Were you one of the thousands that descended on Victoria Park in East London at the weekend to catch the Lovebox Weekender? Enemy of dog-walkers and rollerbladers for a weekend, the annual extravaganza saw the likes of The Flaming Lips, Goldfrapp and Groove Armada go down a storm with the quirky and cool crowd. But the question on everyone’s lips, apart from was it a good idea to have the funfair rides so close to sources of alcohol, was what did everyone turn up in?

Well, in a marked difference to what we saw at the O2 Wireless Festival, there were four main trends. To kick off, there were loads of trilbies and straw hats everywhere. These really are great for summer as they are a cool and masculine alternative to a big floppy sun hat. Some went for a cowboy style but most stuck to the classic trilby. Look, even Freddy Flintoff’s got one on although he probably would have been better off giving England a hand in the cricket instead of taking in a festival.

Then we encountered more rolled-up jeans than we had ever run into before. We particularly like how so many guys had their own way of wearing denim for summer and it was a great idea for the weekend’s changeable weather. A little roll here, a huge roll there, socks or no socks, the only thing that tended to link them together was their communal love for sneakers although there were a few notable exceptions.

Long touted as this summer’s hottest shade shape, the wayfarer style has kicked into gear. Whereas you couldn’t move for shutter-shades at the O2 in the west of the capital, the more classic style was favoured over in East London, coming in every shape and colour imaginable. Our favourites are the fluro contrast arm and the tortoiseshell, which never went out of fashion, but for some reason we just keep coming back to the white pair.

Finally, as if to further confirm our belief that checked shirts are all the rage this summer, we found more plaid out and about than anything else. From the smallest gingham to the boldest, brightest multicoloured examples, the check shirt was worn in so many ways we lost count. Ways we managed to remember (after we had recovered from the quite frankly awesome food fight) ranged from unbuttoned over a crisp white t-shirt to buttoned right up to the very top, all casually rocking this summer’s essential trend.

Were you there? Did you wear a checked shirt, straw trilby, wayfarers and rolled up jeans all at once? And did you see Freddy there? Let us know the answers to those and any other questions you think we’d like to hear by commenting below.

Comments

[DD]

Raybans yes, Hats no. Really, no guys look cool in hats. LOVEBOX was amazing thou.