COMPANY

Britain’s Coolest Tea Party October 2010

Loren Platt (right), 26, and Sara El-Dabi, 27, from Dalston, run London’s coolest 90s night, Work It.

Loren Says: “The minute we met at University, Sara and I bonded over our love of 90s R&B music. We were always dancing around my flat to Bobby Brown or Notorious B.I.G. When Sara and I moved to Hackney we were gutted that there was no 90s clubs. The nearest clubs were in the West End, where it was expensive and not very cool. That’s when we stumbled on the idea of launching a 90s night in Dalston. We wanted it to be like a house party – relaxed, with no guest list. At first, we invited friends, then we started attracting people who’d dress up in cool 90s inspired outfits, like bodycon dresses and oversized gold jewellery, like Hilary from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. The night people were queuing around the block, we realised we were onto something big?

Sara Says: “The best thing about Work It is that everybody knows the songs, so it’s like one big sing-a-long. Things have really taken off and this year we begun running the night in Manchester. We’ve also done a few special events – we hosted a tent at LoveBox that was headlined by DJ Tim Westwood. It’s more than a club night now, it’s a brand. This year, we held a pop-up shop in Selfridges selling T-shirts and posters that we’d designed. For Loren and me, it’s a full time job and I have to pinch myself that I get to party for a living.”