Long Hot Summer of Festivals

There's a chill in the air in the mornings now and it's definitely dusk by dinner time, which means one thing: autumn is coming. Something which I am pretty happy about. While I love the summer, I'm also looking forward to crisp mornings, digging out those chunky cardigans and cosy tights, kicking up leaves in the park, cooking big hearty meals and snuggling up on the sofa. Not to mention Halloween, Guy Fawkes and the run up to... no, it's too early for the 'C' word. But you get the idea. Autumn is a busy time for us at Minimum Mouse too, it's probably my favourite season for vintage clothes, beautiful wool coats, jazzy knitwear and tweeds are things that really were better in the past and we've been saving up lots of gems for you all. We'll also be hitting the road going to lots and lots of vintage fairs all over the country, and we love getting out and about and meeting lots of people, as well as seeing all the vintage trading friends we have made over the years. There is quite a gang of us mobile vintage salespeople, and they are the nicest people you could hope to meet.

But before summer slips away and is just a happy memory forever more, I wanted to take a moment to look at a few pictures of our adventures over the last few months. We traded at four festivals this year, Mostly Jazz, Secret Garden Party, The Retro Festival and Moseley Folk. We were blessed with amazing weather at every one, something we never expect and are so grateful for. Festivals are so much more fun when you don't have to fret about your stock getting soaked in the rain! In the UK we normally end up moaning about how disappointing the summer has been, but this year we really can't. We have had so many warm and sunny days, it has been such a treat.

We teamed up with the fabulous Second Hand Rose to trade at the festivals and had so much fun. Highlights of the summer included seeing Public Service Broadcasting's fascinating live show, spying on the filming of Midsomer Murders at the Retro Festival, pampering ourselves in the spa at Secret Garden Party, also the amazing fireworks over the lake at SGP, seeing Chic's crazy onstage party finale and finally Ocean Colour Scene playing their album Moseley Shoals in their Moseley homeland! We are 50% brummie after all.

We're off to Croatia in a couple of days to soak up a last few drops of summer sun before we have to get the knitwear out, so I'll speak to you on the other side!

Surely the most beautiful little festival in the UK. Lovely.

Our busy marquee at Retro Festival

Graffiti artists at Mostly Jazz

 

Festival season fuel

Our stall at Secret Garden Party

Cars and cases at Retro Festival

Best dressed couple ever?

The captain makes a friend, Public Service Broadcasting

Chic's onstage party

Clowning around

Lovely customers at Secret Garden Party

Shopping at Retro Festival

The ever stylish Clare Bridge

The captain of our ship

A Summer of Adventures

Giant bucket and spade at Beach Break Live

With the nights drawing in and our thoughts turning to freshers fairs and cosy autumnal clothing, I thought I would take a few minutes to reflect on all the fun we've had this summer. We've certainly got about a bit! We kicked off our summer at Beach Break Festival in the beautiful Pembrey Country Park in South Wales. Unfortunately the weather didn't seem to get the message that summer had arrived and it was wet, windy and chilly! But the crowd of post exam happy students didn't let that bother them and it was a really fun weekend. Plus, as someone who has a fascination with big versions of small things (or maxitures, as I like to call them), I loved this giant bucket and spade!

Meeting a new friend on our summer photoshoot

We also had a fun summer photoshoot with our lovely model Alex, we pulled out all the stops to create a cute and girly, pastel themed collection and we made a furry friend along the way. A lovely day out!

Wilderness Festival was a real gem of a festival, a relaxing and exciting weekend, it's become one of my new favourite festivals. You could go swimming in the lake, use a wood fired hot tub, learn how to do all kinds of crafts and take part in a huge Bugsy Malone splurge fight - what more could you want from a weekend?! Plus, the scenery was a delight.

A Wilderness sunset

Our stall

The Bugsy Malone gang out for a splurge

V Festival in Chelmsford was a scorcher of a weekend, we spent it with our pals from The Vintage Fair, and being conveniently located opposite the main stage we managed to take in all the music, including highlights from the Stone Roses, The Killers, Tom Jones and Madness.

The sunnies went down a treat at the hottest event we've ever attended, literally!

