Having made it through three big summer festivals in a row (Oseaga, Île Soniq, Lasso), it’s a chance to recap the trends we noticed were popular this year.
Gender Fluid
While there are plenty of men and women at festivals who dress “conventionally” (because so little of festival dress is conventional), there were large numbers of men who adopted feminine dress (skirts, lace, boas) or accessories (like body jewels and glitter). Also, there were also plenty of individuals who blended both feminine and masculine styles both in their clothing, hair, and make up, to suggest they were no particular gender at all or preferred to glide between feminine and masculine styles at will.
Body glitter
How can something so delightfully sparkling and beautiful be so completely annoying to get rid of? I guess festival-goers don’t worry about it or they’d never do it, because many attendees spread gold and silver glitter on their faces and chests, arms and legs. The Garage make-up bar offered glitter, but the line was long.
Face Jewels
Some went all in with elaborate patterns on the temples or forehead. Others just put a single jewel below the eye. Floral like patterns that formed tiara and necklace like shapes were extremely popular.
Bucket Hats
Straw hats, not so many. Cowboy hats, plenty. Bucket hats, so so so so so many of these. The festivals picked up on the trend and offered some rather styling ones in their shops as well.
Less is More With Something Sheer Over It
Festivals are so hot and women in particular like to come in bikini tops and bottoms. This year, a popular mix was a black bikini bottom that was “covered” over with a black mesh fabric skirt of pants, often decorated with small glittery dots or stars. Many who opted for the black bikini bottoms also paired with a thin black leather strap wrapped around the leg.
Big Fans
The heat at festivals can be a lot. Some attendees brought massive fans with them, or bought them at the festival itself. The fans were luminescent in some cases, so at night, they picked up any blacklights and looked pretty cool.
Crochet Cowgirl
This combination seems to blend two popular festival styles — the cowgirl boots/hats and crochet clothing. This hot look was popular everywhere.
Braid, Barrettes, and Butterfly clips
Youtube, TikTok, and Instagram might be to blame for the variety of braids and ponytails. Many decorated their hair with ornamental barrettes or butterfly clips as part of the overall look.
Every Body is a Short Shirt Body
Tall, short, fat, thin, medium, black, white, brown, tan, beige, ecru, pick your color, men, women, them . Short shirts that show off the abdomen were very much the norm.
Every Body is a Hawaiian Shirt Body
Another very popular style, especially with men (and a few women) was the Hawaiian shirt. Not the old Aloha type, per se, but button down short sleeved shirts covered with floral patterns. In some cases, groups of friends all came in the same outfit. Either that, or they all found each other and became friends at the festival.
Dress for Comfort
Comfortable dress is not only the timeless go-to, it can also be cute and stylish.
Whatever you got
It doesn’t matter what you wear. Just get tickets and come with whatever you got.