As spooky season descends and the nights draw in, we thought what better way to celebrate our latest launch of darkly elegant party dresses than with a glamorous murder mystery event? 

So, the Hope & Ivy team set to work, whipping up a night of fun, frights and fashion at the exclusive boutique townhouse The Zetter in London’s historic Clerkenwell.  

Before the event, all our lucky attendees were sent a mysterious black box tied with a plush red velvet ribbon. And what was inside? Well, it wouldn’t be a murder mystery without costumes! But since this is a Hope & Ivy Halloween, we made sure our guests were set to dazzle in gorgeous dresses from our AW24 collection. 

It was wonderful to see our friends August Bernstein, Barbara Bruce, and Nerrisa Pratt get stuck into the dramatic atmosphere of the evening, playing parts such as Sheila Snaps and Madam Da Vinci! 

We were also lucky to be joined by Shanu of the inspiring Shine with Shanu Instagram account, glamorous content creator Heidi Herkes, and Kristabel Plummer of the fabulous I Want You To Know blog.

Lastly, amongst the suspicious suspects, we had Great British Bake Off Winner Frances Quinn as well as Sophie Martin and Christie Macintyre of the fantastic Sophie and Christie Instagram account.

After welcoming our attendees and mingling over refreshing cocktails and elderflower fizzes, it was time for our suspected miscreants to introduce their characters and begin interrogating one another as they munched on miniature portions of fish and chips, smoked salmon cornets and wild mushroom & wasabi tarts. 

As the detective work heated up and accusations began to fly, an interval was needed to bring some calmness and perspective to the proceedings. And who better to soothe our gathering of spooked souls than the incredibly talented singer Jade Lamey? We’ve been fortunate enough to have Jade sing for us over socials before, but hearing her perform in person was a really special experience! Jade sang her own rendition of Nancy Sinatra’s haunting Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) to a rapt (and unsuspecting!) audience who, up until that point had assumed Jade’s pop star character was only an act!

Still, time was of the essence to capture the clandestine killer - lest they strike again! So guests got back to trying to find the culprit and naming their suspects.

As trays of plump profiteroles and dinky jars of Eton mess were handed out, it was also time for just desserts to be served. Since the ‘killer’ had been chosen at random at the start of the night, it was a complete surprise for team Hope & Ivy to find that we had a murderer in our midst with none other than our co-founder Sarah being the culprit!

After a sheepish confession, our guests were sent on their way into the night with a goody bag complete with a customised pumpkin cookie from Baked by Steph and a romantic red rose.