The Looks of Lollapalooza: From Pink Pony to PTV
10 Fashion Snaps of Strangers in Chicago, 2024.
This summer I found myself with an unexpected ticket to any live-music addict’s fantasy: Lollapalooza, Chicago. As someone who spent their teen years attending the muddy and unsettling Reading Festival, now frequenting local gigs with a more tame capacity, almost every experience I had at this American festival was unexpected. That isn’t said to put my usual live-music ventures down; Lollapalooza has a layer of sickly corporate glitter that British festivals fail to match. Standing in the sticky heat two hundred rows back from a view of the top-half of your Number One Spotify Artist requires an acquired level of commitment. Still, the heat and sponsor-overlords didn’t make Chappell Roan, nor Pierce The Veil’s sets any less incredible.
So, Lollapalooza 2024: Expensive tickets, rich performances; an equally rich array of attendee outfits. I enjoy taking street (or in this case, field) photos. Here are ten of my favourites.
The presence of Pierce The Veil, let alone sharing an eyeliner-winged lineup with Deftones, increased the volume of hair-dye, studs, and platform shoes at 2024’s festival. Whoever booked this lineup constituted my hopes that the fourth-wave emo resurgence is becoming noticeable in real life. Indeed, many of the strangers’ outfits I snapped at the weekend nodded to alternative culture, with a disproportionate number pulling emo back in front of the lens.
Detail note: The person on the right’s whip stitched band patches, eg. City of Morgue, the NYC based metal/ hip-hop duo.
2.
Detail note: The person on the left’s layering of stacked necklaces.
3.
Detail note: the person on the right’s customised low-rise converse paired with illusion ‘lace’ socks.
4.
Detail note: Their stacked belts and matching pink-rimmed sunglasses.
Having seen Waterparks live for the first time in Brighton, England at age 13, lying about my age to get into their meet-and-greet, the pop-punk band’s Lollapalooza set was a neon nostalgia trip. Both (4) and (5) were taken as the crowd dispersed. The subjects can be seen wearing kandi: DIY bead jewellery stemming from rave culture, then adopted by 2000s scene kids (emo’s rainbow younger sibling). Now, these bracelets are traded at concerts, reinforcing community amongst fans; I came home with a ‘Dive In’ band a girl handed to me as I passed through the Pierce The Veil crowd.
Detail note: The matching red hair, makeup, and patch lettering, on both people.
Detail note: The person on the left’s crosses hair pins, and crossed straps on their side bag.
I can’t write an article on Lollapalooza 2024 without mentioning Chappell Roan’s set. Anticipation of her drowning out a smaller stage meant the artist was moved to the main ‘T-Mobile’ arena. This mass-summoning of people to an artist who, at the time, wasn’t labelled as ‘headliner’ cemented 2024 as the Year of the Female Pop Star, and to see an openly lesbian artist dragged into the spotlight is brilliant. Spotted on my way out of the crowd of cowboy hats, this group’s coordinated outfits caught my eye.
Detail note: The pink tamagochi attached to white lace (I hope it survived the weekend).
I spotted the subject of (7) somewhere in Destroy Boys’ circle pit. The queer-fronted Californian punk band summoned a diversely dressed audience to the IHG stage. Whilst someone more boring than I could claim that the attendees of Lollapalooza Chicago chose fashion over practicality, I saw nothing about this impeccably coordinated maximalist outfit hinder their ability to dance.
Detail note: Their whimsical headband and elf ears.
9.
Detail note: The leaf shape of their bum bag, and the collection of trinkets attached.
Noticed in Lollapalooza’s swarming communal areas, the subjects of both (8) and (9) look as if they walked out of a fairytale rather than a sweaty crowd. With fairycore’s 2021 rise to popularity, pulling influences from Japanese mori-kei, I do love to spot outfits that incorporate whimsical pieces a few years on. These people deserve a better background than the water-station bins but, alas, there they were.
Detail note: Their sunglasses; necessary in the weekend’s unrelenting weather but stylish nonetheless.
One of the most significant things that I noticed about the attendees at Lollapalooza 2024, as I am sure you also spotted, was the degree of outfit-coordination between friends, family, and lovers. I noted matching colourful fishnets, bracelets, shoes, makeup, and hair colours—and I am only one pair of eyes/ lens. No matter the massive scale and unexpected glamour of the festival, these coordinated looks reinforce a familiar feeling at the heart of it all: community held together by live music.
Thanks for reading!
Bee
(All photos used are my own and are not to be used for any personal or commercial purposes. If you are in any image and want it to be removed from this article for any reason contact me at bumblephii@outlook.com and I will do so.)
Bonus oufit: Me on Lollapalooza Day 2, taken by Jayden.
