Trendsetters are at Coachella, not in fashion pages
You heard it first from Tay Tay — on Insta, at Coachella.
“I feel like maybe chokers are the new flower crowns,” texted Taylor Swift, posing for a group selfie with her girl posse at last week’s sold-out music festival in Indio, Calif., which Glamour magazine has dubbed “the unofficial kickoff to spring and summer fashion trends.”
Super Bowl of street wear, Red Carpet in the Desert — whatever much-hyped and closely watched cultural touchstone you want to compare it to, the music fest is fast emerging as the season’s most influential fashion runway.
Judging from the little in the way of clothing that was actually on this year’s roundup of celebrity and influencer attendees, which alongside Swift, included Kendall Jenner, Katy Perry and Zoe Kravitz, what’s looking hot for summer 2016 will be crochet, lace, see-through all-white and all-black sheer looks, and the aforementioned little neck scarf or choker thingy.
Perhaps the most important trend of all, however, is the way that this fashion message is making itself heard.
According to the Business of Fashion, some 33 million people attend music festivals every year in the U.S. alone; 46 per cent of them from that highly prized demographic of pretty young things aged 18 to 34, and who, at least according to the research, claim to value “experiences” over material goods.
If there is something happening, a real, cultural moment where “you just had to be there,” these authen- ticity-seekers want to be part of it. And then they want to “share” their good fortune and what they wore on social media.
The fallout of this vast influx of visual information is nothing less than a disruption of the entire fashion order.
Instead of what’s being shown on the pages of fashion magazines, or even celebrity tabloids, what’s now come to influence what the hip and happening are wearing is the selfgenerated imagery of fast-growing millennial fave platforms — Instagram and Snapchat.
Which does not discourage the big fashion brands from trying.
This year at Coachella, Tag Heuer hosted a VIP lounge, where, according to CEO Jean-Claude Biver, “the main purpose . . . is not to sell watches,” but “to talk and to gather with our new customer.” H&M, a sponsor seven years running, upped its game this year with both an H&M Loves Coachella collection in its on-site pop-up shop, and a highly Instagrammable 360-degree Desert Vibes art installation, complete with lighting effects and wind machines.
For its part, Victoria’s Secret unleashed its leggy squadron of branded ambassadors, known as the Victoria’s Secret Angels, to roam the grounds seeking photo ops in the latest next-to-nothing. While Calvin Klein, hosted 25 “digital influencers” for a three-day “branded experience” in nearby Palm Springs, no doubt hoping to replicate its gig at South by Southwest earlier this year, which racked up more than a million engagements on Twitter and Instagram in less than 24 hours.
Even the hashtag #Nochella, for those lamenting the commercialization of the music fest, is seeing major play. Because that’s the beauty of engaging on an interactive platform such as social media with its “likes” and followers: it’s the medium that keeps on giving. Karen von Hahn is a Toronto-based writer, trend observer and style commentator. Contact her at kvh@karenvonhahn.com.