Too much Vintage at Goodwood...

I'm not going to lie, I'm not that into vintage. I have nothing against it, apart from maybe the smell of the odd vintage shop, but it's just not for me (have a read of this post to read a bit more). Having said that, I felt the need to go down to Goodwood this weekend and check out the hype.

If nothing else, the drive down was worth it. It's amazing what you see just an hour outside of London. In the words of Julie Walters in the BBC film Driving Lessons, "It's all so fucking green!". I love driving in the country and West Sussex is the perfect place to have an adventure. Me and the boyfriend fell head over heels for a tiny village called Petworth, if some of you drove down from London, the chances are you would of driven through it too. An utterly gorgeous little medieval town, highly recommended.

So Goodwood. If you are a die hard vintage fan, this is the festival for you. Just on the walk down from parking the car we saw many a dressed up person in Grease style 50s dresses or a 70s pin stripe men's suits and even fun little 80s caravans. One women, in a red polka dot fitted A line dress literally took our breath away. The make up, hair and effort from all these people was actually amazing to witness. This one particular lady (below) super impressed me. She had a sweet Mary Poppins feel to her outfit and the hat, umbrella and Maggie Thatcher handbag polished the look off perfectly.

If you want to know what the actual festival was all about, I'm afraid you may not get 100% clarity from me because, lovely reader, I'm not quite sure myself. There was a fake high street which, on reading about it before we ventured down there really grabbed my attention, but on arrival it was a bit of a let down. One of the first shops you find was full of Vintage at Goodwood merchandise which, as lovely as it was, was probably not the first thing you want to see. There was a cute Fortnum and Mason shop and a fun vintage John Lewis store but a Body Shop? No real need is there really?

There was, however, a couple of heavily stocked market-style strips of stalls full with a plethora of vintage garb, home accessories, bags, jewellery, anything you could possibly want including, to my surprise, this lovely man... Stephen Jones!

I asked Stephen if he was enjoying himself and he grinned a huge grin and nodded profusely. "I'm having a blast, my show went down really well. It's a lot of fun!". I missed his show, but it sounded fab - he gave a talk and demonstration. Stephen likey the Vint!

It wasn't all about the clothes though, music had a huge emphasis too. There were multiple stages with a lot of acts I had never heard of. Again, maybe for the older vintage lovers, it was music heaven. And, while I'm on this point, for the person who lives, breathes and eats all things old, this was literally mecca. There was fun fashion for him, her and them.

Have a look at some of my pics from the event, I've even included a little video below of a really cute band who just set up and sang on the corner of the fake high street.

It was fun to see, Vintage at Goodwood. I don't think I'd go back, but like I said, if you like that kind of thing it's the place to be and be seen. It was just a little too much for me. I spoke to a PR friend who also attended who made a good point - it was good, but needs work. Let's see what next year brings!