LOOKBOOK

Thursday, February 25, 2010

WE WENT TO THE PLAYGROUND

The summer of loving continued last weekend with one of the last festivals of season - Playground Weekender. Set in a holiday park amongst the forests and hills of the Hawkesburry river region, Playground is the perfect place for Sydney's free-spirited inhabitants to get away from real life and literally play like lost boys in Neverland.

The location of the festival gave Playground a feeling of being totally secluded and completely without rules. People threw on fancy-dress outfits and got mashed-up with wild abandon. Sponsors Southern Comfort helped the party along by giving out free Indian headdresses, further encouraging everyone to embrace that inner-child and run around with their hands over their mouths making war-cries.



Kangaroos hopped unconcerned around the campsite while people in their tepees tried to figure out whether they were still tripping or not.


Club Tropicana gave everyone the chance to relive Spring Break as young and handsome bodies partied to a DJ around a pool full of alcohol and bodily fluids.

With the emphasis of Playground very much on the ambience and less on name-dropping big acts the organisers focused on experimenting with different styles and genres in the various DJ tents. The Carnival stage featured various DJs playing anything from dance-hall to dub, with the crowd grinding and rolling around under the starry skies above.




Meanwhile the main stage set host to a very random mix of acts with big dance DJs alongside hip-hop, indie, folk and even a local choir who sang classic Aussie tunes including a moving version of the Home and Away theme song during which they insisted the crowd stand to attention with their hands on their hearts.

Bjorn Again, an Abba tribute band may have seemed an odd addition to the line-up, but singing along to Dancing Queen while rolling about with Pacman and Marge Simpson in a beautiful field surrounded by green hills really sums-up just how special this festival is.





Orbital were given the responsibility to close the festivities on the Sunday and not a soul was left unmoved by their euphoric beats and beautiful light show.




YAY

BAD TATOOS

Exactly how many mushrooms did this guy take to decide to get a pair of flip-flops tattooed on his feet?

NAY

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

LANEWAY FESTIVAL

Brisbane’s trend-setters headed to St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival last weekend to enjoy the fresh sounds and laid-back vibes of one of the most unique events of its kind. Revellers proved the link between good music and cutting-edge fashion as they show-cased their individual styles.

The Laneway line-up has always included a mix of international artists as well as raw and up-coming talent while the outfits are often as distinctive and risk-taking as the music. The emphasis being on breaking new ground which interestingly, this year, involved looking-back and using retro trends to create something new and exciting.

Trends for the girls included vintage tea dresses, worker boots, velvet, androgynous, statement hats and plenty of mid-drift. Stand-out looks included a flower-girl outfit, taken up at the hem. The owner explained that she loved that the dress had so much meaning for someone else.





Guys favoured skinny jeans or cut-offs with a crazy shirt and bow-tie from the op-shop, or even better, grandad. 80s sunnies and facial hair topped-off the look. The inspiration was party-animal, with plenty of trippy colours and prints. Any festival outfit was perfect as long as it expressed individuality.




When it came to the artists, Florence Welch led the pack, lighting up the stage with her striking red hair, a colour which will surely be one of the top beauty predictions for the next season as it was already sported by several members of the crowd.



Another band which used their style to compliment their music were Mumford and Sons whose hillbilly attire got the crowd smiling as everyone enjoyed a good old-fashioned hoedown. The band seemed genuinely taken-aback by the warm reception from the audience.


“This is the prettiest crowd we’ve ever played to.” Declared guitarist Country Winston as he surveyed the audience. “Of course, being pretty alone is not enough. You need something to back it up.”

This statement seems a pretty good way to sum up the attitude to fashion belonging to the young crowd at Laneway. These boys and girls have turned their backs on mainstream fashion, shunning new identikit items for odd pieces from Vinnie’s. Looking good just simply isn’t good enough. Each outfit needs a history to make it special.

This could arguably represent a change in attitudes and eco-awareness by re-using and recycling old clothing or it could simply be a generation getting bored of a throw-away society and trying to find a meaningful mode of expression. With the unveiling of yet another Apple product last week, it was very telling that many in the crowd clutched old cameras and binoculars rather than a shiny new iPhone.

YAY

BYRON STYLE

The look is part hippy surfer and part I just don't give a fuck. We love it.




YAY


CUTE HIPPY CHILDREN


Reminds us of The Sound of Music, just a billion times cooler.

YAY