Fashion & Tennis at the Pre-Wimbledon Party 2011

Back in June (yes this post is a little late) I was very very very lucky to get an invite to the WTA Tour Pre-Wimbledon Party held at The Roof Gardens in London. This yearly event, hosted by Richard Branson has become quite the highlight for tennis stars and celebs to celebrate the kick off of the Wimbledon season.

When I received the invite, through a close friend of mine, I was so estastic and knew I had to find myself the perfect dress to wear. So out shopping I went! I ended up finding this uh-mazing dress at All Saints. Sparkly, one shoulder, mini aka sexy but glamorous....L.O.V.E.D it!! Priced at a (whopping) £295, I knew it wasn't cheap but I felt for this one-of-a-kind party, I needed a one-of-a-kind dress.

To prepare myself for the event, I ended up getting my makeup done at MAC in Covent Garden. Just for fun and convenience because it only costs £25 which is redeemable in products (recommend doing this!)
See here my Face of the Night:

You can view a copy of the MAC facechart here that shows the list of the products used by my makeup artist . Because my dress was going to be so 'in your face sparkly' I didn't want to go for anything too dramatic on the eyes but focus more on a lovely glowing look with peach/gold accents. My MAC makeup artist thought it would be nice to dark rim the eyes and make them pop that way. You like?

So then after getting my makeup done, I headed to my friends house (who was also coming to the event) to get changed, snap some pictures in our outfits and have a quick drink before making our way to the venue. See me/us looking all glammed up ready to go & party it up with the tennis stars and celebs!

However, right before we were about to leave in a taxi to the event.....disaster struck! The great 'concealed side zip' of my brand new dress BROKE. Yes broke! So there I was stuck in a dress that left me completely exposed and there was nooo way to fix the zip (I even had to wiggle myself out of the dress to get it off!) I was SO SO gutted. I'd bought this special, not very cheap, dress for this specific event and I now had nothing to wear because this dress was the only outfit I'd taken to my friends house.

My sweet friend managed to calm me down and we went through her wardrobe to find me a replacement dress to wear. Luckily she had this lovely black, long sleeve, sequin dress (from REISS) that fit me so I ended up wearing that to the party. I looked nice, dont get me wrong, but it did ruin my night a wee bit! See here some pictures of me at the event below (...the photo booth was SO much fun!) 

It was definitely a night where the worlds of tennis, fashion and celebrity colided. Not only were the best in women's tennis wearing the best of quintessential British fashion design, but a large amount of celebrities also graced the Kensington Rooftop Gardens (which is an amazing club/restaurant in London)

The WTA partnered with the British Fashion Council to connect players with British designers, who provided them unique styles for the night. Some of the players in the group were Caroline Wozniacki (who wore Stella McCartney), Serena Williams (Burberry), Maria Sharapova (Alexander McQueen), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (David Koma), Ana Ivanovic (Matthew Williamson) and Jelena Jankovic (Vivienne Westwood). See their red carpet looks in that order below:

 I thought Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic looked stunning!

Celebrities including Eliza Doolittle, Holly Branson, Kimberly Wyatt, Naomi Harris, Alex James, Henry Holland, Alexis Jordan, Holly Valance, Tali Lennox, Patsy Kensit, Lord Sugar and Tinie Tempah joined the tennis players at the exclusive bash. I have to say, it was pretty crazy to be in the same room as all these well known people, but it definitely made for some great people watching while sipping on champagne! One of my favourite outfits I spotted that night was actually Holly Branson, who wore a super cute white & blue sequined shift dress. To see more red carpet looks from the event see click here or here. 

Overall it was a FABULOUS night! Free drinks, free food, celeb spotting, an amazing venue & fun times on the dance floor :) The next day however, an angry me went back to an All Saints store to return my broken dress. They gave me a full refund but was still a little disappointed over the wardrobe malfunction from the night before. I didn't exchange the dress for a new one because felt I'd bought it for this party & wouldn't get that much wear out of it. A shame..but hey in the end I still had an amazing time!
I'm such a lucky girl really.... :) xoxo