This year’s Blackpool Dance Festival (May 22nd– 1stJune) was truly one of the best it has ever been. This most prestigious dance event in the world, is known worldwide for its long and fabulous history.
Dancers from all over the world came to the UK in early May to practice and perfect their dances and to compete at this fantastic event. With over 2 weeks of competitions throughout the dancing festival, this event is not to be missed, as everyone is in one place - Blackpool!
CHRISANNE CLOVER took over the Lancastrian Suite in the Imperial Hotel, shared with the much loved and ever popular Espen Salburg. A vast and impressive room that homed our large collections of couture dresses, dancewear, menswear, fabrics and accessories. Months of planning and organising by the whole team at CHRISANNE CLOVER, made this event the best we have ever had.
From the show stopping room, to the couture dresses showcased on the floor, our customers created such an amazing atmosphere both at the CHRISANNE CLOVER show and at the Wintergardens competitions.
This year, for the very first time, we opened our showroom with a much anticipated FASHION SHOW. Presenting 3 glorious collections, from Dancewear to Couture and Evening wear the show, in collaboration with Espen Salberg, was a huge success.
Jamie Mcgregor our sales executive, Tiziana and Becky our couture executives were present at the event from start to finish. Fascinated by the exhibition and how it all went, here is what they had to say about the event…
How was your experience of the Blackpool Dance Festival this year?
Jamie:This year was fantastic! Such an amazing atmosphere. I have worked at the Blackpool Dance Festival for many years and it just gets better and better. Everyone was so excited to be there and to be a part of this amazing event. It was great to see so many friends and customers and to be able to catch up, face to face, rather than by phone or email. It is great to put faces to names with new customers I have not had the pleasure of meeting and also being introduced to new and future customers.
Tiziana:Blackpool was such a great experience and it was such a pleasure to meet customers in person after months of communicating by phone or email to help them achieve their dream dress with CHRISANNE CLOVER. So much effort went into making sure my customers couture dresses were to their satisfaction and ready in time for this event, that to see them all look so glorious in their beautiful dresses, really made it all worthwhile and fantastic to see each one dazzle on the dancefloor!
What was the customer response to our stand at the Imperial Hotel?
Jamie:Customers were blown away by the size of the room. It was very welcoming with so much open space to move around and discover products in every corner. Customers would spend hours just being in the room, relaxing and catching up with friends while browsing at dresses and trying on dancewear. We have 8 fitting rooms which sounds a lot but there were times when the room was just so busy there was still a queue to try something on. It was amazing to see the room so busy and atmospheric.
Tiziana:My customers were overwhelmed with the room and what we had to offer, they thought it was so beautiful they just didn’t want to leave! They felt the stand just gets better and better each year and of course they thoroughly enjoyed the coffee and Prosecco on offer ;)
Becky:It had the wow factor, great product range, good layout and amazing space to shop and relax creating a fantastic atmosphere. Making it all round a really good environment for a great shopping experience.
What products were customers interested in the most? Were there any best sellers?
Jamie:I felt the ESPEN SALBERG for CHRISANNE CLOVER collection and the CHRISANNE CLOVER dancewear in all colours including black were the most popular and sought-after pieces at the event. I would say the ESPEN Colorado Latin dress and the Georgia Ballroom dress were the best-selling items. The CC Imperial Ballroom dress in all colours was also extremely popular, everyone loved the new print that ties all the colours in perfectly.
Tiziana:From the couture side my customers were really interested in the new trends showing through into our couture collections, as well as new fabrics and feather boas.
How was the new Espen and CHRISANNE CLOVER Floral Print Dancewear received by our customers? any particular favourites or best sellers?
Jamie:Customers absolutely loved these collections and were the most popular collections I feel we have ever had at Blackpool and they were flying off the shelf. They were in such high demand that we had to get extra stock shipped daily to cover replenishments of stock sold. As mentioned above the Imperial Ballroom dress in all colours, Colorado Latin dress and Georgia Ballroom dress were the most popular pieces. Customers loved the back detailing of the Georgia Dress and the Colorado Latin dress looked so elegant and had fantastic movement.
Tiziana:My customers loved the animal print design on the new Espen Collection. I had a customer who loved the fabric so much they bought an outfit to wear for nights out and evening parties, not just for practice!
Becky:There was so much interest in these dancewear collections especially the Imperial Ballroom dress in the floral print and the Colorado Latin dress from the Espen collection.
How was the Fashion show? How did you think it went?
