Picks

Non-Festival Wear

Written by Katrina Garofalo

Festival wear is inescapable. What started out as a fairly niche style has grown into a season all it’s own. It’s latched onto Summer and ran, leaving Spring in the dust and beloved Cruise shows floating out in space somewhere. Weather be damned, those desert-appropriate-Hudgens’-approved digs are out to play. All the way from Coachella Valley to Chicago to our hometown of Toronto.

And for good reason. There are a million and one incredible music festivals to check as we get closer to summer. The problem is that, while our favourite brands are pumping out looks that would be great under the sun, we’re not quite there yet. It feels silly to be buying “summer clothes” when it’s not yet summer, but that is exactly what we all find ourselves doing. We give our shiny new clothes prime real-estate in our closets, only to avoid wearing them until it’s actually warm outside.

Taking those extra summery summer clothes out of the festival and into everyday life can be a challenge. Sure, you can layer. Sure, you can pair them with blazers, trousers, and other more structured pieces. But what you really need is the self-assured confidence that you don’t look like you got lost on your way to the show.

Festival style might be synonymous to Summer style, but that’s no reason to confine it to warm weather activities. Because festival wear is typically bold, it works well as a centrepiece to an otherwise simple outfit. Using that as the basis for getting some wear out of festival fashion before festival season is the best way to go. It allows you to change up what you normally wear while still being as much in your comfort zone as you like. Taking one item on at a time makes the ordeal less stressful.

Incorporating pieces into your wardrobe is a slow process. Start small. There’s no need to wake up one day and jump headfirst into a full fringe ensemble topped with a tie-dye, bedazzled wrap. Unless that’s how you like to do things. In which case, we’re totally on board.