For one glamorous weekend, toasting classic style from the past 70 years of music, fashion, film, art, design and food, Vintage is set to offer a truly unique festival experience for 2012.
This summer, Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway’s Vintage Festival is back on 13th-15th July and have teamed up with the award winning Festival producer and live music business MAMA Group to transform the stunning stately home, Boughton Estate in Northamptonshire, into the capital of British culture and cool.
Having won awards for Best New Festival for its inaugural ‘Wilderness’ event last summer, MAMA Festivals, the Festival division of MAMA Group, will be bringing all of its production and promotional expertise to the Vintage Festival, obtained through years of experience of producing sell out Festivals such as Global Gathering, Lovebox and The Great Escape, as well as Wilderness.
For one glamorous weekend, toasting classic style from the past 70 years of music, fashion, film, art, design and food, Vintage is set to offer a truly unique festival experience for 2012.
Vintage promises an opportunity to enjoy some of the finest elements of British culture. Whether it’s learning the dances of the decades, boogying along to tunes of an incredible DJ set, having a decade specific makeover or taking advantage of the Vintage High Street and Vintage Marketplace, brimming with independent retailers and renowned brands from past to present, it truly is a creative feast for all the ages.
Wayne Hemingway MBE says: “Having won the title of UK’s Best New Festival, Vintage is back and bigger than ever for 2012. We’re going to create a mecca for everyone to come and celebrate the ‘Best of British’ culture and want the UK to join us.
“This summer is the ‘summer of culture’ for the UK with events such as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Cultural Olympiads. I’m really looking forward to Vintage this July to see everyone glammed up and hunting for those vintage finds in our enormous Vintage Marketplace and outlasting each other on the dancefloors of our six brilliant designed nightclubs.”
Celebrating a range of musical genres, styles and capturing some classic sounds, get ready to hear some of the finest names in musicianship at Vintage in 2012, including Sergio Mendes of ‘Mas Que Nada’ fame & his orchestra, Aloe Blacc, Chic Ft Nile Rodgers, Nouvelle Vague performs Dawn Of Innocence, Baxter Dury, Betty Wright, Alice Russell and St Etienne.
The immersive set dresses of the Vintage nightclubs will each be dedicated to a different decade and feature real dancefloors and sound systems. We’ll have 1940s swing, 1950s rock n roll and 1960s pop, easy listening and mod culture, 1970s soul, reggae, funk and disco classics and warehouse rave, boogie and house culture from the 1980s. Truly something for everyone.
Torch Club – 1920s-40s entertainment with Ondrej Havelka and his 15 piece Melody Makers, the world’s leading 40s exponents hailing from the Czech Republic, James Langton, Jivin Miss Daisy and dozens more of the world’s most authentic performers all curated by Snowboy.
Let It Rock - Brings rock culture with The Damned, The Polecats, Alien Sex Field, DJ’s Keb Darge, Gaz Mayall and Jay Strongman. Hosted by leading brands such as Gaz’s Rocking Blues, Shake, Rattle & Bowl and Lady Luck.
Leisure Lounge – Taking us back to the 60s is Buddy Greco, Secret Affair, The Sorrows, Mike Flowers Pop plus sessions curated by Guilty Pleasures, Club de Fromage, Count Indigo and a DJ set from Martin Green.
Soul Casino – 60s and 70s northern soul, funk disco and reggae sounds feature live performances from The Impressions, Junior Murvin performing “Police & Thieves”, Lonnie Liston Smith and Smoove & Turrrell and iconic Soul Casino DJ’s performing exclusively together Searling & Roberts from the Wigan Casino and Levine & Curtis from the Blackpool Mecca, as well as DJ sets from Don Letts, Craig Charles and The Soul Casino’s curator Eddie Piller and more.
Warehouse Party – Bringing the 80s rave, house and boogie culture to Boughton Estate will be DJ’s Norman Jay, Danny Rampling, Horse Meat Disco, Greg Wilson, Terry Farley, Graeme Park, DJ Milo, Sub Club vs Back to Basics and dozens more.
Fashion, glamour and head-turning style is at the heart of Vintage Festival, offering delights from the 1920s through to the 1980s. ‘Best in Show’ catwalk shows will run all weekend featuring the Vintage crowd sporting best taches, hairstyles hats, frocks and suits.
Fashionistas can get stuck into sewing or pattern cutting workshops and have the chance to spot iconic creations from the some of the most influential fashion designers. All this before heading to the enormous Vintage Marketplace which plays host to over 250 of the finest purveyors of vintage clothing, accessories homewares and collectibles. A series of inspiring high-profile catwalk shows is soon to be announced.
With possibly the largest vintage hair, beauty and male grooming parlour Britain has ever seen, Vintage will ensure that all visitors feel fabulous and look glamorous 24/7. Offering women hairstyling and make-up touch ups, from Farrah Fawcett’s 1970s iconic wings to new romantic curls, 50s D.A. and the classic 60s bouffant beehive, there’s no excuse not to get into the spirit of things.
Art and design will remain a dominant feature this year, with numerous opportunities to get creative, whether painting, designing, learning a new skill or reviving an old one, experts will be there to help. If getting hands on is not your bag then there’s always the chance to see some vintage British design classics. With exhibitions featuring archived memorabilia from furniture and technology to timeless cars and motorbikes.
Vintage will also be celebrating the future as well as the past. Last year we were joined by a whole host of ‘Future Predictors’ including Marc Newson, Miranda Sawyer, Thomas Heatherwick, and Kevin McCloud. This year we hope to expand on this even more on this.
The vintage film scene will also take pride of place on the Boughton Estate to showcase some of the most iconic, stylish films, TV shows and documentaries from 20s silents to 80s horror.
Quality food is very much part of the Vintage festival. Vintage transports visitors, via their taste buds, to the tastes and eating habits of days gone by. At Vintage you can sample the flavours of the period as authentically as possible with historically linked eating opportunities, not to mention some wicked period cocktails from the bars. In the backdrop of the Torch Club, dance classes and a mind-boggling list of performers luncheon and dinner will be served, with a fine dining menu that really takes you back to the best of the 1940s! Expect more of this throughout the festival.
Published on 06 March 2012 by Ben Robinson
