I'm coming to the end of my trip to London and what a whirlwind it's been, with so much work to get through and lots of heart warming catch-ups along the way.
I was so excited to see Tabs and her growing baby-bump that I went straight from Heathrow Airport to Project D headquarters. After lots of cuddles, screams and energized chatter, we put the finishing touches to the plans for our pre-London Fashion Week event (more of that later). I managed to try a few fabulous new frocks on, before the jet lag hit and I was off to bed.
After shaking off the worst of the jet lag it was off to Morton's in Mayfair where Tabs and I were selling our Spring Summer 2012 collection. We had a party in the evening to thank the editors for their support which included Champagne, dinner and a salon fashion show. This collection has been so well received and everyone could notice the improvement in design and tailoring. The next day we had a write up on Vogue.com so all the girls who work in the Project D offices were buzzing.
Next stop was an interview for My Daily with my mentoree from the X Factor 2010, Matt Cardle (part two coming soon!) I'm incredibly proud of how far he's come in the 10 months since winning the competition. I was lucky enough to have a sneak preview of his debut album, Letters, and I absolutely love it. The first track from the album – Run For Your Life – is absolutely mega. It's out on October 17, so grab a copy and check out his touring schedule.
With London Fashion Week in full swing it was great to get out to Giles Deacon's show and to catch up with some of the girls from MyDaily. I was so inspired by his knockout collection that I couldn't wait to get back home and blog about my front row experience. It was all about stunning laser cut leather and laser printed fabrics.
In other contributing editor duties, it was a big thrill and really quite breathtaking for me to attend MyDaily's Amazing Women event at The Savoy. 'Amazing Women' was an incredible campaign run by My Daily to recognise some of the Uh-Mayzing women in Great Britain who juggle work, motherhood, caring, volunteering and other inspirational acts with their every day lives. I got to meet all these inspiring women and we had a surprise visit from my buddy the fabulous Miss J Alexander (America's Next Top Model judge).
The highlight of the event was getting to present a £20,000 donation from MyDaily to Copafeel's Kris Hallenga. We had reached our target raised from all the votes cast during the Amazing Women campaign.
I've known Kris since I met her at the Pride of Britain Awards in 2009. She was 23 and had just been diagnosed with cancer. Her's is an inspirational story and, if you don't yet know it, I wrote about her for My Daily when I nominated her for the awards back in May. I had so many lovely messages on Twitter later that evening from the incredible women I met. It was truly a memorable occasion.
The most smiley and giggly event on the calendar was Tabitha's baby shower. We partied on at Hotel Verta in Battersea with a view of the Thames and the sunshine streaming in. We had bunches of pink helium balloons, pink floral displays and played party games that seemed to bring out everyone's competitive streak. I had the honour of organizing this special occasion, so of course cupcakes were the order of the day. I do love a tea party.
A little soiree at The Ivy club was another opportunity to get frocked up. It was great to say a big hello to the dynamic Boots staff who helped to make ModelCo Fibre Lash the most successful beauty product launch in Boots' history.
Dannii and her UK style consultant, Angie Smith. Photo courtesy of Dannii Minogue.
Next up I am doing signings for my fashion book, My Style, at Bluewater shopping centre, then on to Birmingham and Manchester. I'm so excited for everyone to see my new book and I've been able to deliver sneak preview copies to some of the people who were involved in helping to put it together, like my UK style consultant Angie Smith, and Tamara, the fabulous designer, from Ralph & Russo.
Details of the book signings are on Simon and Schuster's website.
Hope to see you there!
Dannii x