It's officially festival season, kids. And though I couldn't need it more, I myself have a long while to wait, isn't that how it always goes? Unfortunately, Dani and I passed on Coachella this year. (Unfortunate because of my FOMO, fortunate however, for my bank account). And since I don't regularly allot funding for flights to Austin or Miami, I won't be revving up my festival engines til June for EDC.
I do, however, understand the need of my fellow hautegeeks, and have compiled a list of my favorite essentials to keep you fab throughout the heat, the beats and the daze that are festival weekends. (Alright, so its partly to keep my sanity while I wait out the ones I can't attend.) Whatever. You're not judging.
Given the nature of this blog, it's safe to assume many of my essentials will be clothing and gadget based- shocker. But over the years I've compiled a few tricks of the trade to keep you from hating life during what's supposed to be the best days of it. So let's get started.
Universal Charger and/or Spare Battery
Spare power cords work too, so make sure to map out the tents and lounges with charging stations. This will be essential to covering the bands/sets/after party gossip and anything else you plan to live blog or tweet while your phone is in a constant state of searching for service. Oh and, you know, finding your missing compadres, because even when you set an ultra-specific time and meeting location, you won't actually find them without it.
Low-Fuss Wardrobe
Not to be confused with low-effort wardrobe or low-style wardrobe. The "low" factor is strictly concerned with maintenance. This means no rompers, no heels, no running-between-set-hindering accessories, including but not limited to large cameras and purses. Stick with something chic and easy-going like a cropped top and maxi skirt.
Evian Spray
I guarentee you're only laughing if you've never tried it. We discovered this little miracle during Kaskade's Coachella set two years ago when, even after dark the day was still scorching. Luckily for us, a few friendly ravers were willing to share the wealth. The refreshing mist hydrates skin, revives makeup and keeps you cool. It's called The Sahara Tent for a reason, people.
Business Cards
No, seriously. If you're a blogger, a musician, a fashionista or any combination of the three, why aren't you traveling with them already? Besides the hordes of trend spotters and taste makers in the crowd, you're liable to literally bump into your dream connection. Standing behind Tim Smith in the beer garden for almost an hour last year before realizing it, was a bit of a "doh" moment to say the least.... If nothing else, at least you'll get accurate credit on street style blogs.
Besides an open mind and a great crew, that about sums it up!
What are your favorite festival tips or rituals?
So while everyone else has been really busy covering (and then re-covering) Gotye's 'Somebody That I Use To Know,' it looks like Jennifer Chung & Bryan Keith Malolot decided to cover a different band that, well, isn't really a band at all: Kaskade. The medley combines 4AM (one of my favorite tracks in LIFE) and Eyes, off the DJ's newest Fire & Ice album. They're kind of perfect together...the tracks...the duo; the idea in it's entirety. Enjoy!
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Finally a Klout Perk I'm giddy to get! Klout's partnership with Gilt launches this week, where your influence score correlates to a major discount on, well, Gilt Groupe's already discounted designer duds. *Insert fashion-girl squeal here*
If you're not already a member of Klout or Gilt, I suggest signing up pronto to ensure you won't miss out on cashing-in on your social media influence. Users with a score of 1-20 can claim their perk today, and word to the wise for my higher influencers: flash sales going live this week include DVF shoes (Wednesday), Free People (Thursday) and Missoni (Friday).
Along with the e-commerce site's regular flash sales, Gilt will be running special Klout sales curated by four top-Influencers. Get to networking and rack up those scores, you know you want the bigger discount!
I'll admit, I'm late to the Instagram train, but I'm not exaggerating when I say it was the very first app to be downloaded on my new iPhone.
And now that Breakfast's Instaprint has gone up for pre-order on Kickstarter (slash gone up for backing, and if you pledge enough you can be one of the first owners), I can't help but think of all the amazing gifts/crafts/DIY extravaganzas I can get my little hautegeek hands on with this bad-ass printer.
Wondering what all the hoopla is about? We're talking location-based printing, people. Anything instagrammed (that's a verb now, right?) with a specific location or hashtag that matches those set ot the printer is automatically printed on inkless paper.
How much fun could you have with these at an event? *cough* Fashion Week *cough*
Hiii. Free photo booth. Except, you know, the price of the actual Instaprint :/ ($399)
