Regardless of how mainstream outlets and retailer mailouts try to sell it, there is no clear cut festival dressing situation: you may fancy yourself as a Florence Welch vision, embracing piss soaked hemlines in a bid to channel Camberwell’s finest, or perhaps you opt for the normcore approach, making like 80’s era Morrissey in a series of striped shirts and knitted sweaters.
Festival fashion as a concept is a naff notion – the majority of those who don wellies and denim cut offs do so not because Kate Moss once did, but because actually, the pairing is pretty practical (have you ever spent a full weekend in soaked denim drainpipes? Them legs gotta breathe). Then there’re the umpteen festivals that take place beside the sea…
That said, when your head is wrapped up in prep for your post-work Friday night Glasto arrival, or wondering what exactly tomorrow’s EU referendum outcome might mean for your forthcoming trip to Sweden, given you copped your ticket to Way Out West months ago, a few easy breezy suggestions ain’t no bad thing.
Below then, a non-definitive guide to festival season’s best sartorial decisions.
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Get yourself a lightweight cover-up: Unlike its cloth counterpart – the denim jacket – a denim shirt boasts lightweight credentials, making it an ideal solution for that moment that occurs sometime in the early evening when you notice the initial temperature drop, leaving you a good few hours before the drop becomes a full on freeze and you’re driven back to your tent for additional padding; we reckon this Levi’s one would take up about 12% of space in your bag.
Flaunt the good life in sunglasses: If your festival experience will be taking place abroad, you will need sunglasses, if not to protect your eyes from Croatia/Spain/Portugal’s glaring sun, to merge that summer vaycay vibe with your musical endeavours, and therefore claim a win at life. Cheap Monday’s ‘Moon’ pair paint a bangin’ picture, and will likewise do a decent job of singling you out amongst the crowds, an essential factor for when your other half heads back from the bar, hands full and attention prioritising spillage issues.
Forgo muddy field stereotypes: Wellies are all good and well (and dry), but given that the weatherman’s predictions aren’t always to be trusted, not to mention the fact that in 2016 a festival doesn’t translate exclusively as music in a field, the cult of Dr. Martens is a best bet situation. And you won’t have to run around the night before trying to secure the last pair in a size 5.
Embrace comfort: Neatly tying into the trend for all things 90’s (a key festival ingredient for the last half a dozen seasons), these shorts by adidas Originals boast not only a darn pleasing aesthetic, but similarly comfort and ease: essential if you are to feel happy and confident after three nights on the world’s worst blow up mattress.
Have back up: When your phone’s battery has died for the 795329th time and any patience you first had with the charging booth is properly diminished, you will fully embrace that a mere glance at your wrist, and perhaps the reflection of this Nixon timepiece, gives you all the info you need to make it in time for The Cure’s headline set, and reminds you what day it is, should that intuition have likewise faded…
Find other highlights in Zalando's Festival Fashion Guide.
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