How Festivals Stimulate a New Genre of Fashion
Image Courtesy: Rolita Couture
As we scroll through social media, we nit-pick what celebrities and influencers are wearing down to the thread count. We pick up on fashion trends and change our wardrobes with the snap of a finger to fit in with the vogue that we know will only last us a couple of weeks, or a season, if we’re lucky. I end up donating my clothes every month without a second thought to fit in the newest fashion standards that pressure me. In reality, each piece of clothing holds no purpose, has no effect, and is not open to interpretation. The second I started attending festivals, fashion had a whole new meaning to me. I have been attending festivals since 2018, when I was just sixteen years old, studying the evolution of how myself and other people dressed in honor of the music. These festivals weren’t just jeans and a top there was more to it than just the comfort aspect. Festival wear unmistakably is different from average fashion trends because- to put it simply- there’s no trend to confine what festival wear may be. It is all up to you. Festival fashion has evolved from flower crowns, Party City face gems, and athleisure, to hand-beaded microskirts, sequin butterfly tops, and tie-dye sets. This genre of fashion is owned by the music that brings people together.
Image Courtesy: Insomniac
Considering the era that we’re in that’s surrounded by self-discovery, we use a combination of music and style to escape our day-to-day chaotic lives. If you’ve attended a two-day (or more) festival, you can feel the sadness that consumes you after experiencing a genuine natural high that is unique to a judgment-free diverse crowd, singing in complete unison with bedazzled bathing suits, holographic fairy wings, and light up dino-stompers. The power that comes with festival fashion is being whoever you want to be for a short period, with no worries or limitations. The commemoration of oneness and eccentricity is the uniform of every festival you attend. In the 1960’s Woodstock was the first festival frenzy deemed three days of peace and music.
Image Courtesy: Strike Tallahassee
This was a culturally distinct moment in fashion where we started to see crotchet sets, body paint, tie-dye, and psychedelic prints, marry the human body, and defy every fashion standard that was out of this dreamscape, or festival. You can break the rules of the dress code without the pressure of society’s expectations. It has influenced every valuable piece that is planned to wear for a festival, like Electric Daisy Carnival.
Image Courtesy: Electric Zoo
The coarseness of commercial fashion trends hasn’t taken over the genre of festival fashion and the meaning that it holds. No matter how much your butterfly cape, micro bodysuit, and bright pink knee-high light-up boots are, it carries special memories for a lifetime. Commercial fashion trends are thrown out without a care in the world because each article of clothing can only be replaced. Festivals have sparked fashion companies’ production of unique pieces that could never replace the music you heard and the people you met in that extravagant outfit.
Strike Out,
Writer: Racquel Gluckstern
Editor: Breanna Tang
Graphic Designer: Leah Solomon
Tallahassee