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Five Serves for a Fashion-Week Press Day

What to pour at a London Fashion Week press day or showroom event — photogenic, low-ABV, brand-led cocktails that look as good as they taste.

A press day has a particular set of demands. Guests arrive across a long window, they are photographing everything, and they need to stay sharp through back-to-back appointments. The drinks have to be beautiful, light, and unmistakably yours.

Here is how we approach the menu for a fashion or showroom event.

1. A signature in the brand’s colour

Every press day should have one serve that matches the season’s palette — a blush aperitif, a clear botanical highball, a deep garnet sour. It becomes the drink everyone photographs, and the brand travels with every post.

2. A long, low-ABV refresher

Guests are here for hours. A tall, low-alcohol serve — think a spritz or a botanical soda — keeps the room comfortable and the conversation flowing.

3. A considered zero-proof option

Half the room may not be drinking. A mocktail programme with the same craft as the cocktails means no guest feels like an afterthought.

4. Something theatrical, in small doses

One serve with a moment of theatre — a scented mist, a smoke, a tableside finish — gives the day its talking point without slowing service.

5. A clean palate-resetter

Between the showpieces, a crisp, simple serve resets the palate and the pace.

The art of a press-day menu is restraint: five serves, perfectly chosen, beat fifteen that blur together. If you are planning a fashion activation, enquire here.