tvsg-temp: Yummy dinner and yummy clothes

A couple of weeks ago I had an invitation land on my mat. It was a request to dine with Pearl and Daisy Lowe and Peacocks on Wednesday 20th (oh, and other journalists, not on me own!) to firstly celebrate the launch of Pearl's new collection and secondly for a viewing of the Christmas range. It was to be held at the Connaught Hotel with food served from the renowned Michelin-starred chef Hélène Darroze... how could I NOT go!? How fab!

For me, a good high street collection (plus dinner and fab guests) is uber exciting. Call me cheap, but I love it. Designers are designers, they have expensive fabric and luxury embellishments at their fingertips, but when a high street retailer gives us something to coo over, isn't it lovely?? Peacocks really impressed me.

Priding themselves on having shops in the 'local high streets' rather than the typical (their USP one would say), Peacocks aim, and deliver, to dress 'normal' people in amazing clothes on a low budget. Pearl's range is another gorgeous touch to already fab collections.

The evening was so much fun. Not only did we eat delicious food in the very grand ballroom, but we had an up-close look at the new collections in a catwalk show around the main table AND we had live music from Britain's Got Talent 2008 contestants Escala - the electric string quartet, equally famed for their incredible music as they are for their knockout styling. Daisy turned up looking effortlessly glam in one of the dresses from her mother's new range, and Pearl looked, well, very young!

Soft, feminine, lace and some blush/pink tones mixed with a slightly harder, darker feel were prevalent in both the Christmas range and Pearl's new collection. A mixture of really girly shift dresses, FIERCE jumpsuits (the animal print one is oh-so-gorge) and gentle separates, including some lovely little cardis, contributed to an overall winter collection that I for one will be pushing!

Thanks Peacocks for the fun evening. Loved it!

Take a look...