Splendour in the Grass 2015 ~ it was a landslide, a red mud carpet of festival fashion!
Images by Mel Carerro
Story by Lizzy
I still remember Splendour in the Grass 2009, (the year I moved to Byron Bay to join Spelly in the business), we set up one of those 4×4 market tents illegally on the side of the road to sell our wares to people as they walked into the festival. It took us about an hour to set up, and then 5 minutes in the cops pulled over and told us we had to leave. We didn’t leave, (ballsy, I know) and over the next few hours we made like a couple of hundred dollars… So, cut to 6 years later, having a stall at Splendour was never going to be about making money. It was about expressing ourselves as a label, and creating a vibe. Creating our own vibe, amongst the dirt and grime and noise and crazy, hyped, drunken festival madness – a Spell Oasis.
A dirty little secret of mine is that since I moved to Byron Bay I’ve never actually been to a Splendour in the Grass… I know, right?!! (Shocked emoji here!) In my defense, the first few years while we were still growing our label, I couldn’t afford tickets, and then when I could finally afford tickets I started having babies! And it felt like every year Splendour came around I was either pregnant, or about to give birth, or nursing a newborn! But finally this year I made my maiden voyage to the festival Byron calls it’s own. And it was muddy, and splendid, and well worth the wait!
Now I might not have been to a Splendour, but I can assure you I’ve been following the fashion on the field avidly, ever since we had our first Splendour pop-up in 2013 (blogged here: 2013, 2014), and I can tell you – chicks you have taken it to the NEXT LEVEL! The fashion this year was like nothing I’ve ever seen before (and I’ve been going to festivals for 20 years)!! Where 2013 it was kind of rough and tough, lots of city folk coming to Byron and bringing their kind of ‘rocker game’ to the party – this time it was like a crazy bush-rave meets Woodstock explosion of boho fashion. There were flowing dresses knotted to the knee, lots of white lace, dusters, kimonos, maxi skirts belted neatly at the waist, tassels, conchos, squash blossoms, lots of GloTatts and all of it paired back with chunky boots, khaki and denim. It was mad! And amazing! Some girls even had costume changes mid way through the day.
For once we weren’t the only ones documenting the fashion… we were joined by countless photographers, muses, bloggers (almost every Aussie Blogger/instagramer was there – so wonderful to meet some of you chicks!!) and it felt like a little community all celebrating this boundless celebration of expression and creativity! Festival fashion (or #spellfestivalstyle as we call it) taps into your alter-ego that usually only comes out at a dress up party – at a festival, you can be Stevie Nicks! To think in my ‘single’ early 20s I’d go to festivals to, well let’s face it, perv at the dudes, but now – it’s the girls we’re all watching!
To all of you who visited our Splendour Pop-up, thank you from the bottom of our full-hearts for saying hi and sharing the joy! And until next year, stay wild!!
Oh and for those who spotted some unreleased Spell from our upcoming KISS THE SKY collection we have a priority PRIORITY WAIT LIST that you can join, which means we’ll email you when they arrive so you can get first dibs 24 hours before anyone else!!
xx Lizzy