River Island

Festival attire? Check. Money in my pocket? Check. Party spirit? Check!!

My weekend was spent at the Lovebox Weekender. Lovebox is my new favourite festival. If you’re without the urge to sleep in a tent and be mud covered for days at a time, then Lovebox is the place to go.

For those of you not familiar with Lovebox, it’s set bang slap in east London in 25acres of parkland. Originally set up by the genius that is Groove Armada, it was created with the intent of mixing up music genres while putting the heart and soul back into festivals. It’s grown into the capital’s most unique festival and over the years has attracted Groove Armada, Layo and Bushwacka, Gilles Peterson and New Young Pony Club.

The first thing that struck me when I got through the gates on Saturday lunch was the atmosphere. It was completely buzzing. The second thing I noticed were the clothes. Very happy to Lovebox attendees wearing River. I saw a few of our waistcoats mainly teamed with floaty skirts. I spotted our boho jersey dress boho dress as well – one girl wore it with cowboy boots, a print scarf and lots of jewellery and it looked fab. It seemed amongst the girls that retro boots, short skirts and accessories aplenty were the staple uniform. There were also the ‘over prepared few’ – decked out in wellies complete with rainmac….even though it was sunny and dry.

There was loads to do aside from music. People were chilling out on the grass, going on the fair rides (yes we are adults, and yes I was one of these people) and most importantly milling around the many stages or arenas. After a pit stop at the bar, we went straight over to the main stage to watch The Young Knives, who were effortlessly cool and surprisingly funny (seriously, they had the audience in stitches with their banter). We then lost a couple of hours partying in what resembled a massive garage with a random DJ set on. Lovebox had an amazing outdoor mojito cocktail bar, so we stopped off there to collect a few cheeky cocktails. Another welcome addition was the ‘Stockade’ – an area enclosed by a tree-trunk fence, with balloons, fairy lights and a DJ. Think party in a forest but with a soundsystem.

I think the highlight of the festival was Groove Armada on Saturday night. They did a blinder of a set and everyone was up on their feet dancing to their top tunes. There was even a treat for the boys in the audience when a barrage of scantily clad Brazilian-style dancers descended the stage at one point! Roni Size, Goldfrapp and Human League were also fab.

Overall, it was a great weekend and a great festival. Fun, urban, chilled out and definitely very now. I’ll be back next year to hear some more great DJ’s and to see even more fabulous River Island festival outfits.