BLONDIE IN THE FOREST

Getting (semi) lost in the vastness of Delamere Forest is one of my favourite things to do, but on Saturday night I descended into the trees to watch the almighty Blondie play ForestLive.

The atmosphere was so chilled with people lay around on rugs and sat on deckchairs, eating picnics and drinking cider (I decided the most sensible idea would be to drive, an idea I regretted pretty quickly).. the crowd were older but I loved looking around an imagining what they had been up to thirty years previous as new Blondie fans: the man in the bucket hat, dancing in the Hacienda; the mum embarrassing her son with her whoops and cheers, illicitly bleaching her hair as a teenager to be more like her idol. When I'm fifty I doubt my past will be half as interesting as most of the boring old farts you meet nowadays.

The band were super cool and I was stunned to see how amazing Debbie Harry still is. She might not be pogoing around the stage but her voice remains, and they played all of the old favourites plus some tracks from recent albums, most of which I enjoyed as much as the hits. Overall the gigs in the forest are something I'd wholeheartedly recommend and hope to do again next year!

It was also so good to be outside at night and be able to wear not very much.. it's finally, FINALLY summer. Hooray. So glad I picked up this Minkpink top from the ASOS sale, and I just needed a crochet cardigan to keep the chill off when the sun went down. See totally awkward outfit pictures in front of loads of people.. haha.

I'm wearing:

Wildfox sunglasses

Minkpink Magic Dragon top & bag

ASOS crochet cardigan

Miss Selfridge candy stripe shorts

Topshop Arson boots

FASHION IN A FIELD

Hello!


We have arrived at the time of year, dear reader, where you may decide to pitch a tent in a muddy field, drink beer, and dance like a loon. Many happy memories will be made at this time - dependent on the amount of beer consumed, of course. Sadly, I fear my days of festival-going are over, until I can stay in a luxury hotel for the course of the festival, being ferried to and fro each morning, freshly showered. The majority of festival fashion blog posts are not quite as realistic as Hello, Terri Lowe: whilst in my hotel-staying fantasy I could wear practically whatever I want, Terri cites a kagoule and wellingtons as your most important items to bring along to your festival outing.

I, however, am immersed within this luxurious festival fantasy, and my ideal festival kit is slightly more ridiculous. Keep your muddy mitts off my Versace! Don't let your wellies near my Wildfox! The tee is quite apt as Woodstock would have been my ideal festival to visit: three days of peace and music is right up my street.

(Hunter wellies are available from Daniel Footwear, and the very fabulous Sheree is currently giving away a pair at Glitz & Grime)

But worry not, readers, I haven't always had such delusions of grandeur. I've been to many different festivals over the years - my first Leeds festival I spent entirely in a t-shirt and shorts, and at Gatecrasher in 2008 I wore about three coats and tracky bottoms all weekend due to the horrendous weather. Funnily enough the best festival experience I've ever had was when my little home town of Northwich held Whatfest in 2009.  The only band of note playing were Dodgy, but that didn't matter - because all of my friends were there, the beer was reasonably priced, and actually if you got too wet you could just get your mum to bring you home for a shower and be back on the festival site within the hour. Perfect.

Sadly the festival made a loss and hasn't been held again, but I will always have the memories of the fantastic weekend, and the photos of the quite frankly bizarre outfits I chose to wear. I think the best rule of festival fashion is that if you can't have a bit of a chuckle at your outfits when you get home, then you didn't do it right.