Vintage @ Goodwood

I was lucky enough to be working at Vintage @ Goodwood over the weekend, which essentially gave me free range of the festival when my shift had finished. It's a shame the weather wasn't great and I had to get the train at 7am, as this mean't I wasn't in the mood to do too much exploring.

What I did see was fantastic though. You don't have to go far, or in honesty move at all, to see hundreds of people in period dress - 1940s styles seemed most popular - with fantastic hair and makeup. I was working in the traditional pub, which, was pretty much like any pub you'd find today - but this was scarily impressive considering it was in a marquee that had been errected only a few days before. Unless you looked up at the white canvas ceiling you could easily forget where you were. It looked amazing with union jacks everywhere and a proper old-fashioned juke box. We were opposite the 70s style Indian takeaway, which was decked out in brilliantly garish pink 'tiles' (all buildings were really made from printed plywood type stuff, like stage backdrops).

I really didn't notice any of the music at the festival, although the cinema did look temptingly warm and inviting as the rain poured down, as I was much more interested in the fashion. I saw a couple of girls leafletting in Biba t-shirts on the first day, but sadly didn't have the chance to find it. It was just amazing people watchign and seeing the effort that people had put in - especially as many of them would have been camping (or 'glamping' which, from what I heard, was not all that glam after all). The queue for the salon was out the door, but seemed worth it as people really did come out looking like they'd just stepped out of a time machine. I managed to nab a free makeover (and goodie bag as the queue was so long, and they were trying to keep us happy) at the Body Shop, which was decked out like a 1950s sweetshop, with full size black chandeliers hanging from the marquee ceiling. I wish I could have seen the Tanqueray Torch club, which I heard had burlesque dancers in cages, and the Warehouse club - 80s style, complete with Audi Quattros parked outside.

The attention to detail was the best thing about Vintage, I think. After working at Glorious Goodwood, the horse racing festival, I was aware that Goodwood don't like to do anything by halves - going to one of their events really is a Disneyland experience. I heard it cost £20million to put on Vintage this first year, and it really did show. I was so impressed by the decor in my pub - the bunting that lined walls had clearly been hand screenprinted, and real vintage photographs and advertisements were hung all over the walls. One of the festival's masterminds, Wayne Hemingway MBE, popped in to say hi on the first morning and encourage us to enjoy the event, and I really did (although it didn't click who he was until just now, and now I'm annoyed at myself for not speaking to him properly or telling him I thought the event was great as he seemed really friendly!). You could tell he was passionate about it, as were all the customers, and the stall holders (I'll not say what I thought of the bar staff, except they were employed by Goodwood Food so I suppose you couldn't really expect them to appreciate the style aspects of it so much). Each area had it's own curator, who clearly worked incredibly hard to source all the items, knowing they'd be under intense scrutiny from people who would know that a 1963 song would be out of place in a bar that was mainly decorated in a 1964 style (if you know what I mean).

Anyway, all in all a fantastic event. I'll try to upload some pictures and finish this post tomorrow.