Fitness and Fashion

When I met Natasha Musson I knew instantly she must exercise regularly because she exudes health, energy and confidence (and looks great too) so it was no surprise to find out she runs in the mornings with her dog 'Fizz" - what a fab name!The reason she doesn't come to our early morning Zest Bootcamp classes is purely because she lives in Somerset so not very convenient at 6.30am.It seemed a great combination to mix fitness and fashion so we held a style event for some of the "zesties" after one of our members had had a great 1-1 session with Natasha.The Sip, Style & Swap Style Event is a format Natasha devised 7 years ago when she started her business, with the aim of bringing fashion into the front room in a relaxed environment. To inspire, to teach and to show women on trend styles, new fashion tips through demonstration and open conversation. No selling, just talking creative concepts of how to produce new looks.The evening kicked off with Natasha doing a presentation  once everyone was furnished with a  glass of fizz and  some of the common questions and dilemmas many women had were addressed such as, ‘What is smart casual?; ‘What trends can we wear that are age appropriate?’  ‘How do I wear modern clothing without feeling like mutton dressed as lamb’.Natasha had connected with 3 shops in Bath to enhance her offering... Anthropologie, Hobbs and Instant Vintage. Displaying a series of looks on her mannequin, first up was ‘how to wear glamorous jackets with chinos and t-shirts’.Next up was this seasons prints from Hobbs and then we discussed a tricky orange shirtdress with sleeve ties around the waist - yes for real!.After a good hour of demos, inspired looks, everyone was in full fashion swing on the sofa, chatting, buzzing from fizz and fashion.The final part of the evening was for the Swap and Style Advise. Natasha had asked everyone attending  to bring something for the swapping rail (one person junk is another’s treasure). They also had to bring a garment that they didn’t wear and needed Style Advise on.This was such an interesting part of the evening as everyone openly decided that the ‘one to ones’ be conducted in front of the whole group. The feeling was, they wanted to learn style advise from the feedback she gave to each individual so, one by one, all 15 individually stepped into the ‘circle of style’. We had huge fun encouraging each member how to wear the garments that had been siting in the back of their wardrobes.From suede mini skirts, designer red coats, fringed cotton striped skirts, black biker jackets, old work dresses and new designer blouses. Garments that had arrived with a big question mark ‘will I ever wear this?’ finally got a big  ‘yes, great I’m wearing that next week’ .The room was a buzz with excitement and confidence - a bit like some sessions at Bootcamp (except everyone was looking a bit more glam :)The swapping part of the evening was very relaxed, ladies having to get off the sofa after a few glasses of fizz to try on clothes that others had brought in. They all went home with a goodie bag, a smile on their face and lots of ideas to try at home as well as several of them with someone else's "unwanted" items that turned into treasure :) Infact I indirectly ended up with a lovely Desigual dress which I "swapped" for a Zest Bootcamp T shirt!It was a fun and informative evening and if you have a group of people I highly recommend it as something different to do socially.  Thank you to our lovely host Laurie for not only offering her house but also the delicious nibbles which ended with very spectacular white chocolate mini cheesecakes -totally non-bootcamp friendly but SO good!Natasha is offering £50 voucher off her styling services to bootcamp clients or anyone reading this blog if you mention my name.Style parties can be organized at £25 per head with a minium of 10 attendingYou find out more on Natasha's website at www.natashamusson.co.ukIf you'd like to feel more confident in your clothes then why not join us for a trial week at our friendly, fresh-air fitness classes in Bath - click here for more information.You can also find out more about what we do at Zest Bootcamp, including lots of videos so you can see what it's really all about on our Facebook page here.