2014 marks the fifth year that Regent Street are holding their annual Regent Street Tweet. This is the second time I have attended this event. The first time I went was in 2010, I think, and pretty much marks the time I started using Twitter seriously. Now, 16,000 tweets later, here I am.
My morning didn’t begin too auspiciously when I discovered that my house keys had gone missing and that I had been locked in. Fortunately, my brother managed to rescue me from my flat after an hour and I got to Regent Tweet an hour late. I was still able to register at Brasserie Zedel but ended up walking from one end of Regent Street to another and back as it was assumed I would be able to get from the registration point to the Apple store where the deck of cards was being distributed (different from previous years), but, due to some miscommunication, everyone had left the Apple store by the time I arrived and I had to head back to the registration points in order to get some cards.
At this point, I was rather tired, as you can imagine! I later learnt that I’d missed out on the photo call (*sadface*) and a very interesting talk on fashion by Damien Whitmore, Director at the V&A. Oh well!
Once I got my cards, I tried my best to plan strategically in terms of the shops I wanted to go to. Hackett, because of their offer of a leather good with free embossing, sounded really good, because I simply love leather. So I popped into their lovely flagship store, chose between a leather pouch or a luggage tag (I went for the former, mainly because I’m constantly worried about rough baggage handling damaging anything nice I put on my bags), and sat down at their Beefeater 24 gin bar for a much-needed G&T (made with Fever Tree Tonic, naturally). Yes, by this stage, I knew I was wasting valuable time, but I was just so tired and hot and sweaty that I needed to cool off!
Then it was off to a number of clothing stores. Reiss proved to be a nice surprise. I was taken up to the personal shopping suite, a place I wasn’t aware existed. I was also provided with their A/W catalogue, which gave me a bit of a glimpse into the world of a fashion blogger. Not bad at all.
I popped into Crabtree & Evelyn for a quick hand massage, and contributed a tip to their tip tree. Little did I know that I would end up the lucky winner of a hand care hamper because of my tip. Wa-hey!
It was then time to head back to Brasserie Zedel for lunch, again, complimentary, thanks to the wonderful people at Regent Tweet. I’d heard about this restaurant being good value for its location (right by Piccadilly Circus), but I’d not heard about how nice the décor was. The lunch also gave me a chance to meet other people taking part in the event, where I made the acquaintance of HellwaFashion, represented by a fellow South-East Asian who had travelled in from Dubai especially for this event.
Following lunch, we all realised we only had another hour left, so it was off to hit another bunch of shops and use more of my cards. I planned my route as carefully as I could knowing full well that I had to be at Brooks Brothers at 4 pm so that I could catch blogging royalty Liberty London Girl's introduction of their womenswear range. I'd heard quite a bit about Brooks Brothers from an ex-boyfriend who had spent some of his formative years in the US, but had never gone in. I never realised how old the brand was, or the fact that they had clothed all the American Presidents, or that Katherine Hepburn went to them for trousers for her iconic look. And I was absolutely thrilled to receive their classic white shirt at the end of the talk. I tried it on then and there. It was lovely. And, best of all, it's non-crease too. I absolutely hate ironing.
Last but not least, I made my way to Laird & Co., having heard other participants ooh and ahh over their gift from this shop – a cap. I’d given the shop a miss at first, despite its proximity to the registration point, as I had thought Laird & Co. only made men’s caps. As it turns out, I was wrong. The cap on offer – a Scoop cap – was designed by the people behind Lairds as their smart take on a baseball cap, and is handmade from one block of wool felt. While I can’t say it’s my favourite headwear shape – I prefer paperboy caps – I’m glad this now gives me a chance to experiment more with my headgear.
The event came to an end at Piccolino where we were plied with drinks and canapes while awaiting for the prizes and awards to be announced. I was just glad for a place to rest my weary arms and feet though, and it was very, very hard for me to get back up. But, get up, I had to, as I had a tonne of things to bring home… and you’ll see why shortly!
Goodies I picked up included:
- Set of toiletries from Molton Brown
- Leather pouch from Hackett with my initials embossed
- Scarf from Reiss
- Hand cream from Anthropologie
- Nail polishes from Crabtree & Evelyn
- Samples from Ren
- Scoop cap from Laird
- Cosmetics from Kiko
- £50 voucher from Banana Republic and a bunch of lovely summer posies
- Sample of Penhaligon’s new scent, Tra La La
- Leather pouch from Karen Millen
I have just one small suggestion though; it would have been better for the retailers to offer discounts on a day other than Regent Tweet itself. I was so exhausted by the end of the event – as were a number of the other people I spoke to – that I decided to go home instead and rest, rather than shop, and that’s saying something.
All in all, it was a great event. Kudos to Regent Street and Sister for organising such an interesting event. While I was aware of the range of shops on Regent Street prior to the event, it was also an area I tended to avoid because of sheer amount of human traffic. It was still very crowded the day of Regent Tweet, but, now, I’ve realised it’s a place where I can achieve quite a fair bit of quality shopping, and that the crowds are worth the hassle!
So, thanks for having me, and helping me end off what has been an incredible month on a high. I hope I get to be a part of it again some time!
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