[Event] : Topman/Topshop Anniversary Party
Can you turn a carpark into a runway ? Can’t be done ? Topman/Topshop proves that it is possible !
Disclaimer : I’m not exactly a fashion blogger so don’t expect me to give you the latest fashion tips/trends ! (haha)
Being a not-very-fashionable girl I am, I was psyched to know that I get to attend The Topmanand Topshop Fall/Winter 2010 fashion show at ION Orchard L8 carpark - wonderful start to my October ( Note: The event happened on 1st Oct!) Probably my first ‘real’ fashion show experience in Singapore (Design schools fashion shows don’t count!) and as an aspiring events organizer, I was really dying to find out how the event will go. It was pretty cool because we had to download our barcode onto our phones – that’s our ‘invitation card’ to attend the party. Don’t you just love technology ?
The first impression Ping (my date for the night) and I had from the event location and decor was – ‘ Woah, it looks rather similar to Heineken Green Room !’ (which was one of our previous project during internship.) I loved the idea of having little booths that guests can have fun and grab a drink from – we grabbed a blonde ( you have no idea how much I love this beer), a cup of frolick and a polaroid machine for us camwhores to play dress up ! Unfortunately, while other girls were busy dressing up and looking glam in front of the machine - we were chatting up with the staff and finding out the mechanism behind it (we are uber phail as fashionistas, we know.)
Saw some familiar faces at the VIP area (we were seated closest to the runway while other guests were standing behind – the whole runway stretches across the car park !) Could see some of the girls with melting makeup due to the heat (though I must say they were pretty smart to give out those cool Topshop fans as doorgifts)
Moving on to the fashion show ! Tried my best to capture the clothes but I would rather people check out the clothes on the actual site (obviously my camera wasn’t as awesome to capture the models as they strutted down the runway) I liked the Topman clothes – skinny jeans, scarfs, boots, beanie, stripes, camel, navy and maroon.
As for the girls, I was telling Ping how the guy’s theme are the suave hunters and the girls are the hunted preys. We had deer-looking hats and fur, floral printed leggings, lace, impossible-to-walk-in-heels, very-gorgeous-boots, red, army green and off-white. Love the bags featured during the show even though I didn’t really like the Topshop spread. (I know, I make them sound like food now – the models were really hot by the way)
After the fashion show, the models ushered the VIP guests to the outlet at B2 for a shopping spree ! In the end Ping and I brought home something from Topman instead ! Overall, I think we enjoyed ourselves alot and we just have to compliment the catering service ! The snacks were quite yummy and the waiters were really attentive – always greeting the guests with a smile despite the heat. (They were all in long sleeves!) The only awkward part was having a blackberry/M1 booth which I didn’t really understand the link between clothes and blackberry, not as though the phones were part of the fashion show either ? The heat was bearable for me and having chilled blonde and diet coke served constantly helps.
Thanks Ripplevox for the invite and here’s some eyecandies to be shared !! You can find out more on Fast Forward Fashion too !
Here are some extra eyecandies (the models of course) whom we totally went crazy over !
Heineken Green Room : Trip the Light Fantastic !
Heineken Green Room is indeed a pushing music boundaries event – I didn’t quite expect myself to enjoy the event this much ! As mentioned in my earlier post, I really find it hard to enjoy the “diu diu diu music” but surprisingly, I had a great time and Moderat was just mindblowing !
Joshua and I made our way to Tanjong Pagar Distripark and first look of the event venue was pretty cool, a very unique/underground industrial feel. 
Thank goodness we were quite early so there wasn’t much of a queue. We were then ushered into this huge cargo lift with glowing green light (duh, it’s the color of Heineken and it’s not called Heineken Green Room for nothing!), I like the feeling of “godknowswhat it’s going to happen next!” while waiting for the lift to reach the party location. Being a cargo lift, the door really opens up slowly but that added on to the effect in a good way – you see lights and smoke from the tiny little gap and viola, it opens up to the dance floor with DJ Cherry already playing on the main stage ! She’s pretty cool – I always have a thing for female DJs, girl power ! (lol)
Since it was still early, Joshua and I had the chance to walk around the area freely. There was this interactive area where guests get to be their own DJs and do their own mixes via the iPods and Korg kaossilators which were pretty cool. It took us awhile to figure out (we must be really dumb) and I was wondering where’s the instructions – but who the hell reads 
instructions at a clubbing event right !? -slaps forehead- Pardon me, it is obvious that I’m no party animal ! (Haha) We then moved on to grab ourselves a Heineken each at the long bar which was so much better than event bars I’ve been to, no long queues and quick services. One downside to it was that, by the end of the night, the floor was wet from the ice and people were littering their bottles everywhere. Poor cleaners but I guess it happens at all these clubbing events.
I love the lights and visuals we were surrounded by, Joshua was telling me which patterns and how he has done the light effects for one of our school events. You can’t blame the geek/nerd in him, can you ? It was a good thing that the smoking area was out of the party area so I didn’t inhale any 2nd hand smoke at all ! The crowd was pretty much a disciplined mature group (there’s a reason why it’s exclusively by invites only!) and I didn’t see much drunkards around, especially with the amount of security lurking around. Afterall, people are really here for the music ! (Well, some are here for the girls…Joshua and I were observing how some guys were trying to hook up with the Heineken girls who were walking around to take polaroids for the guests) I had fun with Joshua nonetheless ! 
Speaking of music, Moderat was really awesome ! I’m totally sold by their live performance and the stunning visuals. Still quite head-bobbing but it was quite adrenaline rushing ! I managed to snap a few (bad) shots and the starting sequence on video – the sound quality was quite disappointing though. (Will some kind souls please sponsor me a proper video recording+picture taking gadget or something ? hur)
Moderat_02 from Ingrid on Vimeo.
I enjoyed myself alot, especially when I got to meet a couple of my friends there ! Had a great date with Joshua and it was a brand new experience for me. Although I have to admit that I went home with a bad throat after all that yelling over the music and blocked ears, thank god I didn’t drink enough to get any hangovers. It was a fabulous “trip the light fantastic” indeed !
AOTW [8] : Moderat
I’m never a fan of anything that sounds too much like House/Techno/Trance, basically I call them as “Diu Diu Diu music” (like the background beats ? Haha) Honestly, it still gives me a headache each time I listen to these genres. No offense to fans out there but I personally would prefer music with lyrics or pure instrumental like piano etc.
I came across Moderat during my internship and they will be coming for the Heineken Green Room Event later on ! Am really excited over the event itself and getting to watch them live should be a new and interesting experience. Basically Moderat is made up of Modeselektor and Apparat who both have equally great separate career but decided to do another collaboration after the first one in 2002.
If you were to ask me, I’ll probably not listen to their tracks since I’m not a big fan but the cool visuals changed my mind, supported by eclectic visual arts collective Pfadfinderei! Along with the visuals, I see them as more of a multimedia performance rather than just electro icons. I guess their music is club-ready to the party animals, whereas I really don’t understand how people dance to it except bobbing their heads with a drink in their hand. I will find out later !
Speaking of which, Nick Catchdubs, also in Singapore for the very first time will be at the Heineken Green Room as well ! See you there if you have the cool invites =)
Here’s a track that I thought was pretty cool with the awesome video (the video looks crappy but I thought the editing was great),
