I took a few days off in July to travel to the beautiful Byron Bay with my man for Splendour in the Grass, renowned for being one of the biggest and best musical festivals in Australia. We were welcomed with a sunny 22 degree day, a perplexingly difficult tent to put up, and a confiscated bottle of vodka. Nonetheless, we persisted through the minor setbacks as we experienced non-stop musical acts and a plethora of food trucks, with the highlights undoubtedly being Childish Gambino, Foals, SZA and the chilly billy burger. I needed to have a couple of them over the weekend.

And how could I not mention the amazing fashion at Splendour? The opportunity for festival fashion almost supersedes the importance of the actual music. You could tell that people put months of thought into elaborately creating these impressive festival looks for each day of the festival. People were decked out head-to-toe in fully coordinated outfits, from their hair colour matching their shoes, to matching leopard-print boyfriend and girlfriend outfits. Dan and I missed an opportunity there.

It was wonderful to see such creativity and what is essentially art with some of these spectacular outfits. But it was a shame to think that quite a few of the clothes would have been sourced from fast-fashion brands and would be immediately discarded after the conclusion of the festival. Because realistically, you don’t walk around and see anyone typically flaunting the kind of clothes that were seen at Splendour. Furthermore, plenty of these clothes were made from environmentally-damaging materials such as sequins and synthetics, and some looked as though they would fall a part after a night spent in the mosh pit. So it is a bit of a problem that festivals are perpetuating the appeal of fast fashion when there is such a desire for inexpensive (and, often outrageous but fabulous) clothing at these events that can be used as once-offs. And since we have just passed Earth Overshoot Day on 29 July (being the date that humanity’s demand for earth’s resources exceeded what the earth can regenerate in a year), the need to curb our consumption of fast fashion has never been more urgent.

Rather than eliminating the show of fantastic fashion entirely, op shopping would be a more sustainable option for festival-goers who are looking to create unique and insta-worthy looks (because we can’t deny that part of the motivation to dress up is for the ‘gram). Alternatively, if you rummage through the wardrobes of your friends or family, you may find something super exciting like your dad’s lairy shirt from the 80’s. If this doesn’t satisfy your desire for something fabulous, then scope out businesses that provide outfit rental services and do some renting for the weekend, on the proviso that the clothes don’t undergo any damage, that is.

Ultimately, festival style doesn’t need to be purchased brand-new and festival-goers should refrain from doing so if the intention is to wear it for once and then to discard it once its purpose has been fulfilled. My pledge meant that I had to choose from what was already in my wardrobe, and my probably unnecessary concern for getting my clothes ruined did slightly inhibit my outfit choices. But it was pretty easy to find a few things to wear when I did some mix and matching. It just challenged me to be a bit more creative.

Thanks for stopping by! x