Last week Thursday I attended the Skip Fashion Exchange event at Turbine Hall, which is one of my favourite venues for events. I’d heard about the Fashion Exchange and was excited to see what it was all about. My mom was my plus 1 and we had a fabulous mom-and-daughter evening out, which was just what we needed after a busy two weeks.

When we arrived at the event, our first stop was at the evaluation table. The point of the exchange is that you bring fashion items that you would give to a friend. The ladies at the evaluation tables evaluate your fashion items and award each of them a  sticker that’s either blue (low value), silver (medium value) or purple sticker (high value). Once you have your stickers, you can  browse through some fashion from local designers before dinner is served.

The ever so gorgeous Bonang was the MC for the night, we got to enjoy the music of Shoowop Shop – a doowop, jazz, swing trio from JHB (@ShoowopShop), and Alexis Chaffe Mey took us through the trends for summer. The one item I had my eye on was a fierce black leather skirt that one of the models was wearing! After a delicious dinner, everyone went to choose their new fashion items and there was great excitement.

All of the fashion items were arranged on racks according to their value, and coloured stickers made browsing easy. Ladies, you need to be quick when choosing items because they disappear in a blink of an eye. Many ladies left the event with amazing finds and huge smiles on their faces! If you needed any of your items altered, there was a seamstress at the event – free of charge.

My favourite gift in the goodie bag was the crocheted statement necklace! All in all my mom and I had a great girls’ night out! Thank you Skip.

Tips for the fashion exchange:

• Be honest with yourself, there are items in your closet that you have barely worn and probably won’t ever wear – pack them into a bag for the exchange
• Take items for the season you are currently in – so October is summer fashion
• Take premium items of a high value – this will ensure that you get a chance to get another item of high value
• Make sure your fashion items are still in good shape and don’t need to be repaired in any way

If you weren’t able to attend the Skip Fashion Exchange, you still have a chance to enter the Three Word Wardrobe competition on the Skip website. By entering, you stand a chance of winning a Spree shopping voucher worth R5000.