ON December 6 last year, Mrs Brumpton and Miss Savage arranged for years 11 and 12 students studying textiles and art to visit the world's largest and most entertaining fashion and beauty event of the year.

This was held at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham and was attended by fashion lovers in their thousands - including our very excited students.

Having met in the bus bay at school at 8am, the fashion (and art) lovers had a frustratingly long journey to Birmingham.

The rigours of the traffic jams were soon forgotten however when they finally reached the NEC and split off into groups to explore the six differently coloured zones, each consisting of different designer garments and beauty products.

There were many free samples of brand new products that were eagerly snapped up by our fashionistas.

Some stalls sold "goodie bags" at heavily discounted prices - well worth buying.

The students made their way around the different zones, trying on (and sometimes actually buying!) outfits from designers such as Goldigga, Playboy, Bench, Hooch, Fiorelli and Juicy Couture and sampling the beauty delights of Jelly Ping Pong, Tigi, Bourjois and Barry M.

And yes - they admitted that make up would not necessarily loom large in their forthcoming exams, but every female under 90 must admit it's an integral part of life!

Throughout the day the students watched dance demonstrations by Pineapple Dance Studio and keep-fit demonstrations on the Well Being stage.

The designer and college catwalk enabled them to see the final year collections designed and produced by fashion students from colleges and universities all over the country.

Foz, from the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, made appearances on the Superdrug Hair and Beauty stage, giving out goodie bags to fans in the audience.

At 1.30 pm, the students met at the Nokia Fashion Theatre to watch the fashion show - the main attraction of the whole event.

Once inside the theatre, they found their seats and had an excellent view of the stage - watching in amazement as Caprice floated down from the ceiling dressed as a fairy, whilst the models showed off her new lingerie range!

The catwalk show lasted for 45 minutes after which there was just enough time to fit in some last minute shopping before leaving to return to school.

All of the students agreed they had had a fabulous day and had learned a lot about the fashion and design world - and, as an added bonus, had grabbed some brilliant bargains.

They can't wait for the next Clothes Show Live in December - just in time to bag some Christmas goodies!

By SASHA DEARDEN Year 12