Our last festival outing of the summer was at The Big Feastival, a new festival taking place at Alex James' cotswolds farm. With the emphasis firmly on good food, we were in our element. We even went to a cheese and beer tasting event and met the cheesemaker himself! It was a fun weekend, with loads of kids having hay fights and making giant bubbles, and lots of celebrities milling about. We saw Jamie Oliver ambling about and Jules Oliver had a good browse around the vintage area, as did Pearl Lowe, Gaz Coombes and Graham Coxon. Which was nice for the britpop loving teenager within me!

Another great maxiture!

Alex James telling us all about his cheese!

So now it's time for us to leave the summer behind us, it's been a blast, but we're looking forward to getting out all the autumn stock and hitting the road again for a new season of vintage events. We're kicking things off later this week at Student Live, in Kensington Olympia. Would love to see you on our travels, you can always see where we're headed next by checking our event page. See you soon!

Beach Break Live 2011

Giant deckchairs, a Moustache Bar, a trip through the keyhole, a ski slope and a stunning sandy beach - all things you find at Beach Break Live, a festival for students at the beautiful Pembrey Country Park, South Wales. We were there selling our wares with The Vintage Fair. Joining us this time in the vintage tent were Jeny & Amber, Dolly Anna Does, Kathleen & Lilys, Mother Said, The Magical Tree, Dorothy's Wardrobe & The Gingham Deer.

The festival opened with a bang on Thursday night, with the eager crowds descending on our tent and grabbing all the prize pieces. Friday followed with solid rain all day (boo!) but thankfully Saturday and Sunday offered mainly blue skies.

The view from our stall - the Main Stage!

The crowds were genuinely lovely folks having a well earned break after their exams, they partied hard and shopped even harder! We did manage to fit in a bit of fun too - our musical highlights were We Are Scientists and White Lies, and we loved just exploring the site - there were so many things to see and do and the venues looked amazing - The Leaky Sheep was done up like a Welsh old man's pub, the Moustache Bar was a cabaret tent extraordinaire and the Ghetto Blaster was just that - a giant ghetto blaster hosting all manner of DJs.

We're glad to be home, showered and rested, but we hope we can make a trip back to Beach Break next year! Next stop for us is Hop Farm...

Friends of Mine Festival 2011

 

A well earned shower and big lie in was in order after our busy weekend at the first ever Friends of Mine Festival. Set in the beautiful grounds of Capesthorne Hall, Cheshire, the line up featured acts like The Lightning Seeds, Buzzcocks and The Charlatans, it was a treat for anyone who likes the music of the northwest! We were there for another reason though, and that was to supply our usual heady blend of vintage clothing, accessories and jewellery to the unwashed masses. And we had a lovely time. We were in The Vintage Fair's marquee, along with our friends from Kitty Kavanagh, SpankT Vintage, The Gingham Deer, Jeny and Amber, Vintage Junky, Angel's Egg Vintage, Dorothy's Wardrobe, Kathleen & Lily's and Syd & Mallory.

The weather wasn't the best, on Sunday a couple of the stages actually had to be closed because of high winds which was a real shame, but the crowd didn't let it stop them having fun. The Charlatans closed the final night with a superb set. Around the site there was lots going on - we spotted a man in a nightie talking on a banana telephone, the sonic manipulator wowing some passers by on Sunday afternoon, a steel drum band playing Madonna's 'Like A Prayer', a house party tent which was set up like a real house (complete with washing machine, beds and strange family portraits), some bizarre inflatable games including people rolling about on a paddling pool in big inflated balls, and a gorgeous traditional big wheel.

We met some lovely people who dropped by to perfect their festival outfits with waterproof jackets, hats, sunnies and cosy knitwear. They were all impressed with the Vintage Fair tent's reasonable prices too, none of your over inflated festival rip offs from us!

Our next festival is Beach Break Live, and we can't wait. In the meantime, here are some pics of our lost weekend in Cheshire...

Minimum Mouse - sunglasses galore!

Beautiful display by Kathleen & Lily's

Our stall

Jewellery by Syd & Mallory

The Vintage Fair in all its glory!

This was my favourite find of the weekend, from SpankT Vintage

The Cribs

The amazing Gideon Conn

James Mouse meeting one of his faves, Gideon Conn