Multicoloured sheep, dancing on the lake, opera, comedy, literature, fashion and of course, music, what more could you want from a great British summer festival? Latitude Festival has all this and then some, and some of that some lies deep in the Faraway Forrest. If you go down to the woods this July you’ll be sure of a big surprise (and no its not where the teddy bears have their picnic) its The Painted House, formerly The Paper House and once upon a time The Faraway Fashion Studio, where a group of CSM graduates once debuted their talents (myself being one of them).
Three years later and the space has evolved from a simple exhibition to a multifaceted, interactive fashion destination. Masterminded by my very own friends: all round awesome Art Director Imogen Eveson and superstar Set Designer Samara Tompsett, this year’s Painted House is going to blow your festival frolicking mind! With a line up exciting events from a vintage workshop with Rag & Bow’s Roaming Vintage Store to dressmaking with 125 Magazine Editor David Hawkins, a DIY fashion fanzine with Illustator Nina Chakrabarti to a live body painting shoot with Clare Reed and Jenni Hare…the list goes on. And then you get to me. That’s right, I’ll be there with my little old trunk full or random tid bits collected on my world wanderings. So if you fancy taking ‘a trip around the world through clothes’ as Imogen has so aptly put it, come on down to the Faraway Forest on Friday 13th at 13.30 and peruse my collections.
Now go forth and visit The Painted House website to read a little Q&A with myself and some of the other contributors. And if you keep reading below you’ll see I turned the tables on Samara and Imogen and asked them a few questions of my own.
Now go forth and visit The Painted House website to read a little Q&A with myself and some of the other contributors. And if you keep reading below you’ll see I turned the tables on Samara and Imogen and asked them a few questions of my own.
1. So, year no.3 and the theme is Pagan To Occupy: tribes, folk customs, identity, community and shamanism. How have you two concocted your ‘house’ to align with this year’s concept?
I: The loose idea is ‘fashion tribes’ as there is a lot of space for invention within that term and the entire crowd itself could probably be divided – crudely - into fashion tribes! But there’s also a lot more bubbling under the surface about Ceilidhs and shamanism and French Salons – as a place for exchange and inspiration. I came up with this story about an 18th Century French high-society woman who hosts salons but also has a sideline in the occult. Sharing this idea with Samara, we emerged with this vision of a crumbling Versailles as Samara found these incredible images by Robert Polidori. They are beautiful, decadent, dark and decayed and Samara and I are similarly drawn towards this aesthetic I think.
Of course, all of this won’t be obvious in the actual event. The ideas get absorbed into the mix and re-imagined in an abstract way; hopefully making the whole thing richer somehow in the process. When I first met up with Latitude’s arts booker Tania Harrison earlier this year she said what was missing in the forest was fun and glamour and I think – and hope – that is essentially what we’re providing!
S: Last year we called our creation The Paper House, so we wanted to continue the theme to make us recognisable as the same team, plus the term 'house' hints to being someone's home. When Imogen presented me with her idea my thoughts were drawn to Versailles, as the subject of the powerful photographs of Robert Polidori. His images also caught the idea of the decadent and dark that Imogen describes, and so addresses this years theme. We wanted to make a structure that could provide a bit of shelter - a reaction to the rains of last year - something that could lend itself nicely to making a 'home'. The structure itself will be formed from the golden carcasses of a number of old greenhouses with various bits of rag and other things stretched and tied like those blanket forts we made as as children.
