Saturday 7 September 2024

It's The End of the Road!

Has it really been a fortnight since I last posted? Time flies when you're having fun! I've no idea what I've been doing since we got home on Monday evening - I think I left my brain somewhere in field in Dorset - but our last festival of the season, End of the Road, was an absolute riot!

We left home at 6am on Wednesday 28th August and after a pitstop at Michaelwood Services (where I snapped the photo above) we rocked up at the Larmer Tree Gardens in Dorset shortly after 10am. After saying hello to our neighbours, Sean & Amelie of Shilpa Silver, who we'd not seen since Glastonbury, we threw ourselves into building the stall, finally cracking open a can and calling it a day at 7pm.


On Thursday, we installed the lights, dressed the mannequins and rolled up the shop front ready for the gates to open at 12.30pm. 


Earlier in the day while we were setting up we'd heard some of the crew talking about us outside...Kinky Melons, my favourite shop, I cannot wait to get in there and get my fix...Man, their stuff is sick.....fingers crossed we wouldn't let them down!


End of the Roaders, we're ready for you! 


One last look at the yeti before the crowds descend....


The weather wasn't exactly tropical but we dressed like it was. Hola to my vintage Mexican maxi for the second time this season.


To say we were busy would be an understatement, trade was relentless! Other than a quick change of clothes when the temperature dropped, business was insane. By the time the last customer left at 12.30am the festival was in darkness, even the bar had closed. 


Kinky by night! Tartan skinnies and Docs for Lord Jon, sheepskin & psychedelia for me.


On Friday, still buzzing from the madness of the previous day and further buoyed up by the heat and sunshine, we rolled up the shop front at 9.45am.


Psychedelia and curtain tie-back earrings for me, skater-boi style for him. 


IDLES had been warming up first thing and sounded phenomenal!


The day turned out to be just as crazy although this time we managed to take a few photos of our fabulous customers. This guy was so thrilled with his 1980s Western shirt he left the shop wearing it.


Ditto this 1960s chick in her fringed suede waistcoat.


Here's our gorgeous friend Jeni rocking this 1960s Indian tapestry jacket


I knew these leopard print velvet hot pants with cat motifs would be one of first things to sell when we opened on Thursday. I lost count of the number of girls who came back for them - you snooze, you loose! 



This stunner bought this 1960s Dollyrockers maxi from us at End of the Road last year and has been wearing it on repeat ever since. 


IDLES were headlining on Friday night and with the Woods stage directly opposite our stall we were perfectly placed to catch their phenomenal set. Never fight a man with a perm....


Anyone who goes to End of the Road will know this chap and his three mates, their costumes are legendary. Check out this hat!


We rolled down the front some time after midnight and were in bed by 1am.


It's all a bit of a blur...


Despite another night of trading into the early hours, we were open before 10am on Saturday, blasting out some choice tunes on the old boombox. Although the forecast was for a warm day, there was a distinct Autumnal nip to the air - not our favourite kind of weather but ideal conditions for selling jackets, knitwear and sheepskin hats.
  

Well-versed in the vagaries of the great British festival season we'd packed for both hot and cold weather, everything from shorts and sandals to sheepskin hats and beer mittens. Jon's in his cool weather festival staple, his vintage cowboy shirt, I'm in my vintage maxi handmade from silk scarves (but not by me!)


The sales continued as did the happy customers popping in to show us how much they loved their Kinky purchases.


Richard, director of London City Voices choir has been one of our regular customers for years. How good does he look in this orange velvet jacket, which he'd snapped up on Thursday? 


We've known Asha since our Indietracks days. She's wearing a 1960s printed cotton midi dress she bought from us on Friday.


This girl didn't need a 1980s leather moto jacket from the iconic San Francisco brand, Johnsons until she tried it on and of course just had to have it. 


I can't for the life of me remember the name of the band with whom this guy plays guitar (fresh from their set on the Garden stage) but he's taking this 1970s Wrangler jacket back to the good ol'  US of A with him.


These guys are all wearing their Kinky Melon buys - the groovy flares, the fake fur gilet and the block printed shirt. The couple flanking the girl in the fake fur loved the shirts they bought from us last year so much that they wore them on the photo featured on their engagement party invitations.


I was excited when I found out that Curtis Harding was playing End of the Road and I just about died of excitement when he finished his set on the main stage and headed straight over to our shop, leaving with a 1970s belted leather jacket. You look like you've walked off the set of Fight Club, I told him...Yeah, Tyler Durden is my hero, he replied. What a talented and truly lovely man. I Need Your Love....


It's those dapper fellows again!


Terena bought this maxi dress from us a couple of years ago. How fabulous are her vintage Texan cowboy boots? I bought my vintage Swedish maxi from Happy Sundays Vintage at Glastonbury. It's been my evening at a festival go-to dress this year.


