After a week of typically unpredictable Melbourne weather, So Frenchy So Chic was blessed with some fine sunshine on Sunday, as the French inspired picnic returned for its fourth year.
The usually carefree atmosphere was this year marked with a solemn reminder of the recent Charlie Hedbo attack in Paris. Posters reading “Je Suis Charlie” in black and white plastered the wall of a shipping container. Pens littered the grass below, and messages handwritten in the margins – including “stay strong France – you are not alone” and “on est avec vous” or “we are with you”) – a mixture of uplifting encouragement and sorrow.
The festival was set on the grounds of Werribee Mansion, and all day served up hypnotic indie-pop tunes that champion a slower pace of life, where it doesn’t matter what time of day it is, and no one wonders how many macaroons are too many. Festivalgoers carrying parasols and women wearing sun dresses fanned out across the grounds, seeking shade under trees and standalone beach umbrellas, enjoying the sounds of The Dø, Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains, and La Femme.
Even if high school French is little more than a distant memory, the delicious accents of the intermingling French and English lyrics washed over you. What was the song about? It didn’t matter too much, as proven by the set from Emilie Simon. Her electronica storytelling was woven with emotive pizzicato strings, making the soft-spoken but energetic songstress the standout of the afternoon.
If the thought of festival food conjures up memories of lukewarm potato tornadoes, then the fare was a delightful change from the norm. Melbourne foodies Bright Young Things provided the French-inspired hampers. And homemade picnics with what may have been the majority of Australia’s gourmet cheese supply, were mixed with artisan gelato, macaroons, salted caramel doughnuts and crispy calamari with garlic aioli from local stalls.
Relaxing afternoons sipping champagne to live music and very excited young children may not spring to mind as going hand-in-hand, yet here families and the child-free cohabited with ease. It was as if two seemingly separate events were blended together, allowing the chicest of adults and the rowdiest of kids their own French escape.
It was a festival full of simple pleasures, exotic sounds, and the realisation that dancing with grass beneath your feet is infinitely better when the music is French.
• So Frenchy So Chic will be packing up its hampers and heading to Sydney festival, playing 17 January at St John’s College at the University of Sydney.
