Coachella Style Is Trash

Yet another round of "festival fashion" proves how far removed the style is from the festivals that "inspired" it.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Coachella music festival is here again, and if you missed out on the first week of utter fuckery, then prepare for part two, which is right around the corner. As thousands descend upon the Empire Polo Club in the desert town of Indio, Calif., we're collectively assaulted with "bohemian chic" and barely-there outfits from celebrities and common folk alike. What's most notable though, is that in the past few years, the focus has shifted from the musicians to the celebrities and the "festival style" they broadcast on Instagram. For a so-called music festival, it's quickly become a place to show off how ridiculous you can dress in a public place.

Due to the harsh, hot weather in Indio (and other locations worldwide during the spring and summer seasons), it's near impossible to wear anything that isn't just a T-shirt. It's a literal desert. A real life thirst trap. Your lightweight scarf and cotton-linen outerwear isn't fooling anyone. Pair that with celebrities who appear at the festival more for the perceived glamour of simply being there, and it's hard to argue that Coachella is still the music festival it was when it started in 1999. It's completely removed from Pearl Jam's initial concert at the polo grounds in 1993.

Sure, on the one hand, music festivals are traditionally a time when people let their freak flags fly and stopped giving a rat's ass about how they looked or dressed. Except that's no longer the case. People are trying too hard. "Dressing for Coachella" is now a goddamn thing. The very counterculture that hippie and boho style was founded upon has become a marketable shell of itself that's being raided by basic bros and bitches alike. As if you needed any more proof, here's exactly why Coachella style is trash.

Today everyone is obsessed with an “aesthetic.” Back then it was just “dressing for the environment.”

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“Counterculture” and “subculture” have been assimilated into a commericalized “pop culture” product.

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Cultural appropriation is part of the culture.

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It's no longer about the music, it's all about the 'gram.

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