Hello my beloved readership,

the Gala Style Day 2024 took place behind the gates of the RTL Germany editorial offices in Hamburg on October 19, 2024. See my impressions and review here.

You know how it is, don’t you? You are taking a little break in home office click yourself through Judith Williams’ Instagram (@Judithwilliams_official) stories and learn about the Gala Style Day. Gala? Hold on, they have their editorial offices in Hamburg, no one knows that better than a passionate lover of classic journalism like myself. So I did what everyone would do nowadays: searching for more information on the internet and see, I was lucky enough to get a ticket. However, when I was looking for an official post to share to promote my appearance on social media I did not find anything: neither on Gala magazine’s Instagram (@gala_magazin) nor on Brigitte (@brigittemagazin)… not even through hashtags. There would have basically been enough accounts to promote it. Anyway, after a week full of work, conferences and absence from home combined with my health-state I doubted if I would actually attend but a flame in me did not stop burning for this.

10 am: Arrival at the Gala Style Day 2024

“I do not have to stand in front of the door right at the beginning. I will comfortably enjoy a breakfast with you and the children in between of getting ready and the evening will be yours.”, I made up with my husband. It was very helpful for me to receive an e-mail ahead of the event where the whole day along with the equipment regarding food and drinks was listed and described: Like this I (and later on my husband) could get a good impression of what to expect at the beauty fair. And in fact you could spend a whole day in women’s heaven there with many things to discover, a lot of interaction with goodies to win and take away, panels, styling for hair, make-up and eye-brows as well as a strengthening with snacks such as ice-cream, streetfood in a truck, crêpes, water, coffee, even beer… and worrying about having to stand all the time? No worries, in the reading-lounge you could enjoy a break until you head to the next exciting point of the agenda.

10 am: I planned to arrive at the event a little bit later as I had a cold behind me and had no intention to spend an hour outside until we could go in on a rainy and cloudy autumn-day even if it was comparably rather one of these warmer days. Also I suggested my husband to bring me with our children as they like to drive and like this they we could spend some more minutes together. As I arrived there were a lot of different impressions I had to process before even getting an orientation: The wardrobe, the areas, the agenda, the people. I did the only logical thing and equipped myself a survey map which also included the agenda.

10.30 am: While I thought that Judith Williams would be there for like one hour during the midday time considering her tight schedule she attended the event quite early with a panel hosted by Nane Meyer, deputing editor in chief of Gala Magazine as well as head of beauty and fashion digital, with a Q & A following. I came a little bit too late for the Gala Beauty Talk live but was lucky that some people left the audience again so I could enter. So, fortunately I did not miss too much. See the the video of the live-talk below:

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A post shared by Johanna Karajan | Fall4Me 🇦🇲🇫🇷 (@johannakarajan)

11.30 am: I took a seat in the reading lounge to organize myself and study the agenda while I was enjoying an ice-cream by nuii and strengthened my damaged voice with the water I equipped myself with as I arrived. By that I learned that Janin Ullmann (@janinullmann) a TV-host I admire would have a panel at 14.30 am. Knowing that Judith Williams would have her meet and greet at her stand at 13.30 am which was located at the Style Gate II I decided to head over there as I would pass the Style Gate I anyway before leaving.

12 am: Style Gate II

With a refreshed make-up I entered the Style Gate II: I first stumbled into the queue of the KoRo-stand who had a lucky wheel which you could turn once you would have filled in a little survey provided by a QR-code. It was a good way to reconcile the waiting time. Even if you did not catch the jackpot you won a snack bar and could try yourself through some of their snack varieties: nuts as well as dried fruits. I must say that I loved them so much that I believe them to become my new guilty pleasure. Afterwards I decided to follow the instructions provided by the hosts of the event, so my way led me to Oribe where I could already observe women getting styled. In the queue I met a woman who had already caught my attention during my arrival. She looked like a fashion journalist so I asked her but in fact she was just a long-time loyal Brigitte-reader which is how she learned this event from. We got to talk and share impressions and thanks to her I learned more about the Style Day event.

At some point we were kindly interrupted by one team member of Oribe who gave us an insight into this label, its vision and what was offered at their stand. Jesús Rodriguez (@jesus_rodriguez_hair) was doing a hair analysis and giving a brief recommendation of how to treat your hair with the right products afterwards one of the two stylists would give you a treatment for you to feel the experience on your own hair to convince yourself. But in order not to let this article explode I will introduce Oribe in a separate article. Also I enjoyed the treatment as well as the outstanding kindness of the staff, most of all Christian from the Goldjunx (@Goldjunx). Let us put it this way: I know where my next hair dresser treatment is going to take place.

Before and after: Thank you for styling me before my important meet-up.

13.00 pm: I did not want to miss Judith Williams that was why I remained close to her stand already half an hour before her destined arrival. In a direct closeness there was the stand of Bijou Brigitte, my childhood-love regarding fashion jewelry. They cooperated with the Instax instant photos. At this point I met the wonderful Liz (@liz_mk), an influencer from Hamburg, I do not want to call it a perfect match but in fact ever since we became inseparable. In between of checking out the stands together we profited from great conversations. She suggested us to take photos together as well as taking photos and videos for each other. I also told her how important it was for me to meet Judith Williams and I have to tell you that you do not meet such a balanced consideration every day.

