The love for a festival
The Great British public love a festival. Whether it is Glastonbury, Parklife, or the Isle of Wight Festival, thousands of us Brits will be there. It’s a time to be free, dance, and wear the coolest fashion. A time to make memories with friends, family, and loved ones that will stay in your mind forever.
The feeling of escapism is so important for people with festivals and live events being somewhere where this feeling can be express itself. With mental health issues becoming ever-more prominent, escapism gives freedom for those who may be feeling trapped.
All in all, not many things come close to the feeling of attending a festival, listening to your favourite music with the people you love.
How can a festival be made even better? Well, how about enjoying yourself AND saving the world?
The evolution of festival fashion: Woodstock to the ‘New World’
The 60’s was a fashion paradise. Woodstock is known by some as the greatest festival there has ever been with performances for The Who, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin to name but a few. Over 400,000 people attended this piece of music history in denim. Yes…denim. If there’s one thing people remember at Woodstock besides the music, it would be the amount of denim.
The 80’s was different to the 60’s is many different ways, most notably is the fashion. T-Shirts with slogans on such as ‘Frankie Says Relax’ and ‘Choose Life’ mixed with over-sized blazers and a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses was the ultimate 80’s festival look.
The 90’s gave us Britpop. This was where the kids took over the world. The Liam Gallagher look is one of the most notable looks, still to this day with round sunglasses and a Parka, reminiscent of John Lennon. Stone Island, bucket hats and football shirts dominated the late 90’s, paving way for working-class pride.
The 2010’s and technology paved a new way for festival fashion websites such as, ‘Boohoo.com’ and ‘Pretty Little Thing’ paving a way from self-expression. Flower crowns, glitter, pac-a-macs, and crazy sunglasses stole the shows. Still some aspects of former fashion stayed. Denim was still prominent as well as the love for bucket hats.
What about the 20’s? Here we are. It is us who will be defining this era. How can make this era the one that saved the world?
Who are making sustainable festival fashion?
Insane in the Rain is one brand that tackles that plastic problem head on. They create raincoats that are made from recycled plastic bottles. These raincoats have a wonderful slouchy design that give you great rain protection, and stand-out in the crowd with its vibrant colours.
Duvet covers are items that are bought and never used again once finished with. This is where Emma, the founder of Duvet Days came up with her idea. All clothes are hand-made out of old duvet covers to make two pieces, playsuits, trousers, and even jumpers.
Lycra is a festival staple. What is better than lycra? ‘Life lycra’, a new eco fabric that is made from recycled fishing nets and tulle. Burnt Soul came up with this idea in their base in Bristol, making a festival staple sustainable.
Gaâla is another brand of clothing that endeavours into making festival wear more sustainable. This brand focuses on creating pieces that will stand the test of time. They use cotton, silk, and wool fabrics leftover by Italian fashion houses, and reduce waste and create sustainably crafted designs.
Eyewear is something that is not really looked at in a sustainable way. This is the reason why family company, Bird, began to create sustainable and ethical eyewear. The packaging that the glasses comes in reusable, recyclable, and even biodegradable. Perfect buy for your cool festival sunglasses.
Wear it once, wear it again
Besides from the music and the partying, fashion remains one of the most important aspects of the festival life. The problem with this, is the ‘wear it once’ mentality. We have all been there, searching through your wardrobe seeing you have nothing to wear for the next day. What a feeling. What a nightmare. Yes, it a nightmare. By doing this, we are killing the world.
With more and more fashion companies beginning to dive into the world of sustainable festival fashion, it’s now up to us to change the way we do things.
The sacrifice or wearing the same outfit for Glastonbury that you did for Parklife in 2015 may seem painful, but it is worth the sacrifice for a better world.
Even if you are adamant that you need a new outfit, go sustainable. New brands are pooping up as the crisis grows bigger with all of them selling up to date, cool clothes.
So for your next festival, go sustainable. There is nothing cooler than saying you saved the world.
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