On Saturday I attended the first official Access All ASOS event as an ‘ASOS Insider’ which was a ‘selfie school’ held at ASOS HQ in London. Us lucky insiders were spoilt by the lovely team as ASOS and treated to a day of learning all about how to get the most out of our camera phones and how to take the perfect selfie which seemed fitting as ‘selfie’ was just named word of the year. We were taught by the very talented Oliver Lang aka @oggsie. With over 216,000 Instagram followers and working with the likes of Samsung, Burberry plus photographing many a rock gigs, he obviously knows what he is talking about.

After arriving at the impressive building (ASOS HQ has two giant cat statues decorating the steps to the entrance) we signed in and took a seat in the waiting area. After a few minutes of chatting to all the other bloggers and ASOS addicts that were arriving we were greeted by the lovely staff and given an outline of the days plans. We were then treated to a delicious selection of food and drink. There was wine, coke, diet coke, apple juice, orange juice, grapefruit juice and then some yummy jugs of fizzy elderflower or mint & cucumber water to choose from. We also had an impressive spread of lemon cake, chocolate cake, cute heart and star cupcakes, mini burgers and mini fish & chips served in a mini cone!

When the team were ready we were called into a room with rows of chairs and rails filled with previews of the Spring/Summer ’14 collections, ready for the presentation. Olly gave us a talk complete with slide shows filled with tips and tricks on how to get the best pictures possible using only your mobile phone. He told us all the best shooting and editing apps and tools to use and what kind of pictures drum up the most engagement.

Next came the challenges, we were divided into groups and all sent off to different areas to take part in one of the four challenges. We had the mirror challenge: For this we had to take a full length mirror photo to get our whole outfit in the image and then another mirror shot without the phone being visible (FYI, A LOT harder than you think.) The next challenge was the low exposure shot. This time we were taught by Olly how to lock in our exposure and focus and take a ‘moody’ selfie with a low lit light from above for maximum impact. We then moved onto the combination selfie, for this we had to take one full length outfit picture and a couple of close up shots of other detail in our outfits and then using a collage app combine the 2 or 3 images into one. Last but not least was the dreaded no filter natural selfie, we had to use the natural light and give ourselves the best shot possible using no filters, eek! This was quite hard as my group had this task last and by then it was getting darker outside but despite this we actually had the winner of this category in our group so the tips and tricks Olly had provided us with were definitely paying off.

Before we drained the last bit of batteries from our phones we were then taken upstairs for a tour of the offices including the buying and design departments which were strewn with fabrics, mood boards and collages giving an exciting glimpse of whats to come for Spring/Summer ’14. The shoe department was pretty impressive with shoes left right and centre. It was every fashionistas dream to see behind the scenes and all the amazing clothes that surrounded us.The chairs were rounded egg shaped big brother diary room style chairs in bright colours and every now and again a vintage looking leather couch was thrown in for good measure.

We were then led to the ASOS studios to see where the images for the website are shot and one of the most exciting parts for all of us, the ASOS catwalk! Of course all of us took the opportunity and jumped up for the money shot of us gracing the catwalk and we all couldn’t resist a little strut up and down giving our inner models a chance to shine.

After the tour we were all lead back into the room for the big reveal of who won overall best selfie. It was a full length mirror shot that definitely rivaled THAT Kim Kardashian white swimsuit selfie that made headlines recently. However this was a brilliant parody of that shot by @girlstolelondon.

It was an amazing experience from beginning to end. It was really nice getting to know the staff involved in the Access All ASOS programme who were all so lovely and friendly. The tips and tricks Olly taught us are invaluable and will 100% come in handy in the future. The whole experience was a bit surreal getting to see the behind the scenes of not just one of my favourite brands but a global empire loved by millions worldwide. We got to know stuff about the brand that I wouldn’t have had the chance to know without being able to attend the day so I would like to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU ASOS!! Thank you to all the staff invloved with the Acess All ASOS programme, all the staff there on the day helping out and being so lovely to all us ASOS-ee’s and a big thank you to Oliver Lang for giving us all his expert knowledge on how to take the best pictures.

I cannot wait to attend the next Access All ASOS event whenever that may be, I do know that judging by Selfie School it will not disappoint.

(Sorry for the picture heavy post but there was just too much amazing-ness to capture and share with you all)