Thursday, May 12, 2011

inspired ::: music festivals

lollapalooza black keys

With the season of summer music festivals approaching, I've been thinking a lot about my countless festival adventures, and the ways in which they've so uniquely possessed the ability to produce creative inspiration. Up until very recently, I spent summer after summer attending as many music festivals as possible, in all sorts of different capacities, for both work and play. 


music festival fashion show

moe. photos
I've been a festival fashion show producer and emcee.  I've been a stylist for bands.  I've been a vendor of my clothing line.  I've been a speaker on eco-fashion.  I've been a sustainable style workshop leader. I've accompanied my fiance to festivals the band was playing. And, of course, I've attended as a good old-fashioned fan.

sustainable fashion workshop

Regardless of my reason for being there, there's always been something about music festivals and the experience of participating in them that is inherently creatively motivating.  Besides the obvious inspiration-inducing art form that coexists with these festivals (music!), there's an abundance of expressive fashion, beautifully designed functional art, progressive concepts in eco-consciousness, limitless potential for new discoveries (bands, art, people, food!), and, of course, the unique idiosyncrasies of festival culture itself.  For me, it's almost impossible to leave a music festival without feeling a new found desire to create.

Admittedly, over the past couple of summers, I've finally reached my "festie wall," where I no longer feel the need or desire to cram as many as possible into a given year.  Whether I've overdone it or am just becoming boring remains to be seen, but these days I'll be sticking to just one or two per summer, please.  As for this summer, I'm still deciding which ones I'll be attending (side note: Lollapalooza = a given), but I really look forward to the creative inspiration they'll undoubtedly bring.

Are any of you avid music festival-goers?






Background of top image: Black Keys at Lollapalooza 2010.




8 comments:

  1. Your life sounds so colorful--I love it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't usually do festivals because I am a bit of a crowd-hater...I mush prefer concerts and even then I still don't like being around all those people. I did go to a few in my youngers days...when I wasn't so cranky!

    ReplyDelete
  3. yep, but u already knew how i would answer, now melissa, didn't u?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I used to go to festivals when I was younger; I admit it's been a long time. The older I get the less appealing it seems to be outside all day in hot and humid DC summers, surrounded by tons of other sweaty people. I prefer smaller venues where you can actually see the band.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is an amazing post! I wish my job included music festivals!

    ReplyDelete
  6. great photos! it is so awesome you get to personally and for business enjoy music festivals. I honestly haven't been to any big ones :( it is on my bucket list for sure!

    --brittany--

    http://prettylittlevintage.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. I used to cram all the festivals and concerts I could ever possibly see in to the summer months...but not so much anymore as life is way too busy these days (in a good way though). But wow, what an amazing job to have!! Great pics by the way:)

    Thanks so much for visiting my blog - even more b/c it lead me back to yours which is quite lovely. Have a fantastic weekend! xx Marisa

    ReplyDelete
  8. that's s cool! you look very important in all of these photos :)
    i've never been to a single music festival [and i even lived in austin, tx for 4 years!]...maybe one day!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for commenting! We love reading your thoughts and we're grateful for your input. (All spam will be deleted.)