John Lewis Christmas Preview

Last Thursday, I was lucky enough to be invited to preview the Christmas collection at John Lewis (for my American readers think Macy's or Sears). Initially I said No, as I've been having far too good a time in the Blogosphere just recently and I have to occasionally go to the job that pays my bills and hang out with my daughter!!!  However my Boss and my daughter are cool enough to let me go see John Lewis on the condition that I don't bore them with it for the next month.......unlucky!!!!

So, Christmas in July is a pretty cool thing!  Arriving at One Marylebone Place (a converted Holy Trinity Church, which by the way is completely awesome and if I'm ever daft enough to get married this would suit me down to the ground) you know you are in the right place when you see the snow machine outside and this just inside the door:

As we registered (with the handsome and delectable Tim from Cohn & Wolfe) they kindly gave us all a Flip video camera!  Initially I thought this was to hand back at the end of the day but no.....apparently we get to keep them!!! Yikes.....like I didn't love John Lewis enough in the first place!!!!

So first up was fashion!  Now most of you know that I'm a 'big' girl and presume I know nothing about fashion....sorry to disappoint you but I can spot designer clothes at a 100 paces!!! I may not fit into them much but I adore great tailoring.  The Autumn/Winter season is going to be all about Military and tailoring which is right up my street.  Unfortunately I didn't take a pic of the beautiful Reiss coat that I will be lusting after until I'm a size 14 but these were outfits were almost as cool:

Who knew that John Lewis did Designer Clothes???? Nope, me neither! Of course you know already know what else I'm going to mention right???? Yep......shoes:

I love LK Bennett......Gosh, I wish they'd make me their PR Officer....they couldn't have anyone more passionate!!!  Anyways....where was I??  I didn't take any pictures of the menswear but there was a lot of Tweed, beautifully soft Cashmere and an English Gentleman feel to the whole collection but in a really cool way! I will also be buying some John Lewis men's slippers for myself....amazing!!!

Electrical was next and I have to admit that although I love my shiny Red Dell, technological and kitchen stuff just doesn't float my boat. I did however adore the 3D TV and apparently this is the way forward but not in our household whilst you have to wear these:

Obviously I'm not a chic geek ;-)  Then came the 'Home' Collection.  So much beautiful stuff I hardly know where to start.  How about this:

or this:

I also loved the bedroom setting that was just made for a Princess:

We got to touch and feel the sheets/bedspreads etc and let me tell you that my £4 supermarket sheets don't remotely compare to the gorgeousness that is quality linen, I'm already saving up for my Egyptian cotton......absolutely dreamy!

Of course then it was off to my biggest weakness.....children's clothes!!!  Chick is at a funny age being 7 (and hideously tall thanks to Daddy and I!!) because the beautiful dresses that I like her to wear start morphing into being too grown up.  Fortunately at John Lewis these go up to Age 11 and this is where we bought her Bridesmaid dress from for my Mum's Wedding.  If I can afford nothing else, I will be buying Chick this coat which is so beautiful I'm not sure if I can wait until the collection is released to get my hands on it:

Isn't it the most amazing thing???  Most of my other bloggy friends that were at the event either have babies or small ones, are pregnant or are broody and I'm sure by now you know how I feel about having any more!!! I did however have an aaahhhh at this:

How cute????  Also, I had a reminiscing aaaahhhh......'my daughter is too old' moment at the Christmas toys, most of which are wonderfully traditional:

So much amazing Christmas stuff:

On my Christmas list for this year: LK Bennetts, a Breville Cup Cake maker, a home made fudge kit, Penguin mini note books and this Lulu Guinness Clutch (in ANY colour) which I would actually sell my left foot for:

My post seriously doesn't do any justice to how amazing the event was...huge thanks to Tim and Steve for hosting us!!  Some of my biggest loves in life.....Fashion, Shoes, Chick's clothes, Christmas and Handbags but one of the best things was that I got to meet up with some of my most favourite Ladies from CyberMummy again:

Huge hugs and kisses to all of them for being wonderfully amazing and to Francesca from John Lewis who spent most of her day answering my questions!!!  I apologise for monopolising her and I'm sure she needed a huge drink by the time I'd finished with her!!!  Thank you for a wonderful day and roll on the AW10 collection appearing in stores so that I can start shopping!!!!!