How to get the Festival Chic look this summer

The team at Trend Bible have been getting into the full festival swing, gearing up for the muddy delights of Glastonbury but in very chic style. Here they share their top trend tips for the festival season, for those of you watching the real thing or planning your own camping trip:

Summertime is upon us, and with the sunshine (and inevitable showers) comes three months full to the brim with music and arts festivals. BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend kicked off the festivities in May, and the highlight of the festival calendar, Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, is just around the corner. With Trend Bible stylist Cassandra Doyle fresh back from Isle of Wight festival and our creative assistant Alice Barnes off to Glastonbury next week, we bring you the very latest in festival chic.

Back in August 2009 we published our Spring/Summer 2011 trend directions, and highlighted the festival season as a big influence on lifestyle and design trends. The concept of the ‘staycation’ and holidaying at home was expected to be high on the agenda, along with affordable leisure pursuits like the good old-fashioned British beach day-trip, picnics, camping, caravanning, festivals and fetes.

Libertine

Our main trend concept for summer 2011 is Libertine, which celebrates the consumers’ increased interest in outdoor summer living and the growing popularity of products that allow us to live both indoors and out. Temporary and makeshift living spaces feature in this trend, as we find more ways to connect with the outdoors without breaking the bank.

The colour palette for this story mixes zingy citrus shades with rock-candy pinks and flat, urban greys for a contemporary take on summer pastels.

Check out this summer’s hottest outdoor products inspired by our Libertine story in mydeco’s rainbow nation festival folder.

The Great Outdoors

Outdoor living spaces are an obvious essential at any festival. Whether you’re glamping in a teepee or a vintage campervan or roughing it in a tent, here’s how to make sure you’re ahead of the crowds and camping in style:

Tents are a staple item for the festival season, and have evolved from utilitarian, functional shelters into vehicles for fun seasonal prints and on-trend colours. Watch out for unusual pod shapes, crazy colour clashes (think contrasting neon zips) and an abundance of patterns from mini geometrics to micro floral designs.

Campervans and caravans provide a great way to experience a festival; use textiles to update their look with hand-printed awnings in a floral or geometric patterns or a classic colour-blocked stripe awning.

Take a Pew

Whether you’ve been hanging out all day at a festival or doing a spot of gardening at home, the canvas camping chair is the perfect place to rest! This now classic folding style is updated this season in cute colourful stripes, plaited and woven strands, printed polka dots and woven chevrons.

We also love multi-stripe hammocks, and the super-cool hanging chair by Patricia Urquiola.

These intricate woven designs look fresh for summer, as featured in Spring/Summer 2011 Trend Bible Lifestyle Trends for the Home.

Let’s Eat

Going to a festival but don’t want to eat from greasy-spoon catering vans all weekend? Then dine in style at your campsite with printed melamine plates in pastel shades. A Trend Bible favourite, Rice, is great for melamine plates, mugs and serveware.

In The Detail

Watch out for festival and fairground imagery creeping in to the home this summer, with candy floss, ferris wheel and helter-skelter imagery used as prints on cushions and upholstery textiles. Try cushions with a micro geometric pattern or a funky woven picnic mat for an instant update to this look.

Alice will be reporting on all the festival trends from Glastonbury upon her return, so keep your eyes peeled for the report on Trend Bible’s blog.

Not sure which festival to go to this year? Check out Festival Countdown, a brand new website dedicated to counting down to this year’s festivals, both in the UK and abroad. It includes those all-important weather reports and links to the festivals’ main websites.

And for more festival fashion and inspiration, see mydeco’s festival folders full of colourful camping accessories and glamping style:

A rainbow nation of festival colour

Summer of festival peace and love

Boogie with the 1970′s festival trend

Celebrate national Camping and Caravanning week

Green tents are so boring! If you feel inspired to glamorise your festival or camping trip this summer make a quick moodboard on mydeco and group your favourite outdoor living accesories for a fun and funky camping holiday.

Happy camping!