In between stomach cramps and yawns big enough to engluf my entire collection of vintage clothing, I battled through just hoping the Immodium would kick in quick enough to enable me to at least get some false eyelashes on! And true to it's promise, the 'quick action' really was quick, and I was feeling much better in no time at all! So began the backcombing, the spraying, the clipping, the backcombing and more spraying! My bedroom was sheer chaos with four frenzied females all vying for mirror time, and so to calm us down and 'get us in the mood' I plugged in the ipod and put on some Bruno Mars - never fails to cheer me up and calm me down. Approx two hours later, we were ready for the off, and one last look in the mirror, not to mention the lost shoe, the missing eyelash and the broken umbrella, we departed looking truly fabulous to my favourite event of the year! Goodwood Revival.
As ususal, the traffic was slow but to us ladies, that meant extra time to preen and curl, courtesy of my portable curling tongs (what did I ever do without them?!). Arriving at Goodwood, I was busy taking note of where we'd parked when we were approached my a 'lady cab' asking if us 'ladies' would like a courtesy lift to the gates, to 'save our heels'... now this really captures the essence of the Revival! WHEN would that EVER happen in real life?
For those of you who have never been to the Revival, it has been set in the magnificent Goodwood historic motor circuit since 1998 when the current Earl of March, restored it to its former glory as a racetrack as it was during the late 40's-early 60's. Combine vintage cars, motorbikes, aeorplanes and clothing representing these eras and put it all together in a 'recreation' situaton, and you have the Revival. It's like stepping back into a variety of times and enjoying them all at once. It's a feast for the eyes and ears in every respect.
So we did the usual procedure of men in one direction (cars) and women/children in the other (clothes/shopping) and agreed to meet later on for something to eat. The next few hours were spent wandering around taking photos, having photos taken, saying hello to people and congratulating the very well dressed for looking so authentic. I would say approx 80% of people are dressed in costumes from 1940-'s-50's with the minority in 1960's-70's... and even the children dress up!
Every time I caught myself in the mirror, I cringed somewhat at the white sheen that covered my hair - I would advise spraying dry shampoo BEFORE hairspray to add volume to victory rolls as mine gave the impresson I had far more grey hair than I actually did! Honest!
However, the short rain showers we had did me a favour by softening the effect and washing away some of the powder making me look less like Bram Stoker's Dracula aka Gary Oldman!
As we were wandering around the paddocks, we were approached by a dapper chap, asking us to go and have a photo taken for the Best Dressed competition. We approached the little studio that had been set up in a cute vintage open sided van, and quickly had a shot taken, and were asked to return to the main marquee at 4pm for the results. As we wandered away, we giggled at the fact that he hadn't taken our names or any details and so we assumed we would just return at 4pm as crowd fodder. A few hours passed and we watched the incredible Spitfire fly over, and took a peek in the brilliant Tescos shop that had been recreated (stock on the shelves too!) with a vintage feel - even the staff had polyester checked overcoat dresses on and looked brilliant!
As we were sheltering from the second shower of the day, at the vintage tea rooms, we realised that we only had a few minutes to get to the marquee! So we raced over and sheltered next to the Veuve Cliquot bar (resisted buying half a bottle as it was £45 and we were only carrying half a shilling!). The compere called for all participants to move closer to the stage and a crowd of around 80 took their place, as we watched the host bring up a variety of well dressed chaps in their de-mob suits and race gear. The chap who won looked so dashing in his bright yellow race shirt and fully authentic accessories. During this, I was approached by someone and given a rosette to put on my wrist... I couldn't work out if it was a nuber 7 or 1 so I quickly borrowed some lipstick and checked my victory rolls just in case I was called up!
All ten female rosette holders were called up to stage and the compere asked a few of them to explain their outfits, which ranged from 1940's to 1970's and one very beautiful lady even had a ball gown on and looked incredible. As third place was called (the 1970's lady), my cheeks began to quiver and quite unlike me, I began to feel a little stage fright as I've NEVER been in a contest like this and could feel people with a million eyes judging me and whispering comments to each other. As second palce was called (dapper lady in plus fours and tweed ensemble) I looked for my family in the audience, and considered how to place my facial expression when someone else was called as the winner as I knew there would be cameras firing as soon as the announcement was made and I needed to look happy for them - which of course I would be!
As number 7 was called... I waited for a split second to see where the compere looked (was I number 7 or 1?) and behold it was me! I think anyone there would vouch for the fact that I was genuinely shocked and amazed that the lady in the ball gown didn't win!
When asked about my outfit, I found myself announcing that I'd waited FIVE years to get into this dress and had lost three stone to achieve it! This went down very well with the audience and was greeted with whoops of appreciation from most of the ladies in the room! I resisted the temptation of thanking Immodium for making it all possible etc etc and just posed for the camera with a knowing smile!
1 comment:
Trust you to do everything to the nth degree Dawn! So much attention to detail - well done!
You looked absolutely beautiful - a "no brainer" as they say!
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