Things You Need At A Festival In 2019
Festival fashion has become a mainstay of the fashion industry, clutching our attention each and every Spring with the Californian music festival Coachella, right through summer with the likes of Glastonbury, Reading and All Points East.
Festival fashion once meant donning a sequined body-suit, a pair of hot pants and decorating every inch of your body with blinding glitter. At Beyond Retro, we certainly encourage this extravagant dress-code, but festival fashion often means buying something you may never wear again. So to encourage a more sustainable way of dressing for the best summer of your life, we have created this list of your 2019 festival vintage and eco-friendly must-haves!
1. Plastic-Free Glitter
Glitter is fun, but commercial glitter contains plastic, and plastic isn’t fun! Everything about Eco Glitter Fun is plastic-free, including the packaging, making it a sustainable substitute for your festival favourite this Summer. Glitter can be worn in a variety of dynamic ways, try wearing it as an eye shadow, or painting sunbeams across your cheek and collar bones! Shop our women’s accessories.
2. A Tie-Dye T-Shirt
Tie-dye has already become a trend off and on the runway, with brands such as Prada, MSGM and Stella McCartney debuting tie-dye in their most recent collections. Even Beyonce was seen wearing it, and in our humble opinion, the tie-dye t-shirt is going to be the white blouse of Summer 2019.
Tie-dye can be dressed up and down, but ultimately celebrates individuality and can be worn however you like, making it a must-have this festival season. Find a vintage tie-dye t-shirt and have a piece that is entirely unique!
3. Western Clothing
Western wear has been slowly but surely seeping into the cultural zeitgeist over the last couple of years, but this summer with country legend Billy Ray Cyrus re-entering the charts it is set to become a bonafide festival fashion trend. From fringe to cowboy boots, western wear is an essential component of any respectable festival outfit! Pair western wear with the aforementioned tie-dye t-shirt for a 1970s inspired outfit, or mix and match with other vintage pieces in your wardrobe for a more contemporary look that feels completely you.
4. Neon Everything
If there’s one way to make yourself stand out in a crowd of thousands, it’s neon. Neon has been a mainstay of brands such as Versace and Iceberg for years and adds the perfect 00s nostalgia component to any festival outfit. You can ease yourself into the trend with these fluorescent sunglasses, or dive straight into the deep end in a head to toe neon look. Never lose your friends again!
5. A Bum Bag
Love them or hate them, there’s no denying that the bum bag is what festival legends are made of. On an aesthetic level, the bum bag can be used to add a level of camp, chic or cool to any outfit, depending on the chosen bag. On a practical level, the bum bag is impossible to lose whilst wrapped around your body and can carry just about everything you need at a festival!
If you’re still not convinced, would it help if we renamed the bum bag the belt bag? How about if we told you Rihanna has one?
6. Your OTT Piece
It really wouldn’t be a festival without that one statement piece of clothing. This is the piece strangers will approach you to talk about, this is the piece that will possibly get you a free drink, and this is the piece that we promise you will want to wear again, and again, and again.
Avoid the fast fashion trap of throwaway items by shopping vintage, and you’ll get to take home a new best friend. Whatever your style, you’ll be sure to find that piece to make your heart sing! Whether it be that 1960s party top, a 1970s dress or a 1990s pair of dungarees … there’s something for everyone!
7. Festival Footwear
There’s nothing worse than ruining a brand new pair of shoes at a festival, but we at Beyond Retro also understand that shoes have the power to make or break an outfit. For a sustainable footwear option, why not invest in a pair of vintage Doc Martens that are built to last? You’ll be able to wear them to festivals for years to come!
8. Practical Bonus Round: A Raincoat!
Considering British summer time traditions, the last must-have on this list is almost a given. British summer will seem more like four seasons in a day, which is why it's important, especially at a festival, to be prepared for everything! Plastic, disposable rain ponchos are available at many festivals now but this is a frivolous and environmentally unfriendly purchase.
Avoid buying single use items of clothing, and take the sustainable route by bringing a vintage raincoat with you. Not only is this the more eco-conscious choice, but a vintage raincoat can also act as a fashion conscious statement piece.
We hope you’re feeling prepared, come rain or shine, for this Summer’s festival season! For more inspiration, why not read our roundup of our favourite vintage looks this year?