. Hey Kathryn,
    This is a lovely post! It really was an ace day, even for us working there.
    Could I be cheeky and ask If I can use your picture of all the Curvissa ladies (the bottom image) for our twitter & instagram?
    Emma (From Curvissa... the one who helped with the catwalk outfits) x

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    Replies
    1. Hi Emma,

      I didn't take that picture, Janie did. If you pop over to her facebook page, I'm sure she'll be happy for you to use it.

      I'm hoping the official pictures are released soon - more gems :)

      Glad you had a ball - it was such a class day.

      Kathryn

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  3. Hi Kathryn

    I have just found your blog and I think it is very inspiring. Nice to hear that you had a great time with some nice people and you look good in the outfits:)

    Astrid

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  4. Great weekend..shame we didn't get to chat much but you totally rocked the catwalk x

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  5. Great weekend..shame we didn't get to chat much but you totally rocked the catwalk x

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  6. You give the best hugs ever!!!!! x

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