The Changing Face Of Festival Fashion

Gigi Hadid.

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We ALL know something strange happens upon crossing the threshold at a music festival.It makes us feel, despite all evidence to the contrary, that plastic foliage and hair go well together.That Wild West fringing belongs on every inch of our metropolitan bodies.That grandma's bedspread looks rad as a belted minidress.And that wellies are, on balance, quite sexy.

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Celebrity dressing is another key focus for brands seeking to capitalise on festival fever.The T-shirt brand Wildfox, which has had a presence at Coachella "since Paul Oakenfold was on the main stage", is king of placement, having clothed Alessandra Ambrosio, Kendall Jenner and Adwoa Aboah (below) in their slogan sweaters."Festivals really are our brand, and always have been," says Jimmy Sommers, Wildfox CEO."We have been at Coachella from the beginning.Then when we started Wildfox we didn't really have any money to promote the brand.So for $2,000 I flew a banner from a plane saying, 'I'm higher than you' with a smiley face on it.More people saw that than anything else, and it really captured the Coachella free spirit."[#image:/photos/5d548ad02278ef0008d76b11]

Coachella parties in turn provide celebrities with the chance to tout their wares.Kate Bosworth used 2015's festival to promote her collaboration with the shoe line Matisse Footwear on Instagram.Ambrosio promoted her jewellery collaboration with BaubleBar, her Alé by Alessandra beach collection, and her H&M swimwear campaign.Gigi Hadid...you get the picture.[#image:/photos/5d548ad0e5812d00085bd9ab]

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It's taken the Brits a little longer to get with the programme.Coachella, after all, dwarves Glastonbury, with 579,000 attendees compared to the 180,000 who fill Somerset's Pilton Farm each June.But the retail opportunity is still ripe, according to Hunter, one of the best-known brands seeking to profit from our love of live music and endless cider.

In December 2015 Hunter decided to step away from the traditional catwalk-led fashion schedule to focus efforts on "directly engaging its customer".In other words, Alasdhair Willis, the creative director of Hunter, is reconnecting his wellington boots with their muddy natural habitat, capitalising on that mythical moment in 2005 when Kate Moss wore the "original tall" style for the first time.

"Festivals are more than just a destination for live music," he said last month."The reach and commercial opportunity of festivals makes them a very serious business.The non-disposable moments at festivals carry so much weight - they are unforgettable, water-tight, locked-down emotional memories that as a brand, you want to access and be associated with."

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Alessandra Ambrosio.

© Getty

What people want from a modern festival is changing - ergo, festival fashion is changing.According to research gathered by the trend forecasting agency, JWT Intelligence, three-quarters of British millennials attend one festival per year, and of those, 73% will spend more on experience than on "stuff".

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"The emphasis is no longer on fancy dress, glitter and getting wasted," says Maks Fus Mickiewicz, senior researcher at the Future Laboratory."It's about new experiences - such as seeing the Northern Lights while partying with like-minded people at Iceland's Secret Solstice, or even seeking out educational experiences at places like Telka, a festival run by the singer Robyn that's designed to help get girls into coding and other STEM cell subjects."

That said, it seems some Coachella attendees are still keen to look the part.The singer Vanessa Hudgens, unofficial queen of the desert, just posted evidence of her $190 manicure on Instagram.