Jon's burnt orange velvet jacket came from glamorous festival regulars Paul & Celeste who you met on my Womad post. It's uncanny similar to the one Richard bought from us.


It was Saturday and traditionally our festival big night out and having not been further than the long drops since we'd arrived on site on Wednesday morning, we were beyond excited to escape the stall for a few hours.


First stop was the Folly stage where Big Special, were headlining. Frontman Joe is a Walsall lad and his voice is phenomenal. Anyone who moans about there being no good music these days seriously needs their heads looking at...listen to THIS! We can't wait to see them supporting John Grant at Birmingham Town Hall in October.


With a bagful of cans we ventured into Effing Forest and danced the night away to Tom Ravenscroft's DJ set over at The Ship, the open air forest disco. 





After wandering around marvelling at the quirky art installations, browsing the forest library and playing marbles we ended up at the Silent Disco for the first time. It was so good, I'm already excited for next year.


All too soon it was Sunday and our the last trading day of the festival season..sob!


Although the day started off drizzly and damp, by mid-morning it was so warm that I changed out of my long sleeves into my Ossie Clark maxi.


More sales and a few more photos.....


It's him again! 


Beautiful Amelie from Shilpa Silver (check out their amazing Mexican jewellery HERE) in her vintage Liberty dress.


Heath Ledger's Antipodean double rocking a vintage suede waistcoat.


The 1950s military jacket, 1970s suede waistcoat & 1960s Aertex top are all Kinky buys.


Wilf's a regular (he bought the 1960s Dunn & Co trilby from us this year) but it's the first time we'd met his gorgeous partner, Nina who treated herself to a couple of vintage blouses to wear at scooter rallies. 


This sizzling blonde had travelled to EofR from her native France and was very impressed by her first British music festival. She struggles to find affordable vintage in France and was thrilled with this 1970s maxi, buying it on Saturday and spending all day Sunday wearing it.


We met lovely pals Rachel, daughter Freya (and husband Matthew, who was chatting to Jon when I took the photo) at End of the Road when Freya was a tot. Rachel bought this block printed maxi dress from us a couple of years ago and Freya bought the rose pink retro sunnies from us this year. Rachel makes the most incredible jewellery - check out her website HERE.




I missed Nicola in the forest this year, we usually have a dance together on a Saturday night.


Sarah, who works in the box office, is one of our favourite people at End of the Road, we squeal with excitement when we see each other.


At 10.30pm we rolled down the shop front, bagged up what was left of the stock and collapsed into bed. On Monday morning we treated ourselves to a luxurious lie-in (8.30am!!) and after a leisurely breakfast continued with the break-down. By 1.30 we'd packed the van, hugged our festival family goodbye and headed home via Gloucester Services for a posh pie en route.


And so ends Kinky's festival adventures for another year. Summer 2024 was phenomenal...decent weather, amazing sales, gorgeous people & brilliant music, I can't wait to do it all over again next year! (Hopefully I might have been reunited with my brain by then.)

37 comments:

  1. Wow! I’ve wondered what you’ve been up to! What an blast. Awesome vicarious time just reading your post and following the links. The Big Special sample alarmed my cat but I see what you mean about the strength of their musical chops! Good stuff! The silent disco looked fun. Wishing you some well deserved recharging. Thanks for sharing your adventure! - Pamela

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    1. Hello Pamela! I'm sorry Big Special alarmed your cat, William didn't seem to mind, mind you he did start life on the means streets of Walsall so he's a tough cookie! xxx

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  2. Looks exhausting but great fun. So many fabulous outfits, and I'm glad you sold so much stock. I love seeing the range of vintage finds and how happy customers look with their buys. Val x

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    1. Thanks, Val! It took us a week to get over EofR! xxx

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  3. What a treat! Love the mixter-maxter of different age groups and styles. No doubt you have a well-deserved break planned next and quite rightly so! Enjoy the rest.xxx
    Ps Michael Portillo was in Wolverhampton the other day on his BBC railway travel programme. Really interesting history lesson.

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    1. End of the Road's wonderfully inclusive, I love how varied the crowd are - you never see any overly drunk people either, which is pretty rare for a festival!
      I must track down Michael Portillo in Wolves. He comes across really well on his TV shows, a huge contrast to how I found him when I hosted a dinner for him back in my corporate days, probably one of the ill-mannered men I've ever met! xxx

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  4. The photos are amazing, it must have been fantastic.

    I love your outfits, you just have it!

