Seeing Margate on film with Gucci made us re-evaluate our local coastal hotspot as recently the filmmaker and new Margate resident, Tom Dream, brought a bit of Gucci Gold to the Isle of Thanet through his collaboration with co-director Arlo Perks and their video Knotted Gold. We take a moment to appreciate the spotlight being thrown on the buried treasure that is the real Margate.

Margate, Kent – near to where Copse Magazine is based, is a hidden gem of a town managing to bring together different genres of lifestyle including authentically vintage, up and coming (DFL), born and bred locals, and international ex-pat communities.

If you were lucky enough to have discovered the documentary series The Mighty Redcar, then you probably appreciate the honest and raw approach to documenting the simultaneous decline and opportunity that exists within our coastal communities.

From the tower blocks overlooking the abandoned Lido to the vast expanse of low-tide sand that evokes false photographic memories of the Victorians stepping gingerly out of their bathing carriages to preserve their modesty, Margate and Thanet beyond is a photographer’s dream.

The neon lights of Dreamland vintage theme park reflect off the wet sand as Wetherspoons welcomes in tourist, local, and hen parties with equal indifference.

The clifftops of Margate and Broadstairs are host to hotels of yesteryear that were converted into flats as the visitors abandoned the UK coast in favour of far-flung foreign shores. Now, these relic guest-houses are being conjoined once again into boutique hotels catering for the Mr and Mrs Smith crowd of staycationers.

We think we know our local towns and cities like the back of our hands and yet when we visit them in the guise of a tourist we see them in a new light – and seeing our beloved Margate on film with Gucci x Dazed and Confused reignited the passion we have for the mix of cultures, nationalities, and people that make Margate the wonder of the Kent coast.