Some clients you style once. Some become family. Thursday 22nd May 2025 and we were back at Metropolis with the 35 Degrees North crew for their clients annual APCO Gala, the night they hand out the Gala Excellence Awards and celebrate another year of excellence in style.

This one is a fixture in their calendar, and every year they come to us hungrier for a fresh direction. This year’s craving? Warm autumn tones, and darling, we delivered them by the bucket load.

Metropolis is a venue with presence. High ceilings, sweeping windows, a room that holds a crowd and holds the light beautifully. Our job was to wrap all that grandeur in the richest palette of the season, and the room drank it in. Think burnt orange, terracotta, coral and soft blush tones layered together like the leaves falling from the trees.

The tables were pure warmth. Lush compote arrangements of roses and seasonal blooms in those deep autumn hues, spilling effortlessly over crisp linen, paired with our so gold duos that cast the softest glow across the room. Burgundy candles flickering at every level, glassware catching the light, and every place setting whispering to guests that this was no ordinary Thursday.

What we love about an autumn palette is the confidence of it. It does not shout, it smoulders. Against the moody darkness of the room, those warm tones absolutely sang. Understated opulence, on repeat, at every table, every corner, every moment.Then the lights dropped, the Gala Excellence Awards took over the screens, and the room shifted from dinner party to victory lap.

Awards nights live or die on atmosphere, and when the winners took the stage under that warm glow, the styling did exactly what it was built to do. It made the whole night feel like a golden standing ovation.

35 Degrees North, thank you for trusting us with your tradition, year after year. Here is to another round of awards, another autumn palette, and another excuse to turn Metropolis into the warmest room in the city. The calendar says see you next year. The florals say bring it on.