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AIBU?

this "festivals as fashion show" thing gives me the Rage

112 replies

dirtyface · 14/07/2013 13:52

i am a music lover and as a teenager / early 20 something i used to go to festivals every summer

think the PROPER festivals, donington, ozzfest, reading festival etc. a fashion show they were Not. it was actually about the bands and music and just having a proper good time and not really giving a shit what you were wearing as long as you were reasonably comfortable. apart from maybe if you wore a t-shirt of your favourite band. not designer brands, a face full of make up, and artfully dishevelled "festival hair" Hmm

but "nowadays" its just soooooo cool to be "seen" at festivals. it doesn't seem to be about the music anymore. it seems to be more about posing. this whole "festival as fashion show" bandwagon thing only came about in the last 5 or 10 years. and now ever summer, every vacuous shitty womens mag is saturated with "festival fashion" articles and what celeb twats like kate moss are wearing at glastonbury. as if the paps will be snapping you every 5 minutes in your generic hunter wellies and ray bans.

bugs the shit out of me (but as i said i am an old gimmer of 33 who doesn't go to them anymore anyway so what do i know :o )

OP posts:
TravelinColour · 14/07/2013 13:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

dirtyface · 14/07/2013 14:10

well i have 2 dcs now and its not really practical

plus now i am older i hate camping and being grotty, i like my creature comforts too much :o

they were amazing fun when i was younger though

OP posts:
LadyBeagleEyes · 14/07/2013 14:11

There's all sorts of people that go to festivals.
Why does it matter to you what other people wear?
And at 33 of course you're not too old.

TravelinColour · 14/07/2013 14:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

dirtyface · 14/07/2013 14:13

Why does it matter to you what other people wear?

it doesn't matter to me as such. people can wear whatever they want of course. i just find the whole festival fashion thing a bit cringey

OP posts:
StuntGirl · 14/07/2013 14:29

I think you should get off your high horse, stop reading the fashion mags and actually go to a festival so you can see you don't know what the hell you're talking about.

When I'm at a festival the last thing I care about is what others are wearing. Unless its the guy in a Naruto robe and a Borat mankini. We avoided him like the plague for obvious reasons Grin

CloudsAndTrees · 14/07/2013 14:31

People are still enjoying the festivals just as much as you did in your day. If they are doing it slightly differently, so what? It's their festival now.

BoulevardOfBrokenSleep · 14/07/2013 15:44

Just because the papers/magazines run articles on Buying A New Outfit To Wear To A Festival, doesn't mean people actually do it, y'know.

not really giving a shit what you were wearing as long as you were reasonably comfortable

Soooo....you'd be quite happy wearing your Bon Jovi T-shirt to watch Megadeth play? Grin

PatsyAndEddy · 14/07/2013 15:50

It's hard as we age not to become all 'back in my day it was about the music man' and import these hipster kids know fuck all about fuck all. It's because your day was your day as you've stepped back from the scene and now reminisce through rose tinted spectacles.

I'm the same age as you, two dcs and still go to one or two festivals a year. All I see is people enjoying the music.

WorraLiberty · 14/07/2013 15:56

Can't you just stop reading the vacuous shitty womens mags? Grin

bettycocker · 14/07/2013 16:29

I don't go to festivals these days as I don't really like camping. I suspect they are much the same as they were when I used to go. People go for the music and to get completely wankered for the weekend.

FreyaSnow · 14/07/2013 16:36

Thinks like Reading were never 'proper' festivals. They were always commercial, mainstream festivals. Proper festivals were all the free festivals that anybody could afford to go to which were effectively banned in the early nineties. Commercial festivals developed out of that tradition. Celebrities going to festivals and being photographed in the fashions of the day has always been a standard part of commercial festivals from the sixties onwards. It isn't a thing that happened in the last five years.

There isn't a right age to go to festivals. Everyone from babies to the elderly goes to festivals.

webwiz · 14/07/2013 16:43

DD2(20) is at a festival now (she is working for her ticket) she has just taken a random collection of shorts and t shirts and a hoodie for if its cool at night. She didn't want to take too many clothes because then there wasn't enough room for the cans of cider.

