Bloggers and Drunken Monkeys

So Friday I raced up to London to eat, drink and gossip about Twitter, blogs and fashion with my favourite bloggers and members of the Twitteratti. Shoreditch was the location and The Drunken Monkey was the venue of choice. I love meeting with these ladies and Nik...some I had met a couple of times, some just the once, some I had never seen in the flesh, but stalked on twitter. You get the picture.

We ate Dim Sum, drank cocktails, danced to Snoop Dog and sang along to Vogue whilst striking a pose. "One flew over the cuckoo's nest" was also playing on a TV in the background. (surreal). This was not just any other night out. This was a bloggers night out.

You would not be the only one to think that these nights mainly consist of business card swapping, mass tweeting and text speak. LOL. I am here to tell you otherwise..far from it.

I have met Fi from SaveOurShoes & Frankie from SwellVintage only twice before our Friday gathering, but every time we meet we end up giggling till something hurts and start chatting about small kittens in bags, vintage and life.

The thing that always surprises me the most from these meetings is how refreshingly nice it is to talk to like minded people about what you are doing and trying to achieve, where you want to go, be and how to do it. Everyone is really supportive of one another and surprisingly so. You hear stories all the time about bloggers behaving badly and there is nothing worse than meeting a blogger who you idolise only for them to be rude and disappoint you, but this has not happened to me yet. Fingers crossed it never does.

It was great to see Jenny from TheStylePA...whose blog I read daily and so upon meeting Jenny I waved rather too enthusiastically as if I had known her for years. Luckily for me she waved back...I am pretending that she knew who I was instead of just being polite to a crazy lady. (me).

I finally met Alex from AlexLoves who I follow on Twitter and blog stalk...she is officially awesome. If you are not following or reading all about Alex then I will need 140 characters on why on earth not? Dang the girl can dress to impress too...I was lucky enough to meet her in her very new and colourful My Sugarland dress. (Jealous). Alex also brought a fabulous friend along called Kate who runs FabricOfMyLife and now I don't know how I have lasted so long without Kate's blog in my life. Have a **look **

Other blogger powerhouses included the stunning Reena Rai from FashionDaydreams the best looking blogger you will ever meet. Nik Thakkar from Mediacation who can dance as good as he blogs! Kristabel from IWantYouToKnow, Lira Leirner from ThePortmanteau who was wearing one of her own designs!!! I also got to stroke Lucy of SnippetsOfShinyThoughts new Mulberry bag whilst shaking our tail feathers on the dance floor, but I was gutted I never got around the table to chat with the fabulous Tor of FabFrocks :(. Also spotted was Mariana from Sketchbook who lucked out and had to share my room in the ever so glamorous Shoreditch Travelodge and the lovely Katie Antoniou of LondonPlinth fame.

With planning for the next bloggers night already underway I cannot wait to meet the creative writers, fashion designers, journalists and stylists behind these great blogs again! Who knew meeting strangers could be so good?

Levi's: Shape What's to Come Event

Last night I attended the Levi's "Shape what's to come" event at the Levi store on Regent Street in London. The project is for creative women in the arts who need help advice, motivation, inspiration or simply guidance in making a dream a reality. There was a panel of 6 guests talking about their personal, creative and or business journeys. They discussed challenges they overcame, sacrifices they have made for their passions, troubles they face being women in creative industries like film making, fashion and music. The panel was made up of a design duo that run Patternity, Justice Williams; the editor of TruLife magazine, a self taught film maker, a female DJ and The Clothes Whisperer...Butters too. The host for the event was Radio one DJ Annie Mac who got the ball rolling asking the how’s, when’s and but questions. The panellists were articulate, to the point and Justice Williams especially was inspirational. However when a audience member asked why no one had mentioned the F word...(FEMINIST) the panel seemed to start thinking very carefully about their answers. Most answered that they wanted their work to be recognized rather than their gender which is fair enough, but if women in the creative industries need women role models then maybe someone should step up?!

Levi’s have 20 ambassadors in total from the US, UK and Japan. The ambassadors will report through webcasts, posts and interactions through the community on shapewhatstocome. They will talk about how their dreams became a reality and how they made money from doing what they want to do. The website is still a little rough around the edges, but it is live so get over there, create a profile and start connecting with some like minded women.

Look who I spotted: Lena from StyleHighClub, Reena from FashionDaydreams, Jenny from TheStylePA and Frankie from SwellVintage