Coachella Craze: Beyoncé, Festival Street Style, and a Towson Student’s Ideal Festival Outfit

Summer weather made its debut this weekend on the East Coast, much to the rejoice of college students everywhere, who took to social media to chronicle outdoor kick-backs and day-trips to the beach. Some of us had to work…Meanwhile, in a time zone roughly 2,500 miles away, Coachella’s first weekend lineup was in full swing. The Indio Valley-based music festival which started in 1999 made history this year when Beyoncé became the first woman of color to headline it. If that’s not amazing enough in itself, the wildly-successful solo artist took to Coachella’s stage to reunite with her Destiny’s Child groupmates, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, for the first time in five years.

Fans and festival goers were awestruck by the reunion–by Beyoncé herself, ten times as much. The vivid artistry on display was enough to warm the heart of one festival-protester in particular, model and activist Cara Delevingne, who used the hashtag #Nochella, to express her disdain for the bigoted beliefs of its owner. An article posted this afternoon to “ET Canada,” chronicled Delevingne’s response to criticism from fans who felt that her expression of appreciation for Beyoncé’s artistry was ironically-timed with her Coachella boycott. Delevingne, who identifies as sexually fluid, took to her Instagram account to shower Beyoncé with praise, and to share this story, defending her choice to shame and boycott the views of Coachella’s owner, Philip Anschutz, who is anti-LGBTQ.

I personally feel that Cara should not have to defend herself for her choice not to attend the festival. After all, Beyoncé is not Coachella itself (contrary to the beliefs of fans in attendance of her performance who were left convinced that the festival belonged to her–#Beychella.) In fact, one might say that Coachella, a large, sweaty crowd of mostly white millenials who have been camped out for several days, donning glow-stick necklaces and synthetic flower crowns while shamelessly itching to spot celebrities, is the antithesis of  what she represents. Beyoncé, like Cara Delivingne, is no conformist.

In my book, one of the few things second to powerful, change-making women who stand up for what they believe in, no matter the cost, is what those women are wearing. I look to them as role models in terms of character as well as style. Women help make Coachella such a coveted experience–for me, and a million other 20-year-olds–because of the charmingly unique and crazy variations of festival outfits they don in weather that often reaches the triple digits. The Coachella festival is to young Americans what the Met Gala is to the celebrities they dream of being–a chance to flaunt each year’s most flamboyant fashions–or just to bare their midriffs.

Coachella style has two extremes. Some festival-goers are happy to sport a crop-top or tee-shirt with their coolest pair of shades and some comfortable sneakers. Others, like new mom, Kylie Jenner, who was seen at the festival this weekend sporting this wig and latex getup, see it as their chance to go all out in the fashion department. If you’re not familiar with music festival fashion, you’ll probably react to it the way a conservative grandmother would to her grandchild sporting a blue mohawk. That gnawing dissatisfaction you feel will then turn into a shopping craving the next time you go to the mall, until you realize that you won’t be able to satisfy it because the outfits of music festivals are truly unparallelled. Harper’s Bazaar just put together a photo compilation of its favorite street style looks from this year’s Coachella festival. They are breathtaking.

Like myself, my roommate, Lauren, has long been intrigued by Coachella fashion. I asked her to delve into her closet to put together her ideal Coachella outfit and was not disappointed. It had several components typical of the lesser extreme of music-festival style (remember, we talked about tee-shirts, sneakers and cool shades…you know, the comfortable, practical gear,) while still maintaining edgy femininity that makes street-style alluring: jewelry, pops of coordinating color, etc. What makes this outfit even cooler is that she thrifted her scarf, boots ($5!!) and belt from one of her favorite local spots called Charity’s Closet. Her dress, from Urban Outfitters, is no longer online, but here are the links to her hat and sunglasses.