Last night we hopped, skipped and jumped over to Bath for Fashion Bloodhound, a designer shopping event at the Francis Hotel. Fashion Bloodhound specialise in buying and selling pre-owned designer clothes and this, their ‘Winter Showcase’, aimed to provide high-end fashion fans with the opportunity to browse a selection of their pieces whilst quaffing champagne and eating yummy sweeties from Cakey Couture. How refined.
We are both label lovers but sadly our budget is usually more Primark than Prada. This doesn’t stop us from dreaming though and it was an extremely pleasant experience to peruse the usually unobtainable juggernauts of fashion in such a relaxed atmosphere. The prices were good too, although even with such huge markdowns we still couldn’t afford a lot of it *insert tiny violins*. However, the glamorous fashionistas in attendance were certainly having a ball with Marc Jacobs, Prada and Burberry all piled high in the dressing room.
It seemed rude not to try on some of the beautiful pieces on offer and although realistically we were never going to part with £160 for a dress, it’s not like it was completely beyond the realms of possibility, unlike their original prices! We found this quite comforting. We also spotted some complete bargains in the shape of a Biba dress reduced to £15 and a Sonja Rykiel top for a fiver! It was certainly worth digging around. The aforementioned Biba dress may still be in our possession…
After all that hard shopping we then, true to form, had a jolly great time nosing and posing around the gorgeous Francis Hotel. 
Jo: My River Island tartan (yes, I caved and embraced tartan) smock dress was an absolute bargain from the ASOS sale. It cost £7.50 and I love it so much. It’s just so easy to wear and the little Peterpan collar is so sweet. I teamed it with patterned M&S tights, frilly Leg Avenue socks (also from the ASOS sale) and my shiny oxblood Topshop boots. My brown coat (below) is an old Gap bargain. I think it only cost me £30 and this must be at least its 9th year!
Victoria: I wore a autumnal Primark dress which has been a bit of a blogger favourite lately, and it is very easy to see why. It’s so flattering and easy to wear and it costs a mere £8. That’s a stupendous cost per wear ratio! My tights are from She and Hem favourites M&S and my nude block heels are from New Look. I’ve customised the shoes slightly by removing the ankle strap, which I like to think gives them more of a Louboutin look (I wish huh?) I’m wearing nude Louboutins with the purple and pink Matthew Williamson dress above. Comment below if you can spot the difference! My red coat below is from Topshop.
It was a lovely evening and we’ve heard rumours that Fashion Bloodhound will be making their way to Bristol for a showcase next year. We’ve already started saving our pennies!
J&V
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