Cicilia Brognoli explores the digital festival organised by Stella McCartney, Stellafest, which happened between the 9th and the 12th July. Despite 2020 events being cancelled, there are many festivals and online events that can fill the house with fun and joy, introducing a new form of emotional sharing, the digital one.
The festival staged by the famous British designer was broadcast on Instagram. This was a real surprise as there were no announcements or posts that suggested the upcoming digital music event. Stella McCartney, being the daughter of the well-known Paul McCartney, has always been a huge fan of Glastonbury by participating annually. This year, not being able to attend her beloved festival pushed her to design her special event.
A dozen singers and musicians, including Chloe x Halle, Soko, and Taylor Hawkins, took part in Stellafest. It doesn’t matter if these artists sang from their living room or the terrace at home, a dose of good daily music cheered up many Instagram users. The digital festival was made of twelve performances and collected between 8,000 and 45,000 views each. The posts have been published on Stella McCartney’s official page. All these talents have proposed a song or a dance performance, all easily findable in the Instagram collection ‘Stellafest’. Some artists have chosen not to overlook the most fashionable part of the festival. The dancer Aoi Yamada participated with an unmissable vegetable performance. Aoi wore a lively outfit, a mix of blue and green clothes that screech but perfectly match the fun tone of the performance. The American singer Kelis wore a soft ethnic-style blouse with colourful embroidery, creating an all-exotic vibe with the lovely wallpaper with exotic animals in the background.
Quality music and highly entertaining performances was appreciated, but the purpose of this digital festival gave a further boost to its success. As you know, Stella McCartney is a huge supporter and populariser of sustainability especially applied to fashion. For this occasion, however, she decided to partner with Priceless Mastercard to raise funds for National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV). Very special prizes were auctioned including a virtual cooking class with Kelis and a tea party with Stella McCartney. This fashion tea-time also includes a styling session for the winner and three friends, who will be dressed by the designer.
The proactive attitude and the desire to create digital small festive moments pushed Stella McCartney to create her Stellafest. Waiting for the famous Glastonbury Festival of 2021 we just have to enjoy these digital events, small, 100% home-made but truly unique and entertaining. So if you haven’t already done so, check out Stellafest on Stella McCartney’s Instagram page.
You can read more of Cicilia’s articles on https://ciciliabrognoli.weebly.com/
Image via Instagram/Stella McCartney
