IN TENTS: THE AFTER PARTY
CHLOE BAINES
In Tents: The After Party is my first collection and created entirely from upcycled tents. The concept for this collection originated in 2018, when I stumbled upon a sad clown hidden behind a trailer at a festival. I used this image as a metaphor for the abandoned tents my friends and I collected once the festival ended. Many of the original hardware and components from the tents are repurposed in the garments, lending each piece authentic and recognisable details.
For this collection, I collaborated with weaver Alexandra Lucas to create bold woven pieces and worked with jewellery designer Belle Smith, who crafted unique pieces using tent pegs. The collection was later showcased and sold in store at Selfridges, London, as part of their Bright New Things sustainability initiative in 2020.
Photography Rebecca Baker
“I took this tent to quite a few festivals with me, I worked all the bars so that I could get a free ticket! I worked at Reading, Festival Number 7 & Shambala festival in 2015. I also wild camped around Scotland in it too.”
“Our green tent is a family heirloom. We have some fond memories of spontaneous weekends travelling the coast in Cornwall. Typically in the UK, it would never fail to rain when we arrived and had to put the tent up. My partner and I would put up this huge 8 man tent in torrential rain. It was always worth it when you’d finally got the tent up and could have a cup of tea and read a book whilst listening to the rain pattering on the outside of the tent.”
“About the tent... we spent a couple of nights in Brecon Beacons - a private farm and wild camping. Also, I remember we went to Llyn Gwynant near Snowdonia for two nights and carried it to the top of the mountain, it was insane. Haha! What else? Not much! But we had a comfortable time with it.”