What to wear to a festival |Festival trends 2020

As spring arrives in April the festival season will soon be approaching. Glastonbury takes place in June and many boutique festivals such as Green Man Festival and Shambala Festival are in August. For those who want to look on trend this season, it’s a good time to start getting prepared. So what are the latest festival trends for 2020?

Tie Dye

Nothing says festival trends 2020 more than tie dye fashion. Originally popular in the 60’s this psychedelic trend is making a comeback. Team a tie dye shirt with light wash denim shorts for an instant festival look. Tie dye maxi dresses also make a great boho festival outfit. If you like to put your own stamp on your clothes, you can easily DIY your own festival outfit by tie dyeing old shirts. Want to know how to tie dye? See this tutorial.

Boots

Quality boots are an essential, and a firm festival favourite to keep you looking on trend and comfortable. These lace up boots are versatile and would like great with any outfit including shorts, dresses and jeans. They are also great for walking around in that festival mud. Pair with a baggy, oversized jumper from our Knitwear collection for an edgy, boho look. 

Infinity dress

Top of our list for festival trends 2020 is the infinity dress. What better way to be more sustainable and cut down on your festival packing? The infinity dress can be worn 20 different ways so you can effortlessly change up your look. Suitable as part of a casual look, skirt or evening dress, it comes in two different lengths with adjustable straps. It looks great as part of a festival outfit teamed with face gems and glitter accessories.

Harem Pants

Harem pants are super comfortable for an easy festival look. You can wear them with crop tops and strappy tops for an effortless festival outfit. The elasticated waist means they will fit a variety of different sizes and they are super soft. Harem pants fold up small so you can easily fit them into your festival bag.

We love our sequin harem pants for the perfect sparkly evening outfit. They can be worn as trousers or also as a sequin jumpsuit.

Our fleece harems are just perfect for keeping the party going once the sun has gone down.

Boho Jewellery

The festival look would not be complete without some bohemian jewellery to complement your outfit. A statement necklace completes any outfit and takes it from day to night. Our chainmail necklaces are traditionally crafted by the Kalbelia tribes of the North Indian Desert. Each one is unique and is a statement piece you will wear again and again.

Chainmail statement necklace - Bahla

Pocket Belts

Pocket belts, bum bags and waits bags are a festival essential! The last thing you want is to drag bags around with you  while dancing in the sunshine (or traipsing through the festival mud!). A pocket belt will allow you to keep all your valuables and essentials safe and close at hand, while keeping your hands free. 

There are various combinations of pockets you can go for,  so find the right belt for you and let yourself go!

Leather Corset Belt & Leather Trap Belt

Canvas Rivet Belt

Bodysuits

A firm festival trend is 2020 is festival bodysuits. A must have for the festival season, just slip it on when you leave your tent and dance all day and night!Bodysuits

Glitter

We have had several years riding the glitter wave, but we’re not quite done with it yet! Glitter will continue to be on trend this summer and will make any outfit festival ready. You can wear glitter as part of your festival make up on your eyes, lips and face. Just apply using a glitter gel or Vaseline. Body and hair glitter paired with metallic eye makeup was also a popular festival trend in 2019.  

It is extremely important source plastic free glitter. We have become wise to the polluting effect of micro-plastics found in many brands of glitter , Not only are festivals such as Glastonbury and Shambala banning the use of non bio-Glitter but we need to make 100% sure that our choices do not polute our planet.  There are many eco-friendly glitter brands that offer biodegradable glitter so you can enjoy the sparkle without harming the environment. Festival Glitter sells glitter that is made from eucalyptus and biodegrades within 90 days of use.

Look out for festival stall Fairylove, who offer stunning glitter face paint using biodegradable glitter. 

Ethical and sustainable fashion

Sustainable fashion has been a hot topic in the last couple of years with more eco-friendly and sustainable clothing options available. Many people are starting to be more conscious of their fashion choices and make changes to their buying habits. This has also translated to festival fashion trends, with so many festival goers buying festival clothing each year.

What is fast fashion?

Fast fashion has been widespread in the last 40 years with many large brands outsourcing their production overseas, causing a reduction in clothing prices. Brands such as Primark have paved the way for cheap and fast fashion that you wear for a season and then throw away.

Fast fashion is factory produced at a high volume, it focuses on cheap prices and getting the clothing produced as quickly as possible. This can have harmful effects on the environment because it uses a lot of resources to continually make garments that are quickly discarded.

A huge amount of clothing ends up in landfills when it is no longer needed. Clothing can take anywhere from 1 – 40 years to break down depending on the material. This contributes to polluting the planet.

High volume production of clothing in factories uses large amounts of water and produces waste that can be harmful to the planet. The textile dyes and chemicals used to produce clothing are not always disposed of properly in an effort to keep prices down. This can negatively impact local water sources and pollute water systems.

The human cost of fast fashion is that it needs cheap labour costs to survive. This means workers are often poorly paid and work in bad or unsafe conditions.

What can I do to become more sustainable?

• Buy higher priced items that last longer
• Buy from brands that care about sustainability and give back
• Buy from small scale producers that care about their production methods and workers
• Recycle and add some vintage clothing to your wardrobe

At Forage Design we are committed to sustainability. We participated in The Planet Mark Start programme that educates businesses about how to become more environmentally friendly. We donate £1 of every product sold to environmental charities. When you purchase from us you can be sure that you are giving back to the environment. Please see our blog post about the charities we support for more details.

We hope you have a great festival season. Feel free to tag us on our Instagram page with your festival fashion favourites for 2020.

Written by Sarah Hall