Last Friday I attended the first ever annual Vogue Festival held at the Royal Geographical Society. The two-day event which was split into four half-day sessions hosted some of the most well known names in fashion including Dolce & Gabbana, Stella McCartney, Tom Ford, Christopher Bailey, Nicholas Kirkwood, David Bailey, Natalia Vodianova, Rachel Zoe and Natalie Massenet, to name but a few. I had the pleasure of attending on Friday afternoon when Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana took to the stage in conversation with editor in chief of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman. The design duo structured their talk around three important themes in their lives: Amore (love), Famiglia (family) and Italianita (Italian spirit). Beautiful short films were played to the audience illustrating these three concepts, the duo then explaining the importance of the role of these three themes in their lives and work.

They revealed that music and film has a profound effect on their collections with Stefano stating: ‘For every fashion show we imagine a film, not a particular film, but one we made up in our minds, we listen to the music, then sketch the clothes’.

In between talks and discussions, festival goers had the opportunity to get involved by having their hair done by Josh Wood, global director of Colour for Wella Professionals and his team, and to also have the perfect ‘smoky eye’ look created for them by the Giorgio Armani make-up team. Attendees also had the opportunity to have their very own Vogue cover at the Vogue cover shoot stand.

A panel that included Laura Bailey, Anne Robinson and Mary Portas took to the stage to discuss whether fashion had an age limit.

To round off a fantastic afternoon Stella McCartney took to the stage in conversation with her long-term friend Kate Hudson. The two spoke about how they met and how their young families have become a present priority. Stella spoke about the importance of her team, designing for the Olympics and also touched on the issue of counterfeit goods.

The very first Vogue Festival was a great experience and proved to be a resounding success, one that will grow from strength to strength in years to come.

I was wearing: Paolo Pecora blouse, Zara blazer and heels, Mango trousers and carrying a Reiss clutch. Photography by me.