Well, I doubt The Boss imagined this evening when she opened the shop in Hoxton 20 years ago, on a budget of £700 and a pot of pink paint! Renting the shop space week by week, I imagine she was rather pleased to be open 6 months later ~ never mind 20 whole years!
A lot of preparation went in to the planning and executing of the party so a massive Well Done should def go to the Sh! Directors, Ky Hoyle and Sophie Walters, both of whom were most probably ready to tear their locks out long before the event actually took place.
Team Sh! never miss an opportunity to get dressed up
...so we were absolutely *delighted* when hot-pink satin corsets arrived for us to wear. Wooo! Heels, fishnets, make up, hair tongs… We all brought in several matching skirts/dresses/trousers (delete as applicable) (and brand new knix, of course) ‘just in case’.
Once we got to the club, we were met by huge “20” balloons and six gorgeous burlesque artists (Delores Deluxe, Tempest Rose, Miss Amarattease, Rosilee Van der Mei, Leonie Soprano and Dolly Rose), all bearing trays of pink fizz, and patiently allowing guests to take pictures of them. And then we almost fell over on our very high heels when we clocked Ky looking stunning in a silver 30’s style dress, and Sophie Walters in her dapper black suit with pink shirt… *sigh*
Whilst Team Sh! donned trays with sex toys, lubes and spankers, the 150 or so VIP guests were treated to a spectacular aerial performance by Loz Buzzard, who, incidentally, did her work experience at Sh! many pink moons ago!
Many of the guests were feeling a li’l bit shy, so professional photographer and rope expert Rod Macdonald asked if he could perform a rope show with his partner Alex to get things warmed up. We jumped at the chance of this, and it wasn’t long before members of the audience volunteered to be tied up too..! (Now, that’s one way of breaking the ice!)
The shop team were rather amused by the play list keeping the guests in a sexy mood ~ the very same tunes we listen to at work every day! Nice touch, Boss.
Once the club night got going at 9pm, women poured through Café de Paris’s doors, and a couple of professional dancers climbed up on the podiums, strutting their hot stuff in zebra outfits, complete with Sh! strap-ons -Just amazing.
Team Sh! danced and drank, drank and danced, and flirted with pretty much everyone at the event (sincere apologies if we missed anyone out) ~ we managed to pack in a whole load of fun in just a few hours.
Guests we definitely remember batting our long lashes at were Miss Rebecca Bond (ooh, the shoes!), Miss Annie Player, KD Grace, Lexie Bay, Sarah Berry (Fannying Around), the Zatorski’s, Nick Hewson (Women, Sex & Shopping), Picle (artist duo), Holly Revell (photographer)…(and those handsome boys in white sailor outfits)…(and the bar staff)…and maybe a girl in a zebra outfit. *wink*
At 11pm, the curvaceous Marilyn Monroe impersonator sang ‘Happy Birthday to Sh!’
Confetti whirled all around us, but we must admit we were rather unruly by this point.
The VIP guests left with hot pink (of course!) goodie bags; containing so much stuff we doubt they’ll be leaving the privacy of their bedrooms anytime soon..!
One bag I peeked into contained the following: Sh! silk ties for sensual bondage, Tenga Egg for boys, Lelo Picobong KiKi vibe, Dazzler Tulip vibe, Sh! Lush lube and ID bubblegum lube, FunFactory Smartballs, Village People cock-ring, Yes organic lube and a copy of Sh! SEX: The Bible… So much orgasmic potential in one bag ~ my mind boggled!
And talking about SEX: The Bible ~ wow! Did you know we managed to put a book together in about a month?!
The book contains 20 years of experience, erotica, erotic art and useful hints & tips… You can’t buy the book; we decided to do a print run of only 200 copies especially for the party, so if you managed to get you hands on one, don’t go selling it on Ebay! (Now all we need is for a publisher to offer us a book deal so we can make a bigger one with hard covers that people can actually buy..)
Sadly I had to leave before the Fuel Girls took to the stage (last train, damn it) but I have it on good authority that they were *great*
A few secrets from the night:
- Which Sh! Girl went commando?
- Which Sh! Girl bumped & ground on a Nick Hewson’s (Women, Sex & Shopping) unsuspecting daughter?
- Which Sh! Girl burst into tired tears in the back room? (It *had* been a long day!)
Party Favourites:
- Joanna: “I loved the gorgeous Marilyn Monroe singing ‘Happy Birthday’. She was stunning! Also, had fun showing off my tray of rabbit vibes to all the ladiez (and gents) at the press party – everyone was *really* loving the Lelo Ina.”
- Ky: Sitting on someone's knee and promptly sliding off - woosh! satin is slidey!
- Leala: “The trays with samples were so much fun; my tray had lube and I loved showing them to the guests ~ they were even tasting the lubes! And I loved the confetti drop!”
- Sophie: Dancing with all everybody in the hot and crowded dancefloor - we have the best team on the planet!
- Shelly: "The night was AMAZING and I thoroughly enjoyed the reactions to my tray of innovative toys (especially the Tenga Egg!). The outfits were stunning and it was great to see all the faces that have made Sh! what it is today!”
