Last night was one of those 'eureka!' moments; eight short weeks of incredibly hard work and long hours, packed into three suitcases.
Today, we head to Canada, where two of us will be the first British designers ever to show at Vancouver Fashion Week, representing Leeds and its unique and wonderful design ability on a world stage.
As we meticulously counted each piece into our mismatched luggage (maybe we'll be rocking Louis Vuitton trunks next year), the enormity of the opportunity we'd been handed finally dawned on us.
What started as a wing and a prayer was now a reality, just two months ago we sat in front of Marketing Leeds with an idea and thanks to their support and generosity, Leeds in Vancouver was born.
I am lucky enough to be going along as well, to meet the local and international media and buyers from across the globe; maximising on every opportunity to promote Leeds and our designers while we're there.
James Steward and Lisa Jayne Dann are Yorkshire through and through. James has lived in Farsley his whole life, apart from a stint in Milan working for one of Italy's oldest and most respected fashion houses, Gattinoni Couture. Lisa grew up in Boston, but has lived in Leeds for many years.
Both are incredibly humble, and to a staggering extent, unaware of their burgeoning talent, despite the fact that James has dressed Victoria Beckham and Kylie Minogue, and Lisa was the biggest selling independent designer on online fashion powerhouse, ASOS.com in the three months to Christmas last year.
Opportunity to showcase Leeds' retail mix
Leeds in Vancouver represents a unique opportunity to showcase the fantastic retail mix we have here in the city; from luxury brands such as Burberry, whose Creative Director, Christopher Bailey also hails from Yorkshire, to the exciting undercurrent of vintage, hand-made pieces created by insanely creative and passionate independents, housed in the equally eclectic, Birds Yard.
One such independent who caught our eye in the run-up to Leeds in Vancouver was Beth Hirst, a local milliner who makes couture hats.
When we first met Beth, her leg was in plaster following a nasty roller-skating accident (I kid you not), which couldn't have endeared her to us more. What followed was a fabulous fan-shaped hat which represents Leeds, and a mini-collection of unusually shaped and sculpted pieces, made using soft felt and sheets of glass beading; all of which will be hitting the catwalk next weekend.
Night owls and serious fashionistas can view a live-feed of both Lisa and James' shows on the Vancouver Fashion Week website, where they will be showing at 1.30 and 2am (GMT) respectively. You can also keep up to date with our progress in Vancouver by following my guest-tweets for @marketingleeds.
I'll also be providing another blogpost for Guardian Leeds while I'm over in Vancouver and another on my return.
Guest blogger Sam Ward lives and breathes fashion, having cut her PR teeth in the press and marketing department of Harvey Nichols. Sam now works as an account manager for Harrogate-based UpRaw PR as well as freelance for some of Leeds' leading independent retailers; including James Steward, Rebecca Charles and Birds Yard.
What do you think? Have your say in the comments section below.
