When it comes to organising a fashion event, a multitude of elements need to knit together. We love to work alongside our clients, sharing our deep-seated understanding of the particular logistical components a fashion event necessitates, and familiarity with our spaces to get the most out of their event.
London Fashion Week is always a whirlwind of shows and parties, we love to help our clients stand out from the crowd. As well as hosting leading fashion houses’ runway shows as a marquee venue during LFW, we have also been home to UK Fashion and Textile Awards and other industry celebrations.
Choose your venue
Perhaps in no other industry is there greater importance in making a good impression upon your attendees. Your choice of venue is crucial. From a practical perspective, you need to find somewhere conveniently located, with plenty of capacity for large scale events and able to offer flexible spaces for runways, changing area, receptions and the all-important after-party.
If your event is more low-key, for example, an internal new season launch show, you need to find more intimate and flexible spaces, with room for catering, talks and plenty of display options.
These are all vital considerations, but when it comes to organising a fashion event, your venue needs to not only tick all those boxes but to also be an extension of your style choices and brand identity. Let the building serve as part of the narrative of your collection or to provide a counterpoint, adding depth to your entire creation.
Old meets new
Here at Tobacco Dock, the stripped-back event spaces are not only ideal blank canvases for your branding and set designs, but also imbued with a rich character all of their own. The Grade 1 listing of the building means that the bricks, timbers and stones have been preserved to reflect their rich past. Combined with our incredible audiovisual and lighting production services, as well as our outstanding WiFi and tech provision, Tobacco Dock can house events of up to 2,000 guests and accommodate the most ambitious of staging creations.
Flex your fashion muscles
Whether it’s for new season launches, Fashion Week runway shows, photoshoots, trunk shows or internal showcases, we have the spaces and the production infrastructure to help your vision become a reality. The breath-taking Great Gallery, with space for over 1,000, with its stunning timber rafters and industrial styling, is the ideal location for your runway, while our many breakout spaces provide ample scope for changing rooms, media suites, exhibitions or bar areas.
Make sure you choose a space that not only echoes your aesthetic but also offers you the right capacity. Too small and sightlines will suffer, guests may miss out and tempers may fray; too large and your atmosphere will dissipate, and it may feel as though turn-out is poor. A happy medium is one where you feel that there is a luxury of space and room to move while maintaining a sense of intimacy. Something useful to consider is the sense of space you gain through ceiling height. Leave plenty of height for lofty hairstyles, hanging decorations and lighting rigs and you will add a dimension of uplift.
Light it up
When it comes to lighting, make sure you have plenty of options. Here at Tobacco Dock, we have spaces bathed in natural light, as well as self-contained ones, where you can create your own lighting completely. We also have different shaped spaces, such as the barrel ceilinged vaults where you can further play with perspective and light.
Sound it out
With outstanding audio-visual provision and acoustics, Tobacco Dock can provide fantastic support for your event’s soundtrack. The world’s leading DJs regularly headline shows here, including Elrow, Drumcode, Seth Troxler, Fat Boy Slim and Adam Beyer – cementing our reputation as one of the world’s leading club-spaces.
Perfectly placed
Situated just one tube stop from Bank and ten minutes from Tower Bridge, Tobacco Dock is easy to reach and guests can arrive through our imposing front gates and cobbled quayside walkway, or make use of our exclusive Pennington Street entrance when arriving by car. Branded taxi ranks can also be arranged with our team to make sure your guests arrive and leave in style.
When organising events, our sales and operations teams are always on-hand to meet and conduct site visits. We also welcome our clients to make use of our industrial-chic restaurant, Dock St Bar, for meetings with suppliers and other contacts.
Alternatively, why not make use of our stunning rooftop bar, Skylight, to wow your clients? Situated at the top of our car park, it has an urban and vibrant atmosphere, with stunning 360° views of the city skyline and seasonal shenanigans to add to the fun. During the summer you can play croquet or pétanque, while the winter months it is home to Europe’s only rooftop ice rink.
Get in touch
We’re proud of our fashion pedigree and passionate about creating outstanding events. We hope our showreel, 3D tour and website can give you a flavour of what’s on offer, but there’s no substitute for the real thing. We would be delighted to give you the grand tour and to chat in-depth about the ways in which the spaces at Tobacco Dock can give your show the platform it deserves. Get in touch with our team to begin the conversation now!