Festival fashion: The six cliché looks you won’t be able to avoid this summer

From tie dye to extravagant flower crowns, these festival fashion staples will be inescapable this summer

Vanessa Hudgens at Coachella festival in 2012 (Getty Images)

The increased prevalence of fringed crop tops and extravagant headwear around this time of year can only mean one thing: festival season is well and truly upon is.

For many, the summer is ultimately synonymous with festival season, with people traipsing across the country and the world to watch their favourite artists perform live.

While festivals are a fantastic opportunity to throw on your gladrags and let your hair down, there are a number of arguably ill-advised fashion looks that always arise at this time of year.

The cultural appropriation that appears at Coachella in the form of bindis and headdresses is always a hot topic of conversation, while sales of glitter will undoubtedly surge in the lead up to the most Instagrammable events of the summer.

Here are the eight most cliché looks that you won’t be able to avoid during the festival frenzy:

1. The casual cultural appropriation

A number of fashion brands have been criticised throughout the years for appropriating others cultures for self-gain, such as Gucci dressing white models in turbans and Victoria’s Secret accessorising a model with a native American headdress.

At festivals like Coachella, the adoption of cultural artefacts as stylish accessories is extremely apparent, especially among high-profile individuals such as Vanessa Hudgens, who’s been previously pictured displaying henna art on her hands and wearing a bindi.

However, avoiding cultural appropriation isn’t a hard task.

If you’re considering wearing an accessory to a festival that you know bears strong cultural significance in another community, maybe think twice (or thrice) about your actions.

2. The flower power

For those who spend their days wistfully wishing that they’d been born in the 1960s, summer festivals provide the perfect platform to proudly don the most ostentatious flower crowns imaginable.

Expect to see headbands adorned with bright yellow dandelions, gold-painted roses and dainty daisies aplenty as you make your way through the clustered festival crowds.

3. The excessive fringing

What is it about festivals that encourages people to become fringe fanatics?

From crop tops, to flared jeans, bikinis and cowboy boots, you’ll come across over-excessive fringing on every single item of clothing you can possible think of when frequenting a summer festival.

4. The unnecessary wellies

Let’s set one thing straight: Wellington boots are an essential item of footwear when going to a festival where there’s the possibility of heavy rainfall and muddy, squelchy terrain.

However, when the sun’s beaming and there isn’t a single drop of rain in sight, you’ll still find a lot of festival-goers donning the wellies with pride.

When the weather is swelteringly hot and dry, there doesn’t seem to be much logic in opting for a heavy, thick boot, other than for the festival aesthetic, of course.

5. The gallons of glitter

“Glitter, glitter and more glitter” is a philosophy that numerous sparkle aficionados adopt when deciding how to embellish their festival ensembles.

You’ll come across sparkles in a variety of forms, from crystal hair partings to diamante “bum diamonds”.

There’s been much debate about the environmental impact of glitter, with one in four nurseries banning glitter from the classroom due to the fact that it’s not biodegradable.

If you plan on going on a glitter frenzy this summer, it may be worth finding out whether the little pieces of plastic are biodegradable or not.

6. The tie-dye mania

1960s fashion always becomes extremely popular when summer comes around, with many delving into their wardrobes to find any remnants of tie-dye clothing that they can find.

While the psychedelic pattern is undeniably cliché when it comes to festival fashion, there’s no doubt that it will brighten even the greyest of British festivals.