Style Industries London: Vintage At South Bank Centre

Now And Then

Royal Festival Hall Ceremonial Opening Programme 3rd May 1951

Vintage By Hemingway was at the South Bank Centre this year to mark the 60th Anniversary of the Festival of Britain which took place in 1951. Vintage made it's debut at Goodwood last year and was heralded a great success. However since the announcement came that it was to change venue, criticism has raged. But it would be pointless to compare this year with last year, the two experiences are very different and as far as I can tell they were meant to be, so I won't waste good editorial on moaning about the pros and cons.

So what did we make of it at Style Industries London?
It was a chance to celebrate bygone era's and play dress up in clothes from another time! A rare chance to people watch and feel nostalgic. A chance to embrace what is passed by rejuvenating or reinventing. It was a chance to learn some new crafts, see products upcycled and resold as a new item. Style Industries grabbed a a moment with the brains behind vintage,Wayne Hemingway, and talked costs and risk but more on that later.

Our Saturday Highlights
Overall we thought the venue was a success and what better way to pay homage to the 60 year anniversary of the festival of Britain than with a celebration of fashion and music spanning eighty years. The atmosphere was cleverly created with individual spaces given over to specific eras. Free hair and makeup booths were scattered around, although I have to be honest there were not enough of them and queue's were at least an hour which did nothing for poor tired feet! Free photo shoots were available for those who wanted to pose! At Let It Rock you could learn to jive or watch Black Elvis, a great performer and our Saturday evening highlight! The Torch and Black Cotton Club featured lindyhop dance lessons with renowned dance teacher Simon Selman from the London Swing Dance Society. Afternoon treats including tea dances and Vintage creative workshops so you could get crafty were packed out. Vintage stalls were dotted around the Festival Hall selling rather pricey vintage I have to say, but never the less very inspirational. In the Glore Ballroom Jo Wood put on "The Soundtrack Of My Life" showing a catwalk show of a small selection of beautiful vintage clothes she had collected over the years. The clothes were inspiring, shame that the models could not walk, the heels were like skyscrapers! For those who got a seat the goody bag was excellent!
Up on the balcony of the festival hall, Style Studio pumped out 80's classics and 70's disco from lunchtime until 1am. Dancing to Duran Duran Planet Earth under sparkly disco balls and sunshine sky, was as one lady put it," life does not get much better than this", enough said! The Glorious weather gave the balcony an extra special atmosphere and sharing the moment with special friends while drinking in some of the great sights of London was the icing on the cake.

The Wayne Hemingway Encounter

At Style Industries we were keen to know if Wayne was happy with the South Bank as a venue. "Definitely the organisation process at the South Bank has been fantastic we have loved creating Vintage here". We probed him for,where he thought the venue would be next year? "Don't know we have not decided, we will leave it open for a while but one thing is for sure we like change and to evolve". Also he added," it's a big risk for us, to make money we would have to charge at least £250 for a weekend ticket, we need to strike the balance so that we can make it affordable for the public and at the same time offer a quality event." He went on to say, " It took Glastonbury 11 years to make money so we have to be realistic about the risk we are taking." We parted thanking him for "taking a risk" to which we got a smile and we wandered off thinking what if he had not taken the risk, we would be without Vintage and the world would be a sadder place. Whatever criticism the Hemingways' may receive, it has to be said that such an event is unique and overall it is a success with a few teething troubles, of which there will continue to be if the event nomadically travels from venue to venue. There in lies the challenge.

Extras
At an extra cost you could join vintage themed boat parties for a cruise up the Thames. Free extras were walking tours and The Chap Olympiad.

The Moan
Now for the moan, one of the top highlights of the day was the vintage market place which was located outside the main hall just next door. However the bone of contention here is this area was free to the general public which is not something that was made clear during the run up to the event. Some people may well have have seen this as their highlight and having paid £60 for a day ticket been disappointed. I suggest the Hemingways' take note of this. I am sure the sellers benefited from being open to the public however the ticket payers felt a bit cheated.

Ones To Watch
In the Marketplace I picked up some little gems of inspiration. Talking to Dan from Modernish who specialises in selling 50's home-ware and retro printed memorabilia, check out the link below. Horrockses are reinventing themselves with the launch of a beautiful bedlinen collection inspired by the dress print archive it looks set to be a sure fire hit, see the link below. Batiste have new colour dry shampoo, so it blends in with your hair rather than spraying it white! Genius. Inside the festival hall we discovered a remarkable Jewellery designer called Jeremy May who crafts jewellery out of vintage books, the book acts as a case, inspired! The downside is you need a mortgage to buy one, at over £500 each! Scroll down and feed on the beauty! Eileen White a visual artist based in Winchester, displayed her range of dresses made from old maps, books, wool and embroidery dresses.

Summary
Vintage is about finding inspiration in what has past, a chance to dress up, have fun, spend time with friends, make new acquaintances and above all celebrate British fashion, design, music, and art.

The Photos