13.30 pm: my queen finally arrived with a little greet as well as Q & A. I had a blast being this close not only to the beauty-queen but furthermore my personal queen. Then the photo-session with fans begun. The queue was terrible and a real fight for your own survival but I remained persistent. We had a good laughter as I showed her that I brought the book she mentioned during her panel. She kindly signed it and I achieved to remind her of our first meeting six years ago. Sadly the time with her was in fact limited due to a very tight schedule but I ended my great experience buying the magic trio she discussed during her panel.

14.00-15.45 pm: I decided to spend the rest of time Liz had for this event with her. We participated in the “create your personalized bag”-workshop offered by Bijou Brigitte and got a lunch outside where the food-trucks were. Yes, this meant that I missed Janin Ullmann‘s panel but at some points friendships are more important.

15.45 pm: I made up checking out all stands at the stands at the Style Gate II equipping myself with a bottle of beer by 1664 – by the way the German saying “kein Bier vor vier” (a rhyme saying no beer before four) has no value for real beer-drinkers. At the Brigitte before-after-casting I met Sandra Krutzsch, deputy head of fashion for Brigitte and Gala. What started with a talk about my eye-catching nails, which you can check out here, ended up with her arranging me to participate in the Brigitte Fashion-workshop.

16.15 pm: What I thought was going to be a long comfortable day ended up in a real rush as I used the time left to check out the Style Gate I: Getting a shot of Saint Ginger, which is a great idea for an authentic gift from Hamburg, DM, whose staff was so amazed of my passion towards their brand that they gifted me with a goodie-bag and last but not least L’Oreal and guess what? I was lucky to still catch my admired Janin Ullmann at the very last minute. Believe it or not but yes, I become lost in words finding the right expressions for the short meet with her. Her smile was warm and kind which reflected her great personality. She offered me to call her by her surname and took a selfie with my phone of us. And as if this amazing meeting was not enough I directly afterwards won a lipstick by L’Oreal, which I love anyway and met the very lovely Yeliz from CorporaTea (@Corporatea_Official) as well as the lovely staff of L’Oreal, who currently have an important and great campaign against sexual harassment in public under the slogan “Your lipstick is not guilty!”. As a passionate lipstick-lover such a campaign is a matter of heart to me.

16.45-18.30 pm: Brigitte Fashion Workshop & Departure

16.45 pm: Lotta and Jana from the Brigitte editorial team were presenting the latest autumn/winter 2024/2025 trends and how to style them. Their hints and hacks were inspired by the Prada-catwalk at the Milan fashion-week. Sandra was thinking that such a workshop would be interesting for a fashion-blogger like me and she was in fact not much mistaken. I loved the interactive character this workshop had which was not only a presentation followed by a Q & A but as well an exchange of women sharing a passion for fashion, clothing and style paired with very personal stories. I do not want to tell too much as I will definitely present some of the styles but grey in definitely in the spotlight.

18 pm: As we arrived back in the main area the giveaway announcement had already started and we had to hurry. There was a real excitement heating up the cold autumn outside.

18.15 pm: All of a sudden this day was over. The stands were packing their things. Most of the people were grabbing water or snacks to take away on their way back home as they already had their jackets before to experience the announcement of the giveaway outside. I mean, I already noticed the emptiness at the Style Gate II right after Judith Williams left and now there was this atmosphere of a collective departure. Because the only question that was interesting the guests was: Where would we get the promised goodie-bag now.

I do not want to complain, this day was more than I could have expected and I was happy to reunite with my husband and children a little bit earlier and not miss anything.

At home my husband, our son and I created a draw: Each one of us could draw one item without looking out of the huge goodie-bag and place it on the table. I gifted my husband with the delicious and pretty chocolate by Breuninger as he took such a great care of our children and gifted me with this day. After that we shared the snack by KoRo together. Let me be clear: The content of this goodie-bag is at least worth your prize of the ticket, let go all the other benefits you received during your stay at the event.

See You & Thank You Gala Style Day

You might have already got that the experience of attending this event had left me speechless or made me not find the right words at some points. And even now after processing it and having summed it up in a written manner I must say: I do not know where to start expressing my endless thanks. The organizers, who made the impossible possible? Thank you, Sandra, for arranging me a place in the workshop! The whole team? The exhibitors? The special guests? The participants? Each of them deserves the highest grade of praise for their warm-hearted kindness, openness, their down-to-earth attitude, their richness of support and compliments, their help and simply the feeling of unity given. You met equals, you were not alone and you met acceptance for being the way you are. If you want to feel the ideal spirit of women supporting women you would have to attend the Gala/Brigitte Style Day. It is amazing that people traveled from so far to attend this event and it is a great place to close connections for the future. I can tell you that this was just the beginning of something great. Keep smiling, keep shining and never lose your glow.

Lastly I want to express my most special thanks to the father of this blog and our two children: My wonderful husband who is supporting me, my vision and my passion by helping me attend an event like this without a bad conscience or worries. I can shine because I know I have a wonderful knight like you having my back.

This event filled me with such as blast that it keeps me motivated for a long time and like this makes put even more burning effort into my passions than I already do. Looking forward to attend it next year, too.

Love, Johanna