Women's Festival Fashion '14

With festival season fast approaching, it?s the perfect time to look through your wardrobe and see if there are any essential items that you could slot in to make your everyday staples more interesting.

Sometimes, it’s not about spending a fortune; you can add in a couple of new pieces to refresh your existing wardrobe for the season.

A pair of denim shorts are an ideal place to start and can be picked up cheaply all over the high street. Choose bleached out and distressed pieces for day, which can be worn with a plaid shirt or a peter pan collared blouse and ballet flats for quintessential cool. For evening, black denim or leather is a great shorting option and you can even bring a bit of glam to a muddy festival field by pairing these with a bejewelled kimono thrown over a plain tee.

Flat, comfortable sandals are perfect for sunbleached sidewalks and the shape du jour is, of course, the Birkenstock, which, if a little out of your price range, has been interpreted across the high street. Topshop and ASOS have some great colourways.

For a muddy field, an open toe just won’t do; scour branches of your local TK Maxx for last season’s colours of Hunter wellingtons at greatly reduced prices, or visit a camping or outdoor shop to pick up a classic navy pair which are, paradoxically, fashionable and practical. Who’d have thought?!

Umbrella £25.00 | Bumbag £20.00 | Vest £14.90 | Shorts £25.00 | Headband £60.00 | Sandals £30.00

Packing for a festival generally means travelling light, and as such you won’t want to be weighed down with reams of accessories. A large scarf is a must have; it will come in handy for a multitude of uses from wrap to picnic blanket and is also great to fashion into a headscarf to hide festival hair. Likewise, a pretty floral crown can lend a really girly edge to any look and is perfect for hiding a hair-mare. A decent hat is another accessory to consider, adding an edge to any look as well as protecting your hair and face from the elements.

It’s also worth thinking about packing an across-body bag or bumbag to keep essentials on your person and not stashed in a tent. You can find really sweet little mini-bags in Zara and H&M and they also mean you won’t have to trudge round a campsite with a great big tote falling off your shoulder and hindering your dance moves!

Hat £20.00 | T-Shirt £16.00 | Kimono £24.99  | Shorts £34.00 | Satchel £130.00 | Boots £25.00

Finally, any festival taking place in the UK will demand you invest in a pac-a-mac. These can be picked up in high street shops like Primark as well as most good outdoor shops and take up minimal space in a bag, but will prove invaluable if the heavens open! Now, where’s my backpack?