Flobbadobs · 14/07/2013 17:33

I have been to smaller festivals in the past few years and if you look at the official pictures like the ones on the websites you'd think it was sponsored by Boden! However I was there and I know that there was a mixture of allsorts of people and clothes (or in some cases lack of...).
I do know what you mean, the emphasis on the bigger festivals is all about the image projected by the festival goers but if you were actually there it would be different.

defineme · 14/07/2013 17:39

I've been going to festivals for 24 years (39th birthday tomorrow!) and I think young things have always liked dressing up-I can remember girls in full wedding dresses Goth styley at my first Reading when I was 15.
The general masses have always dressed in a similar way-it just happens to be designer wellies and denim. hotpants for the last few years-no one seems to notice my ordinary jeans and primark wellies though.
I would never camp these days-I usually find the nearest premier inn-there's always loads of people doing the same.

SmiteYouWithThunderbolts · 14/07/2013 17:58

You should go somewhere like Download or Sonisphere (whenever it comes back, sigh). Definitely very few fashion-conscious types there!

I must admit, I don't understand people who try to dress nicely at festivals. You get muddy/dusty, sweaty, smelly. Why go to the bother of worrying about wearing a frilly frock! I've never been to the likes of Glastonbury or Reading (well I did do Leeds about 10 years ago, but it was still a 'proper' festival back then) but the festivals I go to are much more about the music than the image.

Borisboohoo · 14/07/2013 17:59

I know exactly what you mean OP. It was always dress for the weather/comfort/band tees when I used to go late 90s/early noughties then all of a sudden people were in 'going out' stuff. Took me by surprise and made me feel very old Grin At Glastonbury a few years ago I saw into someone's tent as I walked past and they had a hanging rail (one of those metal wardrobe things on wheels) with all their clothes on Shock

It's like students nowadays. We were scruffs and proud of it. They look really styled. It just highlights how lazy I am!!

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 14/07/2013 18:03

I'm 39 and used to work at music festivals back in the day mid-90s and they've always had their share of fashionistas IME, some more than others.

Difference is the fashion mags have caught onto them and use them as editorial to sell clothes. And there are a lot more mags and festivals.

I don't think it's news that music and fashion have a relationship with each other. Sonisphere is just as style conscious as Coachella - just with a different 'tribe' Grin

Bonsoir · 14/07/2013 18:05

The purpose of women's magazines is to provide a platform for advertising consumer goods like fashion and cosmetics to women. Ergo they think of any ridiculous editorial they can that will attract advertisers and gullible readers. It's not The Economist, attempting to enlighten you with Truth!

PatsyAndEddy · 14/07/2013 18:45

I wear flowery dresses all the time, they do not require any effort, paired with all stars or dm boots depending on the weather, hair up, headband and sunnys, it's no effort!

DoJo · 14/07/2013 20:27

I have noticed that there seems to be 'uniforms' at some of the festivals (only go when husband's playing) - a few years ago it was furry animal suits. then tutus and I'm assuming that this year it will be the ever present onesie. None of which are actually that practical to wear to a festival in the high temperatures of summer, but I just assume that they are all having their own kind of fun and let them get on with it.

HairyGrotter · 14/07/2013 21:20

I'm a festival goer, adore them, do 3 a year (Download, Standon and Reading) and I like to play the 'name 3 songs of the band t-shirt you're wearing' all fun and games Grin

I just let others crack on and giggle at some of the wonderfully ill prepared lovelies staggering about Grin

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PatsyAndEddy · 14/07/2013 21:23

Oh that is such a wanky thing to do hairy although I do get twitchy at band ts on sale in primark!

HairyGrotter · 14/07/2013 21:26

Meh, I'm 32 and a grouch Wink most of the youngers enjoy it and take it with good faith Smile

I only do it to obvious primark t-shirt/vest wearers, one even said 'oh I though the Ramones was a primark brand' Confused haha she was lovely though and we had a giggle

PatsyAndEddy · 14/07/2013 21:30

It should be 3 album tracks and the last time you seen them live!!

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