Founder Files will be a reoccuring column (hopefully weekly). It is not an advice column, per-say. Just the perspective of one person – specifically HC Tufts’s co-founder and former Editor-in-Chief – on women’s issues, campus issues, and personal issues. As a blogger addict, I’m probably doing it more for my own sanity than yours. You can reach me at Ashley.wood@tufts.edu.
Greetings from California! In the past week, my professors have been laying the groundwork for final projects, presentations, and portfolios. The amount of work I will need to do in this final month of my college career is daunting to think about, which is why I’m rather lucky that I’ve had a more pleasant topic to focus all my attention on – Coachella, and more importantly, what I will wear to Coachella.
The art of dressing for a music festival is hard to pin down, mainly because the first step is accepting that nothing you wear will be original. Those wacky sunglasses, last year’s Halloween costume, an American flag toga, your elaborate tree tattoo – I guarantee that it has been done before. Coachella is filled with a lot of wacky people, partially because California is filled with a lot of wacky people. They’re willing to wear anything, and even willing to wear nothing at all.
Essentially, music festival fashion will break down into six categories: hippie fashion, rocker chic, hip hop street wear, raver American Apparel addicts, music lovers who pay zero attention to their clothes and will show up in their average weekend cargo shorts, and those who treat music festivals like a second Halloween. Inevitably, you will fall into one of these categories.
With the pressure to be different gone, your goal should turn towards a balance between comfortable and fashionable with a few crazy accents to liven up an otherwise casual outfit. A music festival is all in the details. Take your basic cut-off shorts, ankle boots, and white tee – this is your staple for any music festival. Think of it as your blank canvas. Now for the details: a bib necklace, a neon belt, a fringe purse, crazy printed nails, big glamorous earrings, studs in interesting places – the list goes on. Suddenly your plain outfit is not so plain, but still just as comfortable.
I say this because, in the end, music festivals are an endurance marathon. You’re staying out late, you’re spending all day in intense heat, and you’re standing like, all the time. So what will my suitcase look like? Super boring. How will I still pull off Coachella? Lots of bright lipsticks, Sally Hansen nail patterns, a bag full of my jewelry that gets the most weird looks, and a pair of boots that could survive the apocalypse. That leaves at least half of my suitcase for all those books (thanks college!) I’m going to have to be reading in between sets.