Tempest style fashion show

On Friday night (27 June) I was invited to attend the Tempest Fashion catwalk showcase at the Holland House Hotel in Cardiff city centre. On arrival I was told to take the lift to the Presidential Suite for the VIP drinks reception. I finally reached the top floor of the hotel and was ushered into a room which was full of very well dressed ladies and gentlemen in exquisite evening wear, which having come from work in a simple floral pencil skirt, made me feel a little under-dressed. However, I grabbed a glass of Prosecco and started wandering around the room looking for a friendly face among the crowd of strangers and luckily I quickly spotted fellow fashion blogger, Sarah of Porcelina's World and Sophie of fashion blog twisted individual

We sat on some rather sumptuous sofas in a room with plush animal print on the walls sipping sparkly and chatting away feeling like were rubbing shoulders with the elite of Cardiff. However, after about half an hour we were ushered back downstairs to the main reception to join the other guests of the fashion show. We happily guzzled some more Prosecco before finding our table and taking our seats for the start of the show. I was sitting on a table with Sarah from fashion blog Porcelina's World, the very lovely Miss Wales 2014, Alice Ford and organisers of Miss Wales Paula Abbandonato and Clare Birt. 

Myself and Sarah quickly took ourselves to the bar the purchase a bottle of wine so we could settle down into the evening (which due to the very slow bar staff took a lot longer than expected, meaning that we missed our starters...but thankfully none of the fashion show). Once we finally got our wine and were able to take our seats, the lights dimmed and the show commenced.

The show itself was broken down into three sections, with each catwalk showcase taking place between each course of our meal. Tempest Fashion refers to itself as a sultry yet sophisticated women's wear label consisting of an abundance of sexy pencil dresses, flattering peplum shapes, embellished detailing, lace finishes and soft lines.  

The party dresses which were shown during the first and second catwalk rounds were inspired by classic silhouettes and certainly celebrated the fantastic physiques of all the female models (they may not have been quite so flattering on someone who didn't have such athletic physiques)!

However, the dresses shown were beautifully tailored and perfect for either dinner with your other half, a night out with the girls, a wedding, a formal evening occasion or an important work meeting, and given their higher end price point (starting at around £100) I would suggest that these are the sort of dresses that would need to be reserved for that special occasion.

My favourite dresses were a vibrant yellow one shoulder dress and a lacey panel top nude and black dress with a black strip across the waist, creating a very flattering thinning effect - a popular style on the website that seems to come in a variety of different colour selections. 

See some pictures below taken by Sarah from Porcelina's World on my behalf (thanks Sarah)

There was also a selection of fitted midi length dresses with sheer panels which created a more sultry and sexy evening look

After the first two fashion shows, there was one final show which featured the 'real' women that Tempest had chosen as part of a competition. The women varied in size from a small size 8 to a curvy 14 and all wore very flattering dresses that showed off their hour-glass figures. They all strutted their stuff perfectly and had a fantastically confident stage presence. Good on them, especially seeing as they followed the super skinny Miss Wales finalists who had modelled the rest of the outfits on display that night.

After the catwalk shows had come to an end we were treated to a fantastic performance by Sophie Evans of Over the Rainbow fame who stepped into the shoes of Dorothy in the West End musical last year and is about to release her debut album. She sung Imagine by John Lennon, Your Song by Elton John and Over the Rainbow from the musical and her voice really was out of this world. I was extremely impressed with her voice and was blown away by her beauty. She really is a very talented individual.

The whole night was thoroughly enjoyable, the food was tasty, the company was fantastic, the clothes were stunning and the entertainment most certainly topped off a great evening.

To check out more items from the Tempest Fashion range simply visit www.tempest-online.com I know I will be - especially for that special occasion. You can also follow them on twitter at @tempeststyle to keep updated on all their latest news and styles.

Thanks for the invite Tempest Fashion :)