The Vintage @ Goodwood festival brought together all the best of Britain’s cultural past, as conflicting as these parts may be: Land Girls spun at the Roller Disco, Betty Draper-types sipped on pints of lager and Rockabillys got down to Northern Soul.
This was a festival for people who don’t like festivals. People like myself. It stripped away the scummy toilet, bar queue and mind-altering excess aspects of a big event, leaving us with music, dance, fun, food and a whole lot of culture.
The journey back in time began from the moment we arrived at Chichester train station. An old Stafford Blue bus took us, slowly but surely, down the narrow country roads and through the immense Goodwood Estate, before stopping at an opening in the woods where fairy lights lit the way to the first festival of its kind.
The only backlog we experienced all day was seen at the opening arch, where vintage-lovers dressed in clothes inspired by the 1920s right up to the 1980s were hit by aesthetic overload.
The festival High-Street - essentially a huge theatre set - made a real impact, but before that classic cars were offered as the first of several hundred design exhibits to be marvelled upon during the event.
Shopping
For me, and I’m sure I can speak for many of vintage-lovers on this, shopping for vintage clothes and homewares is an experience to be cherished in itself. Rather than a means to an end, it is an exploration of the past, a kind of hands-on museum visit. And the shopping at V@G kept me entertained for hours.
Yes, there were the big-name high-street presences – John Lewis, Cath Kidston, Doc Martens - the organisers no doubt needed those cash injections to make the event as wonderful as it was. But the real star attraction was the hundreds of independent vintage traders who had brought along the cream of their crop, ensuring that you could find good quality design classics as reasonable prices.
Packed into long stretched of undercover marquees, providing shelter in the rain storms, the stall holders had gone to a lot of effort to make their patch pretty, resulting in the feeling of picking through an upmarket bazaar. Vivienne Westwood, Ozzie Clark and Moschino were among the original designer items to be snapped up, with classic pieces from Horrocks, Laura Ashley and Liberty also on the rails.
I picked up a 1960s cream box bag (£5), a lady-bird print skirt (£15), a cute embroidered cream cardigan (£10), and a pair of magenta Russell & Bromley boots (£35), proving that the traders hadn’t hitched up their prices extortionately in order to cover their pitch costs.
Music
Rather than the main attraction, music at the event provided the soundtrack to the day’s activities. Wandering around the site, the sounds of Northern Soul, rock and roll and war-time crooners brought the day to life, prompting a spring in people’s step.
For the dancers, various music tents hosted jive, funky soul and waltz, offering the perfect opportunity to show off the steps practised as part of a passion for the past.
While Martha & the Vandellas and the Noisettes drew crowds to the main stage, pop-up performances around the site throughout the day also provided welcome interludes. Even the stall holders seemed to have chosen their tapes – yes tapes – CDs and vinyls carefully, all to add to the overall experience.
And among the classic films, the high-street Cinema and mobile cinema showed more obscure music films for the culture buffs.
Crafts and kids
DIY crafts go hand-in-hand with vintage. Many second-hand purchases will need alternations to fit today’s figures and styles, and for those wanting to wear something a little different,, or decorate their home with original pieces, making your own is very appealing.
To cater for the crafters, Clothkits courses were held on the high-street, where you could make cushions and kids clothes among other items, and various other independent stalls offered to help you make your own bunting, selling fat quarters of gorgeous original and reproduction vintage fabrics.
Kids were also very well catered for at the festival. In fact V@G would deserve a reputation as one of the most child-friendly festivals in the country. As well as a Butlins tent and fun fair, complete with helter skelter, ferris wheel, a waltzer and roller disco, various arts and crafts, story telling tents and children’s performances looked very appealing to the big kids too.
Cars and caravans
The variety and sheer number of classic cars and caravans on the V@G site was awe-inspiring. Even those not usually interested in motoring – I count myself among this group – spent what amounted to hours marvelling at the sleek curves, iconic designs and ingenious space-saving features.
The American teardrop trailers were my favourite, with pop-up backs revealing a smart 1950s-style kitchen and snug interiors beautifully decorated with soft furnishings.
Vehicles also became tea rooms, bars and candy shops for the festival, as well as historical exhibits up for auction or used to promote the My Cool Caravan book.
Food and drink
Festival-goers are a notoriously hungry bunch, and were extensively catered for at V@G. As well as the numerous portable tearooms, complete with vintage china and indulgent cake, burgers, fish and chips and pancakes were served out of old-school trailers and vans, while pie and curry was dished up from the high street’s very own pub and curry house.
For the more health-conscious, sushi wraps, salads and vegan fare was on offer, and fresh juice and smoothie bars acted as healthy alternatives to the Pimm’s bus and various tent bars serving up lager, ale, wine and spirits to those up for a boogie or who just wanted to watch from the sidelines.
While having a picnic on the grass was an option at a number of points in the day, the solid floors of the venue bars and cafes were welcome relief when it rained, especially for those in heels and fur.
Vintage @ Goodwood wasn’t sold out, the site wasn’t heaving. But it was all the more enjoyable for this. Any queues moved fast, the atmosphere was friendly and jubilant, without high-spirits turning into trouble, and it has to have been one of the cleanest festival sites in the country. I saw not one bottle or food wrapper on the ground.
After ten hours at the site, we waited just ten minutes for our blue bus to take us back to reality. Please come again next year, Vintage. We’ll be waiting.
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