Sign up to receive the Vogue Business newsletter for the latest luxury news and insights, plus exclusive membership discounts.
Fashion used to take centre stage at Coachella. But in recent years, festival dressing has toned down and become more diverse, as young people try to keep up with micro-trends or focus instead on flaunting their outfits for concert tours from stars like Beyoncé or Taylor Swift.
This year, as predicted, many celebrities (including Swift) favoured casual fashion over more directional Coachella looks. For those who did dress up, the Western trend dominated thanks to the ongoing boost from Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ album. Plus some new moods emerged, rooted in new trends that have been bubbling up on TikTok and the runways, like the throwback to 2014 and a modern take on boho chic.
Coachella may not be as influential as it once was, but it is still an important signifier of how Gen Z is shopping. “Retailers tap the biggest trends from Coachella to make edits for the summer,” says Katharine Carter, fashion and retail analyst at Edited. “It really sets the scene for us. We saw the shift away from the dopamine brights last year, as quiet luxury came through. This year, there’s been a revival of more out there styles like prints and jorts.”
As the first major festival of the year, some brands and retailers use the event as a barometer for spring/summer dressing, and to inspire marketing for the rest of the season. “Coachella kicks off our biggest selling period,” says Raissa Gerona, chief brand officer at Revolve and Fwrd. The retailer holds an annual Revolve festival alongside Coachella each year, to build brand awareness and show off its festival offering. “[The event] inspires our customers and defines the different trending styles they will wear all summer,” says Gerona.
Now weekend one of this year’s Coachella has wrapped, Vogue Business breaks down some of the key trends.
Off-duty eclecticism
Hyper-casualisation was on the cards for many at Coachella this year, largely driven by celebrities, who not only pared back their looks, but wore eclectic outfits more closely associated with laid-back truckers than A-listers trying to impress. As Dazed put it, Coachella fashion is having an “identity crisis”, as some festival goers reject the flower crown aesthetic it has been associated with for so long.
Some of the most influential attendees wore a mash-up of looks in one. Megawatt couple Swift and Travis Kelce rocked up to Ice Spice’s set in mismatched separates, trainers and caps. Kelce wore a checked shirt from R13, paired with striped trousers (designer tbc). Swift wore a black T-shirt, skirt and trainers with a green cap from Travis’s ‘New Heights’ podcast, plus a heavily branded Stella McCartney crossbody bag, which sent searches for the brand skyrocketing 75 per cent over the weekend (per @databutmakeitfashion). Hailey Bieber wore a similarly eclectic off-duty outfit on Sunday, in baggy jeans, an oversized bomber, a cap and a leopard print headscarf.
Keeping it simpler, many of the mega-influencer guests in the Guess Jeans compound, from Madeline Argy to Anastasia Karanikolaou, wore vest tops with their denim skirts or low-slung jeans.
Outside the VIP area, merch hoodies and tees continued the casual mood, with scores of festival goers wearing official Coachella sweatshirts or specially created merch from headliners Tyler the Creator, Doja Cat, Lana Del Rey and No Doubt. A special Coachella edition of Tyler the Creator’s ‘Save the Bees’ hoodie, a remake of a style originally released under his label Golf Wang, proved particularly popular. YouTube reported high merch sales through users at home too, who purchased directly from the Coachella YouTube live stream.
Back to 2014
As the trend pendulum swings from Y2K to the 2010s, some Coachella attendees were keen to bring back the glory days of festival fashion this year. Y2K has been “huge” for festival-wear for years now, says Carter. But this time around, searches for “2014 core” were up 1,240 per cent on Pinterest as people planned their festival outfits.
On the Coachella site, it showed. Hundreds of young festival attendees sported crochet tops, sheer or lacy overlays on bikinis or underwear, fur boots with short skirts or jeans, and heavy, layered jewellery reminiscent of Kendall and Kylie Jenner’s 2010s Coachella mood. Ice Spice was a poster girl for the trend, wearing a cutout black bodysuit from DTC label I.AM.GIA along with black fluffy boots.
