How Coachella fashion is shaping this summer’s trends

The dust will soon settle in the northern California desert as the Coachella music festival draws to a close for another year.

The three-day festival held twice over separate weekends has become a serious destination not just for music aficionados but celebrities, influencers and fashionistas alike.

Articles relating to style trends flooded the internet following the first weekend of this year’s festival and Google searches for “Coachella fashion 2024” surged by more than 2,000 percent worldwide over the past two weeks. Media outlets from New York’s The Cut to fashion Bible Vogue provided analysis of the festival’s overall style trends, including in-depths of what celebrities wore to it.

Coachella has the distinct advantage of being one of the “first big festivals of the year,” according Vito Valentinetti, co-founder of the Music Festival Wizard website, which allows it to set the tone for the upcoming season of live music.

“You are getting a lot festival fashion from it because it’s the first one of these big festivals, so there’s a lot of focus on style and it’s in Los Angeles too, so it’s stylish,” he told Newsweek. “You do start to see some of the looks filter through.”

One of the brands to pioneer the fashion focus at Coachella, is online clothing retailer, Revolve. Its exclusive Revolve Festival, held adjacent to Coachella has become one of the hottest tickets of the weekend and is attended by some of the biggest names in fashion including Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski, Leonardo DiCaprio and Hailey Bieber.

Autumn Love, the editor and chief of her eponymous “digital fashion destination” website explained why Coachella helped set the tone for not only the season’s music festivals, but summer style in general.

“Coachella isn’t just a music festival; it’s a fashion show in the desert. When it’s 90 degrees out, figuring out what to wear is tough,” Love told Newsweek.

“People pay close attention to Coachella fashion to get ideas for summer outfits that are both cool and stylish. They look at how others handle the heat with different layers, accessories, and styles.”

Love added: “Plus, fashion and music are closely linked—what you see at Coachella often reflects the music played and the general vibe of the festival, influencing fashion trends for the season.”

Love also explained that attendees at Coachella put so much thought into their festival garb because the weekend was “all about being free and going full throttle when it comes to putting outfits together.”

“Everyone is there to show off their unique style and have fun with their looks, which makes it a perfect place for spotting new trends,” she explained.

“There’s really no right or wrong at Coachella—it’s all about being yourself and dressing for the desert heat. This free-spirited vibe influences fashion because it encourages people to be bold and experiment with their outfits, setting trends that carry over into the summer.”

But some experts gave this year’s Coachella style the thumbs-down and could reflect a wider ambivalence about the festival. It had one of its worst year of ticket sales, including the second week failing to sell out, and maybe its title as fashion nirvana could follow suit.

“Unlike in years past, people seem particularly blasé about Coachella right now,” wrote Hannah Jackson for British Vogue.

“It feels like there’s a similar sluggishness around festival fashion. With the trend cycle accelerating at warp speed, there doesn’t seem to be one dominant fashion trend that everyone is on board with.”

Jackson added: “Today, there seems to be no shared sartorial experience, which is part of what used to make Coachella feel like an escape. Perhaps one day, we will find ourselves unified in fashion once again. But who knows if the festival will recover in time?”

While Dazed declared Coachella was having a “fashion identity crisis,” arguing that the festival’s heyday of fashion which began in the 2010s is over. It argued because many A-list celebrities opted for toned down, incognito looks while social media influencers and the regular punters went over the top with camp looks, it had created a fashion “crossroads.”

“The A-listers have to separate themselves from the influencers who still make that effort—they have to signal that they’re somehow different. It’s no surprise, then, that the arbiters of a once-dominant style are switching sides,” wrote Elliot Hoste.

“Of course, fashions change and people grow up and move on—it certainly isn’t 10 years ago anymore. But part of this change is tied up in the need for some to distance themselves from those trying just that little bit too hard.”