Festival | Beautiful Plumage.

A few weeks ago I created a post showing my ultimate festival fashion wish list. Well, as luck would have it, I have just inherited a pair of Hunters (which were actually top of said list). The Hunter brand sits alongside other UK greats such as Barbour and Mulberry in terms of brand heritage, countryside sport inspiration and classic yet practical style.

The initial products from these companies were mostly designed for hunting and fishing, hence the super practical design features. For example, Barbour jackets have an easy pull 2 headed zip for horse riding, waterproof inside pockets (for holding kill) and outside pockets with drainage to stop them filling up with rainwater when out facing the unpredictable English weather for several hours at a time (out on a hunt – see the theme there?)

Some of these features still remain whilst other product lines develop in more glamorous ways. The Willow bag from Mulberry has a zip off clutch bag meaning you buy 2 fabulous bags in one. Practical, yes, but in a much more urban way.

All 3 companies also have a well publicised celebrity following. Kate Moss is pictured regularly at Glastonbury in Hunters, Alexa totes her best selling Alexa Mulberry bag around the coolest places in town and, well, Barbour wins with The Queen being an official fan.

I realise that the sunshine needs to be appreciated but I really can’t wait to stomp around in the mud in these! I’ll be teaming with tall socks, denim cut of levis, a pretty oversized tee and a floral garland (such as the one I picked up from Bestival last year, below).

Bestival 2012 was blissful. It was the perfect full stop to one of my best summers and I got to see some of my favourite artists/performers. Lucky enough to get hold of a VIP camping ticket, I stayed in the Yellow boutique ‘wilde copse’ campsite complete with showers, fancy loo’s and a posh nosh breakfast cafe with the tastiest cappuccinos on site!

We missioned down to Southampton straight from work on Friday and hopped on to our ferry (concentrating very hard to ignore the sea sick passenger on top deck!). We docked, and immediately saw signage to turn off the Sat Nav and trust the yellow info signs. Great! Unfortunately I think Rob da Banks peeps may have overestimated the general publics’ ability to follow dotted about instructions as we were not the only festival goers to complete a couple of laps of the island before arriving at the site!! However, as soon as we were in, it was all plain sailing and I loved every second…

Friday night – Florence and the Machine headlined. Mainly playing tracks from the album ‘Lungs’, the crowd was mesmerised by the visually and audibly hypnotic performance. She wore a beautiful flowing green dress which, teamed with her Ivy head garland echoed the wildlife Bestival theme brilliantly. She was stunning.

The question on everyones lips?: How does she sing, dance, run the length of the stage, play the harp and drums, wear that trip-length dress and do it all with such poise and grace? Answers on the back of a blog post please folks!

On Saturday, we joined in the fancy dress (obvs gotta get in to that Bestival spirit!) and headed down to the Wagamama stage. Yes, that’s right – the noodle bar. We didn’t think we’d read the venue right either! Our favourite master of 80’s music trickery DJ Yoda wowed the crowd with a mash up of hip hop, 80’s pop and electronic beats all scratched smoothly together to whip the wildlife creatures into a party frenzy! Because there were so few people (or animals?) at the intimate gathering, the atmosphere was that of a mates house party – see below.