I was about to start this post by saying that fashion parties in London have been a bit thin on the ground since Christmas but then I remembered the 3 day champagne and shows bonanza that was London Collections Men’s and realised I was talking rubbish! In fashion land every season is party season and last week was particularly packed. I definitely should have vetoed the lot given the vast amount of uni work I have to cram in before I leave for New York on Wednesday. Obviously I didn’t (cocktails trump essay writing, always) and first on my after-dark agenda was Diet Coke’s 30th Anniversary celebrations at Sketch. Not a “fash bash” in the traditional sense but Diet Coke is the industry’s favourite (soft) drink, the evening’s host was Hilary Alexander so I think it qualifies. After an afternoon so manic it made my head spin I was dying for a drink of the decidedly non soft variety so the second we arrived my blogger pal Millie and I made a beeline for the bubbly. Thirst quenched we had a good look at our fellow guests who included everyone from Sophie Ellis Bexter to Jade Parfitt and Patricia Field, the stylist responsible for putting Carrie Bradshaw in Manolos.

A few glasses later it was time to toast and Hilary treated us to a fantastic speech full of with anecdotes about fashion’s longstanding love affair with the drink. Apparently Karl Lagerfeld loves it so much he has his own personal Diet Coke butler! Just when I thought things couldn’t get any more brilliant than that snippet of sartorial juice they got oh so much better. Remember the original Diet Coke hunk of 1994? Well I don’t because I was only 3 years old at the time but having googled it since I can confirm that he was hunky, but perhaps not quite as hunky as his 2013 counterpart who appeared in the flesh that evening to introduce the new ab-tastic advert, immediately causing 99.9999% of the attendees (AKA women and gay men) to swoon visibly.

Once we had just about recovered from the sight of Andrew Cooper’s (the hunk does have a name you know!) sensational six pack Bip Ling took to the decks and got everyone on the dancefloor with a party perfect playlist of the past three decade’s top tracks. Several hours of throwing ever-so-slightly embarassing shapes later we decided to call it a night and tottered off home to hit the hay.

Love Ella. X