Jamie:The fashion show was amazing we had such an immense crowd that turned up making the atmosphere really electric and exciting. It was so well run by the Espen and CHRISANNE CLOVER team and all went to plan, it was great! Customers thought the show looked really professional and really enjoyable to watch.
Tiziana:The fashion show was such an innovative idea and was an amazing opening to our brand with Espen’s, at Blackpool. My customers were so excited about this event and was so pleased to be there and be part of something so special. I was backstage in the fitting rooms helping the models dress and I could feel the buzz of the amazing atmosphere emanating the entire room. The models were so proud to wear our dresses and I was so proud to be part of this magnificent and memorable event. I feel we should definitely do it again next year! My customers were so enamoured with the show that a lot of them tried and also bought dresses worn during the fashion show, they were so proud!
Becky:WOW! It was so exciting and it gave a great buzz to the stand with the build up to the fashion show which continued after the show had finished! The audience really enjoyed it and it was impossible not to get caught up in the excitement of it all.
How was it having Espen on the stand with us?
Jamie:Our stand is always very busy with Espen present and it is always great to have him with us as his staff are always great fun to be around!
Tiziana:Espen is so popular and such a celebrity in the dance world that the stand was always so busy, it is always such a fantastic opportunity to share the stand with Espen and his team. Espen brings so many customers to the stand and with that creates such a great and busy atmosphere. Espen’s customers also gets drawn in into CHRISANNE CLOVER browsing and buying our products. I really enjoyed being alongside Espen and his team they are always so nice helpful!
Becky:It was fantastic as always, having such an icon exhibiting his couture alongside ours and having our joint collaboration Espen for CHRISANNE CLOVER dancewear at the same time complimenting these ranges, is an honour.
How were our couture dresses received? Were there any particular CHRISANNE CLOVER dress that wowed customers on the stand or the dancefloor?
Becky:Customers liked the wide colour choice available and that we had a good size spectrum so there were always possibilities for everyone to try. Fluorescent colours were drawing a lot of attention as well as those with feather features and bead droppers.
Tiziana:We had so many beautiful Haute Couture dresses on the dance floor this year and was so wonderful to see. Dresses that wowed our customers was BDD038NN worn by Saori, a gorgeous White and Ultra Violet feather dress. BDD121NN worn by our new sponsor Arianna, a striking emerald feather dress. BDD198NN worn by Ellen, a stunning white and red feather dress. BDD199NN worn by Veronika, a gorgeous sassy yellow and white feather dress. And BDD179NN worn by our sponsor Stefanie, a beautiful white dress with a stunning crystallization pattern.
What was the customer feedback about our SPONSORED LD dresses on the dancefloor?
Becky:The shading really created interest out there and the soft elegant look of Izabela’s final dress compared what is often seen in the final with sharp bold colour dresses. The bold feature of the 3D flowers on Nataliya’s semi final dress sparked a lot of imaginations. So many customers fell in love with Sara’s black Ballroom dress from the Amateur Ballroom night, that there was an actual queue of ladies waiting to try on this dress!
Tiziana:Monica’s dress wowed and awed on the dancefloor, the audience were enamoured with the crystallization on her Cappuccino shaded dress and sparked much interest. I am inundated with emails of interest about this couture piece.
Read more about our Pro Ballroom and Amateur Ballroom Couture in our previous blogs
What was your most memorable moments of Blackpool?
Jamie:The fashion show was amazing and was such a memorable event I hope we will continue to do it for future Blackpool events. It was also lovely to have a visit from one of my customers with her daughter Alegria, who we sponsor with fabrics for her juvenile costumes. She was a real character and came behind the desk getting stuck in it was very funny :)
Tiziana:The last day celebration at the stand. We were all so proud about how the time spent in Blackpool went with many happy customers who were so pleased with the layout, our customer service, the dresses and all our products. We had a really great team at Blackpool this year and all the months of hard work planning for this event was so worth it. A memory of a fantastic time that will stay with me forever.
Becky:The fashion show starting everything off with a bang and really setting a precedence for the next 9 days to come was a real stand out memory.
Other memorable times are when we had full changing rooms of ladies trying on the couture dresses and proudly showing their partners in the room, how fantastic they all looked in them.
Then there was the second week watching all of our Sponsored Gold, Sponsored and customers on the dance floor wearing their CHRISANNE CLOVER Couture and representing our brand for all to see.
Here’s to another successful time at the Blackpool Dance Festival for 2018. We will look forward to seeing you all again next year :)