Photography by Scott Paterson
The decision to wear a costume is typically constrained to actors, kids on Halloween, pro wrestlers at work, and conventioners with an intense interest in Japanese cartoons and a less-intense one in deodorant. It’s easy to make fun of people who dress up like other people, especially when these people are adults, but these people are probably having more fun than you. It’s an activity that’s odd to do alone but acceptable to do with a big group (you wouldn’t react the same to a man dressed and yelling like Hulk Hogan in line at the grocery store like you would if you met him alongside his pals Elvis and Spider-Man in front of the Chinese Theater would you?).
It makes sense: When you’re wearing an outfit out of the ordinary, the sense of emersion is much deeper if you’re surrounded by others that are committed to looking the part as opposed to a crowd that looks normal and looks at you funny because you don’t. Getting to the point, the Goodwood Festival of Speed is one of the best costume parties out there. And though there’s not an Eyes Wide Shut degree of nuttiness taking place at this one, the fact that the Revival’s informal cosplay is going on amidst millions of dollars’ worth of historic race cars being driven at their limits makes it a bit hard to call the whole thing normal either. That everyone who enters the venue—from the race team mechanics to the tag-a-longing toddlers—puts on an effort to adhere to the vintage dress code is part of what makes the event so special and standalone. The cars are tippy top caliber, the racing is more zealous than you’d expect until you see it for yourself, but it’s the people in their period-correct getups that ensure that even when your eyes wander away from the track the spell isn’t broken. We’re about the cars first and foremost, but we hope you’ll enjoy our gallery of the other elements that make the Revival what it is.
