Gottwood goes Tribal

Gottwood Festival is a magical four day party set deep in the enchanting woods of Anglesey. Landing on the hottest weekend of the year, these woods were crammed full of bright young things come out to stir their senses in this adult playground. This was bound to be a blindingly colourful weekend.






A month before the festival, the organisers put out a poll on Facebook:"What should this year's Gottwood's fancy dress theme be?" The clear favourite was visible after just an hour; and "Tribal" soon had won hands down, with 90% of the vote. And you can see why- when you're there you feel wild and feral, and everything is peace and love; you feel close to your clan- it just fits. People went all out, putting together every feathers, drums and facepaint they could lay their hands on, and for a night, the woods were alive with bright faces and dancing feathers.

But the crowd didn't just look great on Saturday night. Party people were wearing eye-catching and outlandish clothes all weekend, with hippie styles everywhere you looked giving the place a woodstock vibe.

Girls were in animal prints, sequins, wooly jumpers, neons and Aztec prints.

While boys rocked hawaiian and paisley shirts, 80s sportswear, bright shorts and waistcoats.

Introducing Yang Du

Surrealist fashion designer Du Yang came into my life after I stumbled across her playful dragon dress, part of one of her bold collections which border tantalizingly on the fancy dress. 

Once you've had a gander at some of her work it comes as no surprise to discover that Du Yang, who reversed her name when christening the label in 2008, started out as an artist before studying fashion at Central St. Martins. Deciding art’s more fun if you’re wearing it, she proceeded to rebuff all boundaries between the two forms.

Each inspired by travel and other life experiences, Du Yang’s collections are so endearing because they show an eternally youthful and thoroughly artistic love for visual details; everything's on full blast; bright colours, bold shapes and general hugeness are ever-present.

Du Yang’s S/S 2011 collection “He is A Superman” was inspired by the toys and games of her childhood, and features oversized studded lion hats, pixellated knitwear and beautiful superhero capes.

 

 

Also slotting into the line are wearable shift dresses with neat graphics.

But for me Du Yang’s super daring and detailed knitwear is the jewel in her crown, the Budapest inspired A/W 2009 collection in particular boasting some really unique and amazingly detailed winter woollies! I think the portraits knitted into these are just incredible; there's so much expression in the faces- how do you knit that!?

    

   

 

Its clear Du Yang's designs have caught more than just the eye of the colour junkie. Du Yang’s wearable-art pieces have allowed her to grab the attention of some of the biggest names in British fashion, her CV already brimming with experience working with the likes of Vivienne Westwood and Giles Deacon, but with the trick of wearability up her sleeve, she's fast gaining popular acclaim, proving to be daring enough to make just the thing for the lady who "loves life and is not afraid to take risks.”