Farr Festival is an independent electronic music festival evolved from a small
gathering of like minded friends.  From humble beginnings in 2009, the eighth edition held this year between Thursday 13th and Saturday 15th July, 2017 set within ‘Bygrave Woods’ a ten-minute drive from the market town of Baldock and only 30 minutes from Kings Cross by train. 

The beauty of the #FarrFestival is… everything is near!  Boutique and compact in size and stature, the main festival area is accessed by a working farm field a short walk from the campsite.  Uniquely positioned, you can buy an early ticket for under £100 and it has a 6 a.m. license.

Three of the sound stages; Adventures in Success, The Shack and the Hidden Palace are set within a magical twinkly enchanted forest dressed beautifully for the occasion with well hung washing, colourful bunting and fairly lights.  Weather permitting, you can enjoy a glorious sunset too.

#Farrfestival sunset

This year’s festival felt bigger with a 6,700 capacity and the introduction of a new main
stage; ‘The Factory’ made from fifty-two shipping containers equipped with a custom built L-acoustics sound system.  My musical highlights centered around Friday with an energetic set from General Levy at the Factory and later from Booka Shade.  Plus, Henry Wu and Detroit Swindle in the Hidden Palace and Terry Farley and Omar-S on Saturday. 

The Factory, Pre-General Levy

One of the best features of the festival apart from; the location, music and food (wood
fired pizzas, fresh paella, quality sausages and Salcombe crab) is the uber friendly,
‘Woodland Warriers’ in attendance.

In 2016, my two favourite Woodland Warriers included the lady dancing with a baby doll head on a stick and the man dressed from the waist-up in an outfit made entirely of mirror ball mosaic tiles.  Whilst he sparkled all weekend, he didn’t seem entirely comfortable with his new found fame, constantly followed by an entourage of revellers who had mistaken him for a Disco Ball.  

#Farrfestival 2016

For street style, my favourite 2017 #Farrfashionistas included; #meggings men dressed in extraordinarily tight metallic leggings, a long sequinned coat that changed
colour with the light, Carmen Miranda’s woolly hat, the real Michael Jackson, a very sassy printed jumpsuit, hippie chic crossed with a splash of carnival, Indian embroidered parasols, the planet earth dance music t-shirt, a one-of-a-kind Nike necklace, truck loads of glitter, leopard print everything, gargantuan, mirrored or heart shaped sunglasses and more sequins than an entire season of #StrictlyComeDancing.  

Feeling Inspired and exhausted from dancing like no-one’s watching, we walked back to our VW Camper Tent through the parsnip field for the very last time and past a man dragging a mannequin body part ‘hand’ on a lead.  He looked happy heading #backtothewoods.  See you next year.

#farrfestival sunset

#LFW took place at iconic London venues including Brewer Street Car Park.

Up-and-coming designers from 24 countries showcased their work in an exhibition called, ‘Fashion Utopias’ held at the International Fashion Showcase #IFS at Somerset House.

Sade Giliberti at Somerset House

The British Council and British Fashion Council transformed Somerset House into a Utopian terrain with a series of specially commissioned and curated fashion installations featuring work by emerging designers from all over the world sharing their vision of the future.

Modest wear stole the headlines and a report by the State of the Global Islamic Economy estimated that the luxury Muslim fashion market is estimated to be worth a whopping £226 billion by 2020.

Indonesia presented a group of designers looking at modest wear with new eyes

I went behind the scenes at the #IFS working on a future fashion technology project with Direct Drive TV and Inition.  The virtual reality documentary will be ‘ready-to-wear’ in a virtual reality headset in the coming weeks.  The project has the potential to become the springboard for how the fashion industry (and other industries) can work with virtual reality technology to increase international awareness and revenues within a fully immersive brand experience.  Just think, a front row 360 degree experience without leaving your sofa.

Future fashion and technology stitched together in virtual reality

Whilst on location, I had the chance to talk to some of the talented up-and-coming designers and be inspired by their art of fashion.  Here’s my favourites;

Art inspired shoes by Dimitrije Gojkovic

Jared Servano from the Philippines, inspired by materials of indigenous culture.  This beautiful dress is made from the husks of bananas

By Thian Rodriguez working with materials of extreme dystopia; bullets & leather

Flora Miranda along with Austria’s best young designers unite to present their vision of a digital utopian dream

Art jewellery by Marketa Kratochvilova from the Czech Republic made from leather, cotton and exotic woods

Words and photos by Sarah Hedges.