Photography by Jon Trite for Guilty Pleasures
After a sparkly, glitter-filled whirlwind of publicity for the entire week prior, the all-singing, all-dancing Guilty Pleasures extravaganza rolled into Ibiza, ready to set up shop at Aura for the 2011 season.
Cue: hundreds of colourful, branded balloons. A truckload of vibrant feather boas. Wigs, masks, and fancy dress supplies galore. Add an entire back catalogue of pop classics, retro hits and singalong favourites from the past few decades – aka, guilty pleasures – and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a night of reckless dance floor abandonment.
Photography by Jon Trite for Guilty Pleasures
After a quick drink under the stars on the garden terrace (now the canopy has been removed it’s so hard to resist the alfresco experience!) Miss W and the White-ettes entered the Aura cocktail lounge, to the disco-tastic sounds of ‘You’re so fiiiiiiiiiiine’ as we were greeted with a vision that could only be described as an episode of Sex and the City that had sprung to life right here on the white isle.
Behind the booth, Guilty Pleasures resident DJ Anna Greenwood – a cross between prom queen, cheerleader and Energizer bunny – held court, bopping, bouncing and singing along to every song (thinks classics like Madonna’s Holiday, The Supremes’ You Can’t Hurry Love and Aerosmith’s Walk This Way) with never ending enthusiasm, while founder and cohort Sean Rowley got on the microphone to welcome the crowd and introduce the special guests for the evening… The Dream Bears.
Photography by Jon Trite for Guilty Pleasures
Now let me say this about that. I was not quite prepared for the performance we were about to witness. While some people might enjoy male strippers… to me, it’s not really my personal definition of a guilty pleasure. Particularly not when said strippers are (ahem) portly in size (we’re used to buffed and bronzed Matinee dancers here you know!). The fact it took place in the middle of the Aura dance floor, to the tune of Lady Marmalade may have added further to my perplexity – the dance troupe may have amused Piers Morgan and won the hearts of Britain’s Got Talent, but I’m not entirely sure Ibiza is ready for them yet!
Of course, there is one guilty pleasure that never fails to satisfy me – that is retail therapy! So it was off to the beautiful, amazing, stunningly beautiful new boutique at the back of the garden terrace (another beautiful creation of Victoria Durrer-Gasse), where I fell in love with about ten boho-luxe dresses, four handbags, two amazing cocktail rings and one oversized wide-brimmed straw hat that wasn’t appropriate for the dance floor that evening, but will definitely be making an appearance on the beach with me later this week!
Photography by Jon Trite for Guilty Pleasures
THE LOWDOWN
THE GOOD: Ibiza is all about freedom and musical diversity, so it’s great to see the pop genre now being embraced too, as are live bands and hip hop artists galore. What is it they say about Pringles? Once you pop you can’t stop… So I’ll see you on the Aura dance floor on Wednesday night (though I’ll be giving those bears a ‘wide’ berth!)
THE BAD: I’m sure I wasn’t the only person in the room who questioned the DJ’s selection of Mark Ronson’s ‘Valerie’, just days after the tragic death of its talented singer Amy Winehouse. While there’s no question it’s a great song, I don’t think it could be classed a ‘guilty pleasure’ and it just seemed a little bit… I don’t know…. immoral, to drop the tune just when the dance floor was clearing in order to get more people dancing. Timing is everything, and now was not the time.
THE GOSSIP: Did someone say Kylie? The princess of pop was indeed in town, and there were whispers in the Aura camp that she’d be making an appearance… alas, it was not to be on this night, though on Friday night Ms Minogue and her entourage hit the Aura dance floor all night long to the sounds of DJ Antz.
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