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Festival Outfit Ideas 2021: The Festival Outfits To Wear This Summer
From day festivals in the city to the full camping shebang in a field, these are the festival outfits you should wear.
Want to know what to wear to Wilderness, All Points East, Reading, Leeds, and the Isle Of Wight festivals? Well, we've put together a list of cute and practical festival outfit ideas for a handful of the festivals that are scheduled to take place in the UK in 2021 to help you navigate the choppy waters of festival dressing, since you may have forgotten.
Be it a day-long city festival like All Points East in Victoria Park, London, where box-fresh trainers and expensive sunglasses can be on the menu, through to good, old-fashioned camping festivals sans mod cons like the Isle of Wight Festival, where walking boots and a rain hat are the best idea, and boutique festivals like Wilderness in Oxfordshire, where bikinis and sun hats are a must, we've got the festival outfit for you.
When you have practicality to think of, as well as the desire to express your personal style and be dance-ready, festival fashion (particularly in the UK) can be tough. We're taking inspiration from the likes of Zoë Kravtiz at Coachella, and Adwoa Aboah at Glastonbury, with their chunky boots, playful mini dresses and useful rain jackets, which are perfect for trudging around all day in, and boogying all night in.
Last year we were starved of any large-scale, live, music events, but with a roadmap out of lockdown firmly in place, it appears as though some music festivals in the UK will be going ahead this year, bar of course our crowning jewel of festivals: Glastonbury. So without further ado, let's take a look at the best festival outfits we should be wearing.
Wilderness
When: August 5-8
Where: Cornbury Park, Oxford
Wear: For this dreamy boutique festival surrounding a lake, it's all about cute swimwear and boho dresses, with a side a practicality (it is still a camping festival, after all).
Hunza G's crinkle swimwear is a perfect choice for lazing around a lake, drink in hand.
This is a great chuck-it-on dress to roll up and pop in your rucksack.
Birkenstock Arizonas are some of the comfiest sandals around.
£28.00
All that time in the sun means you'll need a sun hat. This pink frayed one from Anthropologie should do just the trick.
All Points East
When: August 27-30
Where: Victoria Park, London
Wear: The great thing about city festivals is that practicality can be relatively low on your list. Since you're heading home in the evening, and can check the forecast in the morning, you're not dressing for any and every eventuality, plus, the festival location rarely transforms into a mud bath. This means, the only eventuality you need to prepare for is dancing the day away.
A day city festival with low chances of rain is the best opportunity to wear your comfy but cute white sneakers.
This Reformation sun dress will keep you cool in all the senses of the word.
Again, the time for some more spenny sunnies is now.
Perfect to tie over your shoulder mid-boogie but then a great layering piece to add on in the early evening.
You're only there for the day, so all you need is your card and phone. This Prada number still packs a punch though.
Reading and Leeds Festival
When: August 27-19
Where: Richfield Avenue, Reading and Bramham Park, Leeds
Wear: A classic British festival, Reading and Leeds is all about big headline acts, beer tents and fields of campsites. In terms of your wardrobe, this means practicality is paramount, since you're going to be tired, possibly a bit 'merry' and probably rained on.
Head to a trusted retailer like M&S to get a rain jacket to protect yourself from the elements.
£25.00
This hat is great for sun and rain.
£18.00
Oversized T-shirts are a great option for festivals since they're easy to wash and wear, come rain or shine.
Cycling shorts allow for all-day walking and dry super quickly, unlike denim.
Stomping around all day and all night calls for good, comfy socks.
No-one's hurting your feet in the mosh pit in these.
Isle Of Wight Festival
When: September 16-19
Where: Seaclose Park, Newport
Wear: For the oldest UK festival, and one of the latest in the year, you've got to both wrap up a bit warmer and serve major vintage rock and roll vibes.
Keep warm and stay 1970s in these flared leggings.
Daisy Murray is the Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, spotlighting emerging designers, sustainable shopping, and celebrity style. Since joining in 2016 as an editorial intern, Daisy has run the gamut of fashion journalism - interviewing Molly Goddard backstage at London Fashion Week, investigating the power of androgynous dressing and celebrating the joys of vintage shopping.
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