The Impact of Festival Fashion

Last year, my friends and I decided to go to the three-day Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Southern California. We bought our tickets extra early to ensure we would secure a spot at the most well-known music festival in the world and almost immediately the outfit planning began.

Festival fashion has always been a way for celebrities and style icons to show off their best looks, but in recent years it has become a bigger deal than ever before.

I am an avid online shopper and now almost every site I visit has a “festival” section filled with colorful, ultra-trendy garments.

I think the increase in this type of clothing becoming popular, even if you aren’t going to a festival in it, is because of social media and how important it is to people to get that perfect Insta-shot in their outfit at the events. Because of these events, social media is saturated with influencers, and people trying to be like them, who frequently post pictures in their festival outfits.

This leads to brands creating easier to access versions of the clothing these Insta-stars rock at festivals. People are now taking more chances with their style and are craving festival-esque clothing to incorporate into their everyday wardrobe.

When I first began searching for outfits for Coachella, I viewed it as an opportunity to show my true style and test out new looks I wouldn’t be able to wear in life beyond a festival.

I began by looking for inspiration on Pinterest and fashions blogs and from there I discovered websites I’d never heard of and started digging. Some of the sites I found had the biggest variety of things I liked were: ASOS, Dolls Kill, Princess Polly, and Tiger Mist.

This sheer, knit cover-up is from a thrift store!

It was also important to me to have unique looks so I was constantly looking at Goodwill, thrift stores and flea markets for items that would help me stand out.

Two of my favorite pieces I wore, I found at a thrift store and flea market!

Once I was finally at Coachella in the outfits I had carefully selected, I felt incredibly confident and like I was really expressing myself in a way that I had never really experienced before- it was magical.

Throughout this experience, I learned that I needed to take more risks in my daily style because that was what helped me stand out and feel good about myself. It also reignited my passion for fashion and had a hand in inspiring me to pursue a career in fashion public relations.