Searches for “funky crochet” soared by 2,100 per cent on Pinterest ahead of Coachella, and other 2014-inspired search terms rose, from “fur boots outfit” (+600 per cent) to “statement belt” (+100 per cent) and “rhinestone denim jacket” (+75 per cent). Revolve also predicted the trend, with stacked necklaces and crochet dresses featuring in the platform’s festival edit this year.
Lana Del Rey (coquette) core
After dressing up for the Renaissance and Eras tours over the last year, young fans brought the concert tour spirit to festival fashion by emulating Del Rey’s ‘coquettish’ mid-2010s style, including flower crowns, wedding veils, vintage-style tea dresses and bows. Pinterest saw a 300 per cent increase in searches for “Lana Del Rey core” over the last month, and helped Coachella attendees achieve the look with a bow-stacking station and pearl-embellishment service at its experiential pop-up. “We’re predicting that the ‘tourdrobe’ trend we saw with Taylor Swift and Beyoncé will come to more festivals this year,” says Carter. “With Lana Del Rey core, it’s a great avenue for retailers to reposition stock under that umbrella.”
The trend follows the coquette mood that has bubbled up over the last year: searches for “coquette core” rose 600 per cent on Pinterest ahead of Coachella. The platform also noted growth in search terms like “mini corset dress” (+100 per cent), “bow jewellery” (+1764 per cent) and “simple tulle dress” (+200 per cent). The volume of ribbons and bows arriving in stores is up 101 per cent year-on-year, according to Edited, which believes the Del Rey trend will continue to boost coquettish dressing through the summer months, even beyond Coachella’s gates.
.jpg)
Heavy metal, big belts
As we move away from quiet luxury in festival — and wider — fashion, jewellery is a major focus for Coachella goers this year. Many people, including influencer Karanikolaou, sported metallic or beaded delicate body chains, low slung below the navel with cropped vest tops and relaxed trousers. Others, including Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, favoured heavy earring, rings and necklace stacking, again inspired by 2014.
Before Coachella, the platform witnessed a surge in searches for “gold choker necklace set” (+100 per cent), “ear cuff jewellery” (+350 per cent) and “headpiece jewellery (+150 per cent). A$AP Rocky was a major proponent of the headpiece, wearing the same embellished version to join Saturday headliner Tyler the Creator and Sunday headliner Doja Cat.
Chain belts and statement belts also featured, inspired in part by the latest boho upswing. Droves of young attendees wore low slung circular leather styles. Searches for “silver chain belt” grew 60 per cent on Pinterest in the run up to Coachella. For her cameo during No Doubt’s set, Olivia Rodridgo wore a vintage ND logo belt. Lil Uzi Vert went full luxury, with a big Chanel belt. At its pop-up, Pinterest allowed visitors to embellish their boots or garments with beads, chains or pearls. On Revolve’s festival edit, the brand has featured several styles of the chain belt in gold and diamanté; disc belts; and statement necklaces with crosses or butterflies.
Dark feminine and Western gothic
Alongside the prairie and cowboy styles, there was a darker mood to Coachella dressing this year, with sheer black dresses and slips, monochrome layering and heavy biker boots (notably the Miu Miu style, a hangover from last summer). Some paired all-black and leather with cowboy boots and fringed jackets, for a Western-gothic spin.
While previous editions of the festival centred around neons and florals, black and white have become increasingly popular over the past two years. This follows a shift to monochrome on recent runways, too, notably Pierpaolo Piccioli’s all-black finale for Valentino, and Dolce Gabbana’s all-black Tuxedo show for AW24. Pinterest saw searches for “dark feminine core” grow by 160 per cent, “biker boots” by 200 per cent and “high leather boots” by 275 per cent.
Rihanna and TikTok mega-influencer Charli D’Amelio wore layered all-black looks at Coachella this weekend, while many festival goers wore black lace or tulle over visible underwear or swimwear, giving the sheer skirt and ongoing panties trend from the SS24 runways a more casual feel. Some attendees, including Rihanna, even braved leather in the 90-degree heat.
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.
More from this author:
Coachella marketing is over – but only for millennials
