Coachella: let's go over its history (and looks) What to expect from this edition of the festival?
The Coachella Music Festival is the undisputed king of spring, reserving at least one week every year to talk exclusively about it. It was launched in 1999 and held (as it still is) on the grounds of the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in an atmospheric venue so decked out on Instagram that it was one of the hottest events of the year. But in 1993, it was Pearl Jam who had taken advantage of the location near Indio. The '93 event had come about as a protest against Ticketmaster's price increases for concert tickets sold, so the band decided to stage a concert by distributing the tickets themselves. Despite being a musical event, to this day it is inescapably fused with the fashion world and their best looks are as much talked about as they are at the Met Gala. In all its years of existence, it has only been interrupted three times, the first in 2000 due to still low popularity and attendance, while there was an interruption in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid 19 pandemic, only to resume with pomp and circumstance in 2022. After initial hurdles that saw the organising company Goldenvoice lose more than a million dollars, the turnaround came in 2004 with a lineup that would continue to generate the same hype to this day. The Pixies, The Cure, Belle and Sebastian and Radiohead sell out their tickets for the first time; it is the edition that brings the festival to life and establishes it for good. In the years that followed, the lineups confirmed themselves as unmissable and the celebrities of the time attended the festival, not dressed up, but in casual clothes, on the lawns of Indio, under the stage, with a few beers and a pair of jeans. The aesthetics of the festival were like that then, simple and comfortable, often even for the singers themselves.
The style at the time was much more casual, the hipster/boho/hippie dress code had not yet taken effect, but it was much more common to see guests in Converse and looking - on the surfaceat least - unreasonable, as long as comfort was the priority. In this 2005 shot, we see Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz striding across the lawn of Coachella, dressed in the perfect two poles of the Y2K aesthetic. Diaz wears a long tank top and midi skirt with boots, Barrymore wears a classic striped t-shirt with bare shoulders and a bowler hat on her head, almost a look inspired by British singer Pete Doherty. A photo archive that is definitely far from the "parade" we have been used to seeing on Instagram for years.
Now it's time to retrace his major fashion milestones and analyse the outfits that disappointed us and the ones we hope to find as quotes in this 2023 instead. You can not talk about Coachella without mentioning Vanessa Hudgens, who has worn the most copied and appreciated looks for years. Her hippie looks with kaftans, shorts, frayed booties and the ubiquitous fedora are undoubtedly a must for the festival. The appeal to the hipster aesthetic of the years when We Heart It was the old Pinterest will also be strong at this edition, considering that the festival now has unwritten rules when it comes to inspirations to follow.
Remember that other style queen Selena Gomez, who is not only on stage in 2019, but always doing her much-appreciated bit. Her looks, which are of the bohemian but elegant stamp, include the aforementioned fedora, albeit paired with a "see-through" lace dress and shorts of the same colour, favouring light and spring tones over the dark ones of her colleague Hudgens. The tightly curled and wavy - but neat - hair helps create an overall more sophisticated look that is still on trend for the event.
What trends do we hope to see on - and under - the Coachella stage this year? Kaftans, fedoras and booties/afibi boots will undoubtedly be present, mostly for comfort, but we hope to see fewer micro-trends and more personal choices, so we can add some examples to our personal review of the best looks to take back to our summer holidays for reference.
