Strawberry Denim & Festival Essentials

Am I heading to a festival this year? No, I haven’t been since Arctic Monkeys made me cry and lose my voice at Reading in 2014 (Alex Turner I still love you). Does that mean I can’t get involved? Hellll no! To be honest, I see festival fashion as casual everyday fashion with a dash of aztec, a backpack, and embroidery left right and centre. Am I right? I nail the casual everyday fashion, well, everyday, so all I need to max the festival vibes are some added accessories that are practical but a lil’ funky.

And just you wait til’ you see my new denim shorts. They have embroidered strawberries on them.

Festival fashion in itself can be a tricky one. Do I wear a dress? No, inevitable knicker flashing. Do I wear a playsuit or jumpsuit? No, ultimate faff when going to the toilet. Do I wear a cute little skirt? No, I’ll probably ruin it. Do I wear jeans? No, too DAMN HOT.

Denim shorts are my go-to every single time.

Sure, they’re a bit S-Club 7 fan girl from 2001 (especially when you have embroidered strawberries on them) but they’re practical, comfortable and easy to style for any festival look you want to create. I picked these babies up from New Look for £22.99, which isn’t a bad price, and I also sized up in them so they’d be nice and loose around the waist/private areas (comfort is key my girls!). What do the strawberries add? Absolutely nothing other than they’re flipping adorable.

And where do you keep your lipstick (for top ups), your powder (for nose grease) and concealer (for post-booze spots)? Carrying a big un-sexy rucksack around all day is all well and good until you need to find the little things (including those 10 spare hair bands that you brought with you and have already magically disappeared by day 2) – that’s where this little cosmetics bag from DS London comes in handy. I sometimes think cosmetics bags are made to be the size of real handbags, and what’s the point in that? I want something small and good quality that can keep my essentials in (including tampons if you’ve got the worst festival luck in the world).

Aside from the festival scene – I’ve been using this cosmetics bag for a few weeks in my work handbag for my lipstick and my keys (lol, lose them far too often) and it’s the perfect bag to keep everything safe and also easy to find. Plus, who doesn’t love anything personalised?! It makes a cute gift as well if you know someone who’s a bit tricky to buy for.

And if you’re digging the cosmetics bag then head over to my Instagram – I’m giving one away in a colour of your choice (from the selection on their website) with your initials on! Click here to find the link to the post and follow the instructions in the caption to enter. This ends Thursday 13th July at midnight so hurry on over!

And last but not least, where’s a festival outfit without some aztec designs? If you haven’t spotted it in my outfit yet then have a look at my shoes… aren’t they just GORGE? They’re a fab little sandal from Deichmann and the reason these kinda shoes are the best for festivals are because they are actually so practical (unless it’s raining, make sure you pack your wellies too!).

But basically, funny story, once at a festival I wore slip on shoes, ya know, ones with like one strap across the front of your foot… and it was THE WORST DECISION OF MY LIFE. You kinda end up using your toes to hold the shoes on, and jumping up and down to the tunes (check me out) is near enough impossible. These sandals not only look totally #festivalvibes, they’re comfy, they have a bit of substance and they don’t slip off at all either!

Lesson learnt my friendlings!

SHOP THE LOOK

Tee – New Look

Shorts – New Look

Shoes – c/o Deichmann

Bag – ASOS (old but v similar here)

Sunnies – ASOS

Cosmetics Bag – c/o DS London

So my festival essentials are definitely something denim (with embroidery), somewhere to keep my little things safe and obviously a pair of comfy sandals that’ll cope with the walking and the moshing (or whatever it is you guys do, because I definitely have no idea what ‘moshing’ really is).

Let me know what your festival essentials are and what you think of the outfit (& don’t forget to dig out that giveaway on my instagram!).

R x

Follow

** this post is sponsored by DS London but all thoughts and silly festival stories are my own! **