Shambala Festival Fashion 2015

 Shambala 2015 was our first Shambala and it did not fail to impress. I'll be honest, after nearly 30 years of going to festivals, its hard to get excited. Don't get me wrong. in the daytime I love getting dressed and talking to new and interesting people. But come the night, there's very little music that will get me tramping round a muddy site.

These days I spend most of my evenings at festivals sitting by the fire with good friends, talking and drinking decent wine.

Shambala was a breath of fresh air. People actually take dressing up seriously and come prepared, there was a family of smurfs and aliens with headdresses made from plastic cups.

 Very respectable men who work as super market managers and lawyers dress up as women on fruity Friday and the most buxom feminine dames dress up as mustachioed men.



It was a real blast from the past. The happy, peace loving, smiley crowd  remaindered me of days of old. The mix of ages was also lovely.

It was a real family friendly atmosphere and the site was very easy to move around. There was a wide variety of vegetarian and vegan food on sale. Although like most festivals you do have to pay attention to peoples plates as they walk away from a food stall to gage if you're gonna get value for money, or if you're gonna get stiffed. It still surprises me how stingy some food traders can be, especially as they really do make a huge profit.
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The Thali's Sophie on fruity Friday.

Victoria came in with this stunning headdress and  tried
on  a pink Dashiki cat suit and looked stunning !

 I always do a bit of 'queue watching' when I have to buy festival food, and I do nearly always regret every purchase unfortunately. I bought my son rice and grilled chicken once. I paid £9 and as it was handed to me I realized that it had been served on a lid and the chicken was all bone with a bit of skin.

Being prepared to complain is a good skill I would encourage. all of us who sell at festivals should give good customer service.

My favourite food stall is the Thali, vegetarian food stall from Bristol. I do know the company and I will let you into a secret. You can always ask for more rice, or vege curry if you think the potion is small and the guys behind the counter will always oblige.

I shared my stall with mother and daughter duo Maggie and Loxy. They were loads of fun and had a lucky dip bucket that brought so much joy to all the people who took part. Next door to us was the best venue in the world. 'The people's front room'

They had around 6 or 7 of the funniest and cleverest singer song writers you could ever hope to hear at a festival. My son Seren and I ended up buying CDs from all the musicians who played in there and we knew most of the songs by the end of the weekend.
 I'd love to have my stall next to them every year ! It was a very cool event to be selling African fashion and arts and crafts. The audience came to us with a unique eye and wanted to mix and match things in interesting ways, as well as being interested in where everything came from.


Madam space cadet is a prime example. She was a riot of colour and the 2 plastic woven bracelets she bought from us looked perfect with what she was wearing.

 Some scenes really were a blast from the past. I remember my very first Glastonbury when a bare chested lady from the circus came running up to us to give us a hug.

Only this time 3 topless girls kind of crashed and burned outside our stall. they giggled and giggled then got up and walked away. Seren and Roxy looked on with a disproving look on their faces, the way only teenagers can do.

We stood by the entrance of the stall on Saturday to watch the parade, we laughed at the well thought out humour and admired the ingenuity.

I really got into elaborate make up in 2015, sometimes it even felt a little spiritual. Seren didn't go for any face painting, but he did buy a pair hippy trousers and a big woolly jumper. 

We had the pleasure of meeting some many interesting and fascinating people, doing a wide variety of jobs and wearing amazing pieces they had made or customized themselves. I felt really flattered with each sale. It makes me feel really good when a creative person likes my work.

Some people just came in for a chat. African stalls have never been overly represented at festivals and the best thing about that is that we attract alot of people who just want to come and have a look or share a story about their trips to the great continent in the past.

Whatever their reasons we love meeting people.

Some people were born to wear our designs. So many were totally happy to stick their old clothes in the carrier bag and leave wearing what they had bought. The hooded wrap  dress was hit in Shambala and our short wrap skirts were even worn by boys.

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As well as clothing we always carry, jewelry, baskets, bags, backpack and baskets.

We pride ourselves on having something for everyone.
This young man hung the plastic kettle of his belt and was going to use it to carry his beer.

Shambala ! Cant wait for 2017. hope to see you there. Do pop in and say hello

Send me a message if you would like to an outfit made for a special occasion.

You can ORDER ONLINE 
Or in person. Call me (Akua) 0207 328 1167 for an appointment to visit my workshop if you are in London 

You can look up design ideas on my PINTEREST PAGE 
or send me a sketch ofosuhene.akua@gmail.com. I will reply with a free quote.

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