Words by Nicola Kerr
9.00am
Blueskin HQ in Hoxton, London. The RSVP emails have now reached 242, the Vibe bar have said the party ‘red room’ can fit 180, urmm? hopefully everyone will arrive at different times.
11.00am
The mobile cackles, ‘Hello’, ‘Happy birthday to you’ is being sung down the line, ‘Now who is this?’ ‘It’s Sonia’ shouts Sonia Shaw, ‘Me and Jo (Chastney) are coming down tonight for the party, Jo has bought a big truck with blacked out windows and alloy wheels, woop! woop!’ she screams. Ah bless, my quiet residential street in Stoke Newington will be impressed. The mobile beeps again, text message, ‘cn I brng bfrind?’ Yes of course bring him down. More emails flood in and the office phone rings, yes bring your flatmate, your work chum, that random hot guy/chick you met last week, bring them all down, everyone is very welcome! Birthday cards arrive that say, ‘I am 10’ from friends and family. More text messages. I’m beginning to feel pleasantly overwhelmed with the good wishes from people far and wide. I suddenly realise that it has been an achievement setting up a clothing brand from scratch, fresh out of Brighton Art College with absolutely no business training, and running it successfully for 10 years, eeek!!
6.00pm
After a day in the office, I arrive at Vibe bar where Teresa from Mr Ed, my favourite PR company and Hayley from Hoxton Works are armed with stickers and grins, they start setting up. Stickers are stuck, poppers and silly party hats are put on tables, the Petty Krooks begin playing some good sounds, the lights are dimmed, Bacardi staff are ready, with the Mojtos stacked up on the bar. Ok lets make party!
7.30pm
People start to arrive, I suddenly feel very nervous and excited, Lyndsey from Bacardi casually slips me a strong Mojto, as I’m introduced to Jessica from the BBC, we start chatting and Lucie from powderroom.net saunters in, ‘Hello’ she beams, ‘this is ace’. The party starts to fill, the drinks tokens are given out freely, there is a mad rush for the bar, everyone is clutching as many Mojtos as they can gather, it’s a free for all, and it’s great! More people are still arriving, the dance floor is filling up and some rare dance moves are being busted out.
10pm
Around 10 o’clock I look around at a packed party and have a quiet moment to myself, ‘Blimey’ I think ‘I did this’. There are friends and supporters here from 10 years ago, skaters, snowboarders, BMXers, retailers, interns, people who have travelled far to be here tonight. There are also people I had just met, new people who are excited about the Blueskin brand and it’s really great to meet them and welcome them onboard.
Feeling the love from everyone, was for me a true celebration, so a massive thank you to everyone for making it such an awesome night. There will be without a doubt more Blueskin parties!
