In these fast-paced fashion times where editors attend more than a hundred shows a season, nothing feels more exclusive than being allowed the time to focus on one thing only. But before Chanel, Dior, Gucci and Vuitton treated the jet-setters of the industry to that luxury on their seasonal pre-collection trips, a countess in Cornwall and a fashion critic in West London were already years into that same idea. Last weekend they orchestrated it for the fifth consecutive year, at Port Eliot, the seat of Lady Catherine and her husband Lord Peregrine St Germans in, well, the town of St Germans. The critic in question is Sarah Mower of American Vogue – herself an MBE – who curates the fashion division of the Port Eliot Festival for her noble friend, and who understands that luxury of focus in fashion better than anyone. This year, the theme was medieval, a result of Mrs Mower’s introduction to Game of Thrones early this year by her son Thomas (a loyal viewer and expert) and her fascination with its costumes and sets–and powerful feminist message, not least.
Port Eliot is probably the poshest festival in the world. Everywhere you go you hear very young children having very considered conservations in very deep voices (“I just adore shopping but I prefer to do it with girlfriends rather than on my own,” one 8-year-old blonde said to another outside the porta-loos), and it’s a segment that allows the festival’s curators to approach their talks – staged on small stages around the vast grounds of the epic estate – from a high consumer level. Incredibly, for her topical talk on medieval fashion right now with The Independent‘s Alex Fury, Mower had called in some thirty looks from houses such as Alexander McQueen, Dolce & Gabbana, Rick Owens, Loewe, Giles, and Gareth Pugh – and vintage 70s and 80s medieval revival pieces from Thea Porter, Zandra Rhodes and Laura Ashley – modelled, amongst girls and boys cast at the festival, on local beauties the Warren sisters of House Warren of Hammersmith: Octavia, Imogen, Bea, Aggie, the twins, Lulu and brother Ossian (dressed as a pageboy in a Meadham Kirchhoff dress), and their mother Heather. (Sarah Burton had even done the fittings in person.) The talk focused on Game of Thrones‘ influence on fashion over the past six years, and how the show has renewed the way designers approach Pre-Raphaelite aesthetics and Renaissance dressing in particular. As the critics spoke, the models walked around the hyper-green grass of Port Eliot, their hair and makeup on immaculate medieval point courtesy of master teams from Bumble & bumble and MAC.
You couldn’t have found a more appropriate setting for it, and the laid-back but intellectual mood of the festival created the perfect frame for the trend theories proposed in the talk. It followed the festival’s biggest scoop this year: Mower’s talk with Michele Clapton, the former costume designer on Game of Thrones, Gemma Jackson, the series’ former set designer, and Gwendoline Christie, who plays Brienne of Tarth. For an hour, the four women commanded the stage, showing clips from the show and discussing the importance of its sets and costumes on an intellectual level that went way beyond sheer fandom but still had the brilliant excitement of a bunch of fangirls obsessing over their favourite show. In the evening, the distinguished speakers danced the night away with festival guests at Boogie Nights, the discotent by the lake at Port Eliot. On the Sunday of the festival, Marques’Almeida and MAC took part in a talk with Mower on fashion and makeup while Stephen Jones made medieval hats next door, and ELLE‘s Rebecca Lowthorpe interviewed Molly Goddard before a life drawing class of her prom dresses ensued.
Perhaps most pricelessly, a fashion show for aspiring designers from kids to tweens saw a front row that included British Vogue‘s Suzy Menkes, Stephen Jones, and of course Sarah Mower, along with fashion editors and young London designers including Susie Bubble, Ed Marler, and Linda Farrow owner Tracy Sedino. It was a perfect illustration of the grounded and appreciative mood of Port Eliot, and the kind of fashion power it attracts. (The entire festival, by the way, is designed by renowned set designer Michael Howells, who could be seen driving around on his golf buggy with Hollywood costume designer Sandy Powell, who was also interviewed by fashion writer Tim Blanks as part of the festival.) For the Saturday and Sunday the fashion activities took place, Port Eliot’s Wardrobe Department – as Mower calls her team – spelled out the rarity and importance of time and in-depth focus in fashion, and the effect it has on you as a spectator. With all the attention given to fashion weeks, who should have access, and how long it should all go on for, there’s more than a little to be said for a mid-season event like Port Eliot, where high fashion is dealt with in a democratic and intellectual way. And better yet, it’s all set to the backdrop of that beautiful castle. Until next summer!
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Text Anders Christian Madsen