The not on the high street.com make awards 2012

Last Thursday (21st June) I attended the not on the high street.com make awards in London. milly and pip had been lucky enough to have been shortlisted for 2 awards. Partner of the year and Community Ambassador of the year. There are approx 3000 partners on notonthehighstreet.com so to make the shortlist felt like a huge achievement. 

It was a great day and around 500 partners were there. As well as the make awards, there were photography workshops and talks from an array of people, including a welcome speech from Holly & Sophie, the co-founders of notonthehighstreet.com Other speakers were Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation, Stuart Smith, CEO of Wood Holmes and Medeia Cohan-Pertolino, creative director of School for Startups

The awards were at the end of the day and were presented by Holly and Sophie. the shortlists and winners were announced as follows:

Gift of the Year 2012 Shortlist (voted for by customers)

• Champagne Cork Stool by Impulse Purchase
• Joy Tote Bag by The Joy of Ex Foundation
• Personalised Coordinates Print by The Drifting Bear Co

and the winner was.......... Champagne Cork Stool by Impulse Purchase

Best Customer Service 2012 Shortlist (voted for by customers)

• Letterfest
• Sally Clay Jewellery
• nickprints

and the winner was........Letterfest

Handmade Product of the Year 2012 Shortlist

• Solid Oak 'Hot stuff' Trivet by SquarePear Furniture
• Personalised Family Tree Papercut by Kyleigh's Papercuts
• Mouse Play Dress by Wild Things Funky Little Dresses

The winner was......... Solid Oak 'Hot Stuff' Trivet by SquarePear Furniture

Personalised Product of the Year 2012 Shortlist

• Personalised Christmas Sack by Harrow & green
• Personalised Tax Disc Cufflinks by Me and My Car
• Personalised Leather Scroll Bracelet by Joulberry

and the winner was.......... Personalised Christmas Sack by Harrow & Green

Innovation Award 2012 Shortlist

• Stitch A Map Postcard by The LittleBoysRoom
• Bespoke Fingerprint Wedding Ring by Patrick Laing
• Cake Slice Club by The Cake Nest

and the winner was........Bespoke Fingerprint Wedding Ring by Partrick Laing

Best New Product 2012 Shortlist

• Personalised Metro Map Style Print by This Is My Map
• Head Case Pillow Case by Twisted Twee
• Personalised 'You're The Best' Apron by Sparks Clothing

The winner was........Head Case Pillow Case by Twisted Twee

Start-Up Success Award 2012 Shortlist

• Impulse Purchase
• The Drifting Bear Co.
• More Than Words

and the winner was.........The Drifting Bear Co.

Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 Shortlist

• Kiki's
• Betsy Benn
• modo creative

and the winner was.........Betsy Benn

Best Presented Storefront 2012 Shortlist

• evajeanie
• Cherry Pie Lane
• Rowen & Wren

and the winner was..........Rowen & Wren

By this point I was getting very nervous...................

Partner of the Year 2012 Shortlist

3 Blonde Bears

milly and pip

Lily Belle

I had met Lily Belle and Jo from 3 Blonde Bears during the day and I would have been thrilled if either of them had won..............and the winner was.............3 Blonde Bears 

Community Ambassador of the Year 2012 Shortlist (voted for by partners)

Ali Millard, milly and pip

Gabriella Buckingham, moobaacluck

Helen Lindley, Lindleywood

and the winner was............me, milly and pip. I was so amazed and thrilled to have won!

Me accepting the award from Holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish (photo courtesy of the lovely Jane Means) 

And here's the award, sitting in pride of place in the studio

It was a really brilliant day and it was so lovely to meet many partners who I tweet with and speak to on the notonthehighstreet.com forum. Congratulations to all the winners and those that made the shortlists. Thanks to all the notonthehighstreet.com staff for putting on a great event and huge thanks goes to all the partners who voted for me, I am truly honoured to have won, thank you very much x

My Graduate Fashion Week

As it's graduate fashion week next week, I thought I would share with you my student fashion show which was way back in 1991 (Please don't try and work out how old I am).

I studied fashion design at Derby University and was lucky enough to be selected to show my final collection at the Smirnoff Student Fashion Week, which was held at the Business Design Centre in London.

I remember it was so exciting being there and the day was like a blur. All those years of studying for less than 5 minutes on a runway, but it was worth it and it kick started my 16 year career in fashion design.

The inspiration for my final collection was turn of the century old adverts. I loved the bold colours and the mix of images with words (It's funny as, as I look at it now, milly and pip is also all about images and words)

As I developed my ideas, I knew that my collection would be for young girls. Sophisticated grown up fashion was never my thing, my style was definitely more suited for the 16-25 year old market. I also wanted to add some childrenswear into my collection as I knew that this would give a point of difference to all the other student collections.

My colour palette was bright and fun. I used deck chair stripes, brought from Laura Ashley, mixed with bold chunky knits. I actually can't knit, but I designed 2 patterns which were knitted into garments for me by 2 sailors wives who lived in Portsmouth. When the garments came back, they were amazing, they turned out even better than I had imagined and they were so so heavy.

I designed 7 outfits, and apart from the 2 hand knitted jumpers, I made every single garment myself. The other pieces of knitwear were made on a 10 guage Shima knit machine. There were some really early starts and some very very late nights to finish the collection in time. I was still finishing off some pieces on the train down to London.

I selected the models from agency photo's and they were amazing. Each model wore designs from other students as well as mine and it was amazing how they knew how to perform on the catwalk depending on what they were wearing. They came out skipping and smiling for my catwalk show, which suited the clothes perfectly.

One of the hand knitted jumpers that weighed a ton!

The highlight of the day was being interviewed by Carolyn Franklin for The Clothes Show TV programme. I have no idea what I said, but I do remember that the make up artist had to powder my ears! 

When we got home, we all sat and watched The Clothes Show, wondering if our collection and been selected by the producers to be shown on national TV........and I was one of the lucky ones. It was probably the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me. I was also fortunate to have been featured in the press too, which was absolutely brilliant. 

So, good luck to all the students showing their final collections this week. The fashion industry is a real roller coaster of an industry to work in, but I wouldn't have missed it for all the world.