The approaching Summer brings music festivals along, and aside of daily fashion reports, the anger related to fashion would take place as well. Year after year, the disgruntlement on the festival looks picks on the same number of things. To avoid the embarrassment of your photo ending up in the “Festival Looks Failures” post on the social networks, avoid falling into the cliché traps and follow the alternative paths instead.

DON’T: Sandals don’t work. At the end of the day, you lose them, the straps break and give you blisters, people step on your unprotected legs in a mosh pit, rubbish and sand get inside of them, and you get yourself dirty. As much as you may love walking barefoot on the grass, there probably won’t be much of it left with thousands of not always environmentally conscious people around you.

DO: Swap your sandals for a pair of sneakers or light boots. Not only they are more comfortable, but also safer and handier, in case the earth under your feet turning into the mud after rain. They can be as elaborate as you would want them, especially since musical festivals are the ultimate events to wear the most eloquent outfits ever.

                                      Photo: @gypspallister

DON’T: Ditch cliché top, shorts, and optional blanket coat look aside. Is there really no way you could wear it outside the festival without mosquitos and mud getting at you? You would probably wear the same outfit a lot this Summer, so allow something more extravagant to an event that happens a couple of times a year.

DO: Pick up something you don’t wear on a daily basis. Bodice, short jumpsuit, or matching top and bottom pajama suit. The possibilities are endless, and you would definitely feel better not having the same look as everyone around.

                                  Photo: @ashley_graves

DON’T: With the start of musical festival season, changes occur to people’s bodies. The ones who don’t start to grow plastic flowers on their heads, have burgundy floppy felt hats instead. Many are affected by the necklaces with fake feathers, and plastic or real gemstones they don’t know the meanings of. They are usually accompanied by fake gold in forms of thin chain necklaces, bracelets, and thing ring sets.

Sadly, this is the reality. Aforementioned things became such huge clichés, that you don’t really disguise people in the crowd if they are wearing them. They all just blend in one person.

DO: Wear something that speaks of you louder, than basic accessories check-out isle. Body chains and crowns are in this season, as well as massive earrings that come down to your shoulders. Obviously, these are not something that you would wear going to work or shopping, so why not to link these things to the memories of something extraordinary?

                                 Photo: @melting.rainbows

DON’T: “Native” hair dresses and “spiritual” outfit details should not be present in your look. Period. Using another culture and religion you don’t belong to once a year to show off how inspirational musical festival and the fact that it takes place outdoors are is simply disrespectful. Do you really want to come off ignorant?

DO: Accessorize elaborately. Adopt elements of different subcultures, like colourful decora or Harajuku style for the time of the festival, but avoid the “hippie” ones, because they have stopped being something original at the musical festivals years ago. These things are subculture elements, and even if you don’t belong to them, the chances of you unintentionally hurting somebody are downing to zero. Don’t take a risk of offending people because you thought Shiva on your t-shirt would tell a lot about your spiritual connection to this place and you would make a really strong fashion statement. Do your research on other cultures to know the meanings better. There are a lot of alternatives to these important things.

                                         Photo: @gypspallister

To conclude, music festival are great not only because of their main purpose, and to dress accordingly to it, imagine yourself being followed around by a bunch of paparazzi, so your photo would appear in a magazine’s festival fashion section. Would you really like to be spotted in an ordinary knitted bra, shorts, poncho, and accessorized in basic things, part of which have connotation of a culture you don’t belong to? Probably not, so think your outfits thoroughly, and don’t forget to have fun.