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  5. I really love seeing your customers and their finds. It's brilliant. And of course seeing you and Jon in all your finery is always a treat! Hope you are now 'brain intact'! Zxx ❤️❤️

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  6. So glad you're back! there was a big empty hole in blogland for two weeks! Jon looked cool in his burnt orange jacket, your lovely dresses were all just fabulous and your customers had some great style - I also liked the man with the hats - swan being my favourite :) It looks fun but hard work rolled into one. I was wondering if tents that get left behind could be given to a homeless charity. I think when you hear music live, it's very different to pre-recorded - I have often been disappointed to hear someone live and find they weren't that great! You picked out some real talent :) Welcome home. Betty

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    1. p.s. I am saving the book you gave me for a beach holiday in November :) but keep dipping in!

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    2. Hello Betty! You are kind, thank you! Jon looks great in that orange jacket, doesn't he? I'm hoping it gets worn a lot over the coming months.
      I love swans, too, I'd love a headdress like his.
      The clientele at End of the road are a bit more thoughtful than your average festival so there's never any tents left. All the excess uncooked food the food traders haven't used gets collected by the local foodbank at the end of the festival. Glastonbury collects tents for charity.
      I'm dying to know where you're off to next! xxx

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  7. That looks absolutely wonderful - You can never miss a year trading Vix -They won't let you - and I love that Curtis Harding immediately headed to your place - Also the gent with the crow hat looks familiar to me - A few years ago whilst on holiday in Dorset I was admitted to Dorchester hospital with appendicitis - I'm sure his poorly wife was in the bed alongside me - He was an eccentric dresser then - 2 patients asked to take his photo - He had rings and a walking stick and necklaces I recall x

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    1. Thanks, Flis! It wouldn't surprise me if that flamboyant man was the chap you encountered in Dorset, he's definitely one in a million! xxx

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  8. Well that was a blast! I'm not surprised it's taken you a week to come back down to earth.
    I really enjoyed seeing all of your customers in their finery. Thanks for taking the time the capture them.
    The legend in his illuminated peacock hat is amazing and I did a double take at Heath Ledger's lookalike - uncanny! You must have been so excited at your celebrity customers too.
    I laughed out loud at Effing Forest! It looks utterly magical and I'm glad you tried the silent disco. They're quite fun aren't they? xxx

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    1. I've never been to a silent disco before, they were big in Goa when they stopped giving licences to raves back in the late 1990s. I'm definitely going to take part in that one next year! xxx

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  9. Wow, that sounds like a whirlwind, Vix, congratulations on the busy, BUSY business, and I hope you sold SO much stuff! Love Jon's orange velvet blazer (L would surely rock one too), and seeing all of your magnificent outfits - and seeing your happy customers' faces must be almost as good as getting their lucre (hee). Welcome home - I hope William didn't grouse you out too badly for your absence.

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    1. Thanks Sheila! Funnily enough when Jon found that velvet jacket I thought of L straight away, he'd absolutely rock it! xxx

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  10. The most interesting shopping experience this side of Diagon Alley -- and one suspects both the shop keepers and the customers of having holidays cottages in such another realm, especially the chap with the headgear!

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    1. Hi Beth! The headgear wearing man's a true British eccentric, I love him! xxx

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  11. Hello!
    I missed you! This looked a superb festival and I am glad you got so many great pictures of festival outfits!
    It's very exciting that the stars love your stock!
    What IS a silent Disco???
    You worked super hard and looked fabulous!
    Kezzie x

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    1. Thanks, Kezzie! With a silent disco the attendees all wear headphones tuned to different channels so they're singing and dancing along to different music, it's hilarious to watch! xxx

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  12. Gosh no wonder you needed some time to decompress after the whirlwind that has been this years festival season. It looks like it's been a full on festival year, with good weather, good sales and lots of well-dressed good friends and customers. Now I guess you have to start the mammoth job of restocking ready for next year, with lots of visits to good old Wetherspoons for much needed refreshment. I bet it was good to get home and see your beautiful black furry friend.

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    1. I've already started restocking for next year! xxx

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  13. I'm not surprised your brain needed adjusting after that whirlwind of a festival!
    Loved seeing your many outfit changes and the photos of your happy customers wearing their Kinky Melon buys. Just fabulous! xxx

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  14. Fantastic photos from an interesting tour!!
    You are tired but your boutique has become very beautiful.
    Your customers so happy.
    Beautiful world!!
    Be well Vix and rest!!

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  15. You look stunning as always Vix! Even though you're tired im glad your business is booming! The festival looks like it would be so much fun!

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  16. It sounds like you did a roaring trade, and had a wonderful time as well.
    I imagine you'll soon be counting down the days to the start of next year's festival season. X

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  17. Brilliant! Time sure does fly when you are having fun. All the outfits are fabulous.

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  18. You do look like you're having tons of fun and it's lovely to see that.

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    1. Thanks, Ivana! I'm sad it's all over now. xx

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Lots of love, Vix