In a retail dream of a week for the city that saw Grand Central and John Lewis fling open their doors to much fanfare, Style Birmingham Live polished off proceedings in appropriately confident fashion.

While customers queued to ride the escalator to shopping heaven at Grand Central and disoriented rugby fans made their way through Birmingham Weekender crowds to Villa Park, Style Birmingham Live kicked off across town. Cheeky chappie host, Mark Wright who incidentally had a bodyguard in case any over excited TOWIE fans got physical was complemented by celeb stylist, Mark Heyes and Anya Dellicompagni from Francesco Group as they took style related questions from a packed Gas Hall and introduced a stunning runway show that highlighted the growing fashion offering in Brum.

A moody Peaky Blinders opening to the show made way for masculine chic by John Lewis, pastels from House of Fraser, American heritage at the Liquor Store, tweed by M&S, a distinctly vintage vibe from Topshop and cutting edge fashion by Disorder – the stand out section of the show in our book, along with many more retailers and themes that kept the crowd happy. With all of the looks available in the city, an inspired bunch of fashion followers left the show for some serious retail therapy. (Steve Hewlett of Retail Birmingham looked very happy as we left. Just saying)