Michael Kors – PR Event

Premier UK Events Ltd were recently asked to provide technical event production services for an event to celebrate the partnership between fashion brand Michael Kors and the McLaren-Honda Formula One team.

The event took place in the Michael Kors store within Selfridges at the Trafford Centre, Manchester and was a chance for guests to see and hear Formula One star Stoffel Vandoorne live in conversation with The Telegraph’s men’s style editor, Stephen Doig.

Premier UK Events Ltd supplied staging, lighting, audio equipment and furniture for the event. For an event of this type, set in a high fashion retail environment, aesthetics were very important. And with the audience being within touching distance of both the star on stage, and the stage itself, attention to detail to create a high quality finish to the installation was vitally important.

An elegant stage lighting solution was created using single spot lights on custom fabricated matte black upright poles, with all cabling hidden within existing shop fittings. The clean, simple lines of this design allowed it to blend into the environment whilst ensuring that the people on-stage were well illuminated. The reduce shadowing on the custom fabricated set, and to highlight the set itself, Elation Sixbars were utilised and positioned at the base of the backdrop.

The stage was a simple 20cm high platform covered with fresh black carpet to blend in with the colour of the flooring in-store, and solid black frontage with discreet cable entrance points completed the look.

The audio system supplied consisted of 2 high performance compact speakers, with matching compact subwoofers for the extended frequency response required for the DJ performance that was part of the event. The system was supplied in all white to tie in with the white stage set. Premier also supplied wireless lapel microphones for the presenters on stage and a high quality digital audio mixing desk that was hidden away out of sight, and then controlled wirelessly via an iPad by one of Premier Events’ sound technicians. This approach helped to reduce the amount of technical equipment visible within the retail environment to maintain the high fashion aesthetic of the space.

Premier also supplied a full DJ setup for the DJ performance part of the event. Because the DJ booth was to be located on the opposite side of an aisle to the main event, the output of the DJ mixer was sent wirelessly across the store to the main audio system to avoid unsightly runs of cable across the floor or ceiling.

The event was a great success and had over double the expected attendance, with plans to produce similar events in the future in the same format already in place.