Fashion Editor: Inoisell Miranda
Contributing Editors: Maya Kramer and Lauryn Stone
Coachella first hit the scene about 14 years ago and back then it was a Mecca for indie music loving hipsters looking to escape Los Angeles. Flash-forward to 2013, it’s now one of the largest music festivals in the U.S. with over 100,000 in attendance and boasts some the music industry’s biggest names on it’s stages. However, statistics aside, the real fascination of this festival is it’s profound influence on today’s fashion scene. Come April, everywhere you go in Los Angeles is filled with pre-‘Chella promotion. Showrooms like Space 25 Twenty and Soul Roots host private preview/shopping events catered to helping you get styled up for event. And, with festival goers arriving from all over the country, the shopping goes far beyond the borders of L.A.
Weeks before the first performer even hits the stage under that hot Indio sun, retailers like Forever 21 and Nasty Gal along with mega-blogs like Refinery29, have their “festival shopping guides” ready. Campaigns are dedicated solely to inspiring customers to get “festival ready” with lookbooks and capsules collections centered around the style. Fringe is everywhere, tie-dye is kind of cool again, and cut-offs are a necessity. Anyone –even those who aren’t actually hitting up the festival- can look like they are ready for some rad jams and lots of sun. However, the question is, what is the Coachella look?
It is a “Grunge Isn’t Dead” kind of look
Grunge was made popular by bands like Nirvana, Alice In Chains, and Pearl Jam back in the 90’s and it is far from dead in fashion today. Achieving the look is simple, search for items that are comfortable and practical rather than stylish, it should be heavy metal and outdoor inspired and very low maintenance.
The Bohemian Trendsetter
Kate Bosworth is the epitome of a trend-setter; she is confident, daring and always ahead of the curve when it comes to what’s next in fashion. If you’re a bohemian belle like Bosworth, take a style cue from this effortlessly cool look she rocked at this year’s festival. Mix rugged statements with flowey, romantic styles for an outfit everyone will be dying to emulate.
Do you know Alex Chung, Diane Kruger or Kate Bosworth? How about Rita Ora, ASAP Rocky and Sky Ferreira? The Coachella look is an enigma in itself in that there truly are no parameters for rocking the style. Edgy super models like Cara Develigne can stand next to bubble gum princesses like Paris Hilton, at the same stage, and neither would look out of place. While most would argue that Coachella has become an overly trendy “it” scene where there is no real sense of style, it’s quite the contrary; Coachella is a fashion venue in which anything goes and fashion has no rules. It’s like Halloween in the summer except instead of playing the part of a goblin or ghoul, you f-up that pretty pencil skirt with dunks and a band tee.
It’s curious to now think about the towering Ferris wheel that has become synonymous with Coachella because, in a way, it’s perpetual rotation is a subtle allusion to recycling of trends. It wasn’t too long ago that the youth culture of the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and even during the grunge scene of the 90’s, were profoundly impacting the mode of fashion. There was the “flower child” with her long locks and mid-driff baring tops later followed by the torn to shreds denim of those heavy metal lovers. Just think, in ten or twenty years from now, when fashion schools are talking style history or industry tastemakers are looking to the past for inspiration, Coachella and this whole scene will be a vital component when it comes to defining today’s fashion zeitgeist.
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