Block9 is the late night (and very early morning), hedonist-hailing and politically charged corner of Glastonbury festival. Across their east and west fields on the usually very peaceful Worthy Farm, the alternative reality party provides festival-goers with the pioneering fringes of underground music, rebellious live performances and dizzying art installations. We wandered to the hulking Genosys and danced to grinding house and techno in the shadow of its brutalist landscape, a stage that celebrates the power of music as protest. We ducked inside the infamous, sweaty queer nightlife spot NYC Downlow to vogue with the queens, and totally lost it over surprise sets by Cyndi Lauper and Jessie Ware. Back at the IICON stage, we worshipped at a massive, monolithic head from which brain-melting audiovisual performances blast out, a stage built to interrogate the post-truth digital age. It’s also a great spot for some of the festival’s best ’fits – leather and latex is welcome on the farm, people.
This year, the fashion designer and activist Katharine Hamnett brought her powerful political slogans to Block9, where partying met politics with a bang. Her words are what we all *really* need to hear this election time. 40 new statement slogans decorated the walls of Block9: “SAVE THE NHS”, “CANCEL STUDENT DEBT”, “VOTE FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS”, “VOTE FREEDOM TO PROTEST”, “VOTE 100% TAX DEDUCTIBLE CHILDCARE”, “VOTE AFFORDABLE SUSTAINABLE HOUSING”.
You’ll know Hamnett’s work from her statement slogan tees. During the first ever London Fashion Week in 1984, she met then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher while wearing her own shirt emblazoned with the block-lettered slogan “58% DON’T WANT PERSHING”, referencing a widely opposed Conservative policy on nuclear missiles. Then in 2003 during her own catwalk show, models wore shirts that read: “STOP WAR, BLAIR OUT”, opposing the Iraq invasion. Naomi Campbell wore Hamnett’s “USE A CONDOM” design and George Michael wore “CHOOSE LIFE”. Her designs, in stark block letters, have pushed for nuclear disarmament, better education, climate justice, and support for the arts.
Drag queens and dancers at Glastonbury’s Block9 model Katharine Hamnett’s political slogan shirts
The queens and dancers of Block9’s NYC Downlow modelled Hamnett’s mighty designs through the club. And for anyone who wants to nab a tee once they’re off the farm, each poster around Block9 had a scannable code with a downloadable PDF, meaning you can print them on shirts you already have at home – all in line with Hamnett’s ethical, sustainable policy long embedded in her political fashion activism. And this all culminates as part of her VOTE campaign, encouraging everyone to exercise their democratic right in the upcoming general election on July 4.
“Our vote is our most powerful tool to get the world we want, and every vote is crucial,” Hamnett, now 76, told the press. “But democracy is under threat. Voter suppression is rife – even in the UK. Elections have been won by one vote: Thomas Jefferson in 1800 was elected president of the United States by one vote. Register to vote now! Use it or lose it! Block9 has that important demographic of women and under-35s, and I’ll make use of it.”
“We are proud to join forces with Katharine Hamnett in Block9 East in her drive to boost voter registration,” said Block9 founders Gideon Berger and Stephen Gallagher. “The upcoming UK election will define so much in our lives, and every single vote counts.”
As we trudge back from Somerset and settle into this week in British politics, we can remember that politics permeates everything – whether the clothes you wear, how you party, or where you choose to put your money. Hamnett’s most striking, urgent slogan of this campaign rings ever-true: “Your vote is your most powerful tool, use it or lose it.”
Anna Cafolla is Cosmopolitan UK’s site director – managing the day-to-day running of the website, as well as overseeing video, e-commerce and social for the brand. Anna has a background in culture, fashion, and social affairs journalism – profiling Saffron Hocking, Robyn, Shygirl, and Naomi Osaka; investigating fashion archives, the Irish abortion rights movement, Generation Alpha’s developing tastes, women’s shelter closures and social media conspiracies in turn. Find Anna on Instagram.