Festival Fashion accessories

The Girl Outdoors takes a look at 2012’s festival fashions and the prettiest Glastonbury–ready bracelets, shoes and bags with New Look.

Summer is only a few months away, and already the whirlwind of worldwide music festivals has kicked off. With the advent of smart phones, 24-hour WiFi and news and Twitter-feeds, that means a kaleidoscope of celebrity snaps, fashion blogging contributions and photos to pick over of the latest festie trends.

Festival fashion rarely changes significantly – it’s always going to be a mixture of shorts, flip-flops, easy-to-wear dresses and playsuits (because all festival goers need to be able to dance around and get dirty!). So instead I’m going to focus on bracelets and other accessories, which can often add a new accent to a tried-and-tested festival outfit. I’ve picked a few examples from New Look’s perfect–for–a–muddy–field summer collection to illustrate the trends.

Festival season and fashion have become part of the same huge media monster in the last few years – celebrities and pop stars carefully plan their outfits, and most music events are swarming with magazine editors, photo journalists and fashion bloggers looking for must-have street styles to communicate to a global online audience.

So what is there to expect in 2012? The global season of music festivals properly kicked off with the gorgeous Coachella festival in California this April, and the fashion bloggers were out in force; key accessory trends were the great fluro-on-fluro socks and shoes, throwing together bright colours like kingfisher blue and acid yellow. This cobalt/fluro sunshine combination is one of the season’s hottest – and most daring.

Yellow enamel hoop earings, £4.99

These enamel hoop earings from New Look (pictured) are an excellent way to pick up the look – pair with kingfisher blue socks, and, if you’re daring, acid yellow chunky heels.

If the bright sporty shades are less your thing, another key mix for summer festival looks is to take the boho look into 2012 with some minimalist touches. This means big sunhats (pictured) and sandals paired with sheer or mesh t-shirts or mini-skirts with sheer overlays, which are huge in the city as well as in the festival field this summer. Keep hair and make-up really simple and focus on shape and blocking.

Firetrap oatmeal floppy hat, £29.99