Why Your Rave Outfit Never Works Out the Way You Planned
It happens to every rave girl – we’re perusing Pinterest and find the most enchanting rhinestone bedazzled bra matching an equally enchanting mermaid up-do hairstyle. We think – “OMG I’m going to create that!” So what do we do? We go straight to Michaels and buy $30 worth of glitter, rhinestones, wire, glue sticks, and a hot glue gun. Once we get home we sit down with a glass of wine and a good Netflix show and get to work! Fast forward 2 hours later - we’re out of glue and discovered we needed about 3x the number of rhinestones. #PinterestFail!
I've personally wasted plenty of money attempting DIY with my cute rave clothes by trying to copy a professional Pinterest look. DIY can be an awesome way to add your personal touch to your festival outfit and save some money; however, if we’re not skilled seamstresses (or if we failed arts and crafts in middle school), it’s best to leave DIY to the experts. So what’s a cute raver to do? Follow these steps to ensuring a glam look that doesn't go to waste.
1. Shop Around and Budget Before Buying
Shopping for rave and festival wear can be expensive given the many rave shops and boutiques out there. Additionally, any apparel cateogry (i.e. tops, bottoms, bodysuits, etc) can have hundreds of looks made in dozens of assorted colors and patterns. Not to mention finding matching items is almost impossible. The important thing to remember when you shop rave is that it’s OK to be mismatched. Nobody is going to judge considering, more times than not, someone will be more extravagantly dressed than you.
Make sure not to buy the first thing you see, but to shop around multiple rave and festival online shops first. It’s easy to fall in love with multiple items, but not have the budget to buy them all. With rave and festival, you most likely will be buying from 3+ rave shops in order to complete just 1 look! When considering to buy from an online rave shop, first ask these questions:
1. What is their return policy? – If those cute rave shorts don't fit, make sure you can return them!
2. Are their rave clothes in-stock? It’s very common to shop an online rave store, purchase an item, and receive a cancellation email from the store saying that they are out of stock. This is because the item is being drop-shipped from the manufacturer, and the manufacturer does not have the item in-stock. The rave shop is acting as the middle-man and didn’t have the current inventory stock from the manufacturer. Tip: Ask the rave shop before-hand if they have an item in inventory or if they know that the item is in-stock.
3. Where are they shipping from? Rave and festival wear is international. Festivals take place all over the world which also means that the festival business is international. While it’s becoming easier to ship globally, the costs and time are still a huge factor. If you are located in the U.S., it takes only 3 business days for domestic shipping. From the U.S. to Canada, shipments can take up to 14 days. Not to mention the costs- it can cost anywhere from $30+ for international shipping. If you want to save some money and time, make sure the online rave shops are located in your country.
2. Find Your Focal Point
Similar to interior design, it’s important to discover your focal point for your outfit. We all love to pick out the paint, but the hardest part is finding the statement piece that draws the attention. Before buying the rhinestones, glitter, and hair dye, start with the "statement piece". For instance, if you’re going to Electric Daisy Carnival, find those electrifying daisy shorts that feature a large holographic daisy or the Hologram Lace-Up Bodysuit that is pretty much A-MAZING!
Cute rave clothes can have a focal point that's a material such as suede, velvet, sheer mesh, or faux fur.
Your rave wear focal point could also be a pattern such as silver hologram, tie dye, rainbow, alien print, LED lights, and laser print.
Once you find your focal point (your outfit theme), then you can build around it. Starting with the main piece, first, will end up saving you plenty of money and time down the road.
3.Try Your Artistic Skillz
It was mentioned earlier that DIY can be a complete disaster if you don’t have skill or an artistic vision; however, there are much simpler elements you can add to your wardrobe that don’t require much artistic talent.
1. Beads – Add some hippie love to your outfit with beads that you can find at any arts and crafts store. Most rave shops will have cute rave clothes, but no DIY beads. You can find beads at any craft store or Amazon. No outfit would be complete with a few beaded bracelets that show your love.
2. Makeup – No rave or festival outfit would be complete without a glam makeup job. Pair your cute rave clothes with makeup that matches your look. If you don't know where to start, Pinterest has endless tutorials that make it easy to create artistic festival looks that feature anything from mermaids to unicorns.
3. Hair – Give those locks a tousled, wild, and free look to match your equally wild and free personality. Turn your hair into a DIY project by putting colorful hair pins, barrettes, waves, buns, color, glitter, whatever you want! If you’re wearing a mermaid inspired bodysuit, find a tutorial on Pinterest about creating a mermaid braid. Don’t be afraid to experiment!
Making your hair a design piece for your rave or festival wear is a must-have for your outfit! These days, hair is art. So express your inner raver with doing a fun or colorful up-do.
4. It’s All About Glitter
There’s one rule of thumb when it comes to rave and festival wear – You can never have too much glitter. Gone are the days where glitter was considered kids play, now it’s cool and encouraged!
This Cosmopolitan article 13 Essential Glitter Hacks for Girls Who are Actually Unicorns Inside has some glitter-inspired tips for the lay person!
When shopping for body glitter, choose glitter that is already mixed with cosmetics or find "cosmetic glitter". Cosmetic glitter is much finer than craft glitter, is round rather than hexagonal, non-toxic, and colored with pigment rather than dye that doesn't absorb into the skin.
Unicorn Snot is a vegan and cruelty-free glitter product that is the preferred form of cosmetic glitter for many unicorns! Unicorn snot comes in many colors and forms from lip gloss to face and body gel. We love the glitter-tastic Unicorn Snot products which can be found HERE.
TIP: When shopping for glitter on rave or festival sites, don’t buy the “glitter glue” that’s sold alongside the glitter. That glue is hard to remove. Use something you already have such as hair gel or Vaseline to keep your glitter in place all night.
5.Theme
Most importantly- dress for the theme! Every festival has its own theme, and many festival apparel sites cater to those themes. If you want to make sure you ROCK your look, research the festival first and see what imagery they provide. Looking up pictures of last year’s festival will also give you a good idea of what people are wearing and how to theme your look.
Here is a quick snapshot of the festivals with their themes:
Source:
Gold Metallic Tattoo – Etsy | Teal Faux Suede Beaded Fringe Top - Julbie
Source: Black Mesh Bodysuit with Gold Harness - Julbie
Source: Blue Light-Up Cropped Jacket - Julbie
Source: Snow White and Alice Costumes - Julbie
As you have read, there are many mistakes that can be made when planning and putting together your rave and festival outfit. Next time you shop rave, hopefully these tips and tricks give you plenty of information for making your upcoming edm concert or festival and hit!
Even if you plan to purchase your rave wear without using any of these tips, just follow the PLUR (Peace, Love, Unity, Respect) life and you'll fit right in.
