Festival Fashion – Part 1: An overall look at festival fashion.
**Warning – for the open minded. Featured image by Voena**
Firstly, for all of you who opened up this article, let me start by saying “Welcome!” Welcome to the first edition of the “Festival Fashion” series. Within this 3-part series, we will explore the importance of festival fashion, portraying your personality through clothes and some outfit suggestions and top-notch brands for both guys and girls that won’t break your budget!
Let’s kick this article off with a little home-brewed statistics lesson…
On average, hardstyle lovers of an extreme level of utmost dedication will attend approximately 96 parties per year – that’s two parties every weekend, AKA these kids are ruthless and we fucking love that!
We’ve done the maths and punched a few numbers into a calculator and according to this incredible amount of partying, this equals to an equivalent of approximately 30.6 different outfits that are required. Because we’re not all rolling around in millions of Euros, you are allowed to re-wear many items of clothing of course, but keep in mind that re-wearing an outfit to a festival twice in a row is an extremely frowned upon gesture in festival cultures worldwide. (Sorry, but wearing the same t-shirt and pair of jeans to every event isn’t doing you any favours…)
Now that we’ve done the math, it’s time to get down and analytical, so why exactly do we need to know about fashion at festivals?
Well, one, because the way you dress is one of the biggest factors of self expression and at festival, you’re around thousands of other people who don’t really know much about you and what you wear is a quick teaser of your great personality! Secondly, we are all individuals and dressing differently from the next person is a great way to showcase your individuality to the world.
At every festival you’re bound to see those who take their style to an extremity and either wear nothing but a g-string and bondage gear and sometimes you see a few trippers who have appeared to have taken a shower in glitter and decided that underwear isn’t even necessary. That is their way of expressing themselves and the fact that they are interesting individuals within the community and that is 100% fantastic!
**We call this the “sunflower-nipple**
However, what about those who aren’t fond on the idea of ‘dressing-up’ or stripping down? How about those who spend hours getting ready for an event and eventually run out of time and just opt to wearing the same outfit that you did next weekend? How about those who wish that they could find their fashion style and dress to impress?
Well, have no fear as we are about to give you some tips and tricks on finding a style and a few outfits that you will absolutely love to wear whilst in party-mode….
Tip #1: Colours or basics?
Do you find yourself being determined to wear colours, yet find yourself always opting towards basic colours? Getting stuck in the rut of wearing standard black jeans, a black merchandise t-shirt and a trucker hat is something that many people may find themselves in, however if you are happy to wear the same thing every weekend then I suggest that you stop reading this article now.
Okay, now that we may have lost a few people who think that their personal image is not important then I shall continue. So, when deciding what to wear it is important to have a balance between colours and basics. For example, you have to be able to tell what kinds of colours suit you and bring out your finest assets. By this I mean strategising your outfit to look balanced and not over complicated, sometimes less is more and wearing one patterned item can make a more basic outfit stand out.
Tip #2: You can never have too many pairs of jeans!
It’s true, denim jeans are the godsend of clothing… You wanna know why? Because you can wear them with ANYTHING! (Unless your jeans are a bright colour, brightly coloured jeans are so 2010 and absolutely useless when trying to combine them with a t-shirt…) There are so many shades of blue (light-blue, mid-blue, deep-blue, dark blue, almost black and black) available in jeans and when buying a one off pair of jeans for an event they don’t necessarily have to drain your budget. My advice is to have 2 pairs of ‘expensive’ jeans for special occasions and parties where you won’t get them too destroyed (which is quite impossible, but whatever).
You’re probably all thinking “oh but the nice jeans are only expensive…” Rubbish! You can pick up a great bargain on some top-notch brand jeans, we will go through that when I get a little deeper in the following articles with men’s and women’s fashion.
**Cheap Monday Jeans – the only “Monday” that you will ever fall in love with!**
Tip #3: OMG, shoes!
It’s no doubt that the hardstyle community is the biggest showcase of Nike, Adidas and other types of sporting attire and of course we never fall short in the category of having the most badass shoes, but please make sure that your shoes match the rest of your outfit…
Scenario: Person is wearing dark blue jeans with a coloured printed t-shirt with a white base. What colour shoes should they wear to compliment their outfit?
A) Printed coloured shoes
B) Fluoro coloured shoes
C) Black, white or grey block coloured shoes
D) Bright red Crocs (YOLO cunt)
If you selected answer “D” (bright red Crocs) then I suggest that you should settle down and save up for a mortgage with your 37 cats and collection of bad shoes. Crocs are unacceptable in society, end of.
If you selected “A” (printed shoes), unfortunately this is not the best answer. Unless your shoes and t-shirt are of the exact same print then this will never work, it is too conflicting and cluttered.
If you selected “B” (Fluoro coloured shoes) then you should go listen to “Darude – Sandstorm” on repeat for the next 10 hours. Fluoro was a hit when I was about 13 years old but shortly died out and for a good reason too!
If you selected answer “C” (Black, white or grey block coloured shoes) then you are spot on the money! Great job! When wearing a printed shirt of white base and dark jeans, either a dark colour shoe such as grey or black or even white will look bangin’ hot!
Tip #4: “Speed dealer” glasses are only taking the piss…
Are you familiar with speed dealers? No, not the sketchy cunt who hangs up the back of the crowd at festivals dealing baggies of amphetamines, but instead the category of sunglasses? (See picture below)
**Creator of the one and only “Sandstorm” Darude showcasing the formerly fashionable “speed-dealer sunnies”**
This is something that our parents used to wear back in the “MDM-80’s” and 1990’s when “Darude – Sandstorm” and was topping the charts and Madonna was as young as she thought she was.
Anyway, although speed dealers and also aviators are fun to wear for a laugh, they aren’t what most fashionistas opt to when dressing to impress. Depending on the shape of your face and what you feel suits you most, glasses are quite a personal thing when dressing. Owning a few pairs of sunnies is encouraged as you can wear them as suited to your outfits.
Tip #5: There’s more to life than fake leather…
Step aside big shot, there really are more fabrics than a synthetic leather around to keep your back and your legs warm. As much as we love a real leather jacket on Kate Moss whilst she’s racking up lines of coke, there’s such thing as too much. For girls, try swapping fake leather jeans for some funky printed tights and guys, swap those leather jackets for a vintage denim, a Levis cord jacket or a basic zip hoodie. Don’t stick to one fabric all the time, experiment and see what types of textures you like.
Tip #6: Don’t be afraid to be yourself!
Always wear what you love wearing and feel confident in your clothes, that is the key. If you just throw together something random that you don’t really care about, you won’t feel as confident and ready to party the night away. You have to express yourself and truly feel confident in what you wear, that is the key (plus making sure that your clothes match, of course!)
**Some fashionable hot slice at some festival somewhere in the world. We like her**
So there you have it, the first part of the “Festival Fashion” series! Next up, we are going to go a little deeper with fashion for the lovely ladies and some suggestions on some cool outfits that will still leave you enough money for festival tickets!