While “Beliebers” and “Non-Beliebers” debate the merits of Justin Bieber’s performance at Coachella in Southern California on the weekend, the real issue at the long-running music festival is not how people sound but how they look.
In a cropped white singlet and denim cut-offs, Kendall Jenner has been the best-dressed person off-stage, and that’s a problem.
In the roped off A-list sections, away from the livestreaming hordes wearing flimsy skirts and tops that look as though they could appear in a search on Shein for “Coachella”, Kendall’s stripped-back style is as ubiquitous as cowboy boots at the Laneway Festival.
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The only reason that the supermodel stands out in the bleached basics is because she’s a supermodel. Kendall could make a belly chain look desirable.
Instead, that task was left to her beauty entrepreneur sister Kylie Jenner, in the other Coachella clothing staple, a ruffled romantic top with a plunging neckline, while oldest sister Kourtney Kardashian covered off the barely there lace dress category.
It’s as predictable as the contoured make-up and considered, carefree-looking hairstyles. The inspiration appears to be a Pinterest mash-up of Zendaya in Euphoria, ’90s Calvin Klein advertisements, and visits to gifting tents.
Since tie-dye and crochet tops spread from Woodstock to the wardrobes of the world in 1969, music festivals have influenced streetwear trends and luxury designers. In 2005 Kate Moss inspired a generation to wear Hunter gumboots, waistcoats and hotpants, or a slinky dress with a leather jacket, at Glastonbury in the UK.
It was more rock ’n’ roll, less manufactured and less camera-ready. Moss looked like she’d just rolled out of a tent, while Kendall’s flawless appearance at Coachella suggested that she had been carried in a palanquin from a make-up studio.
A decade ago, Coachella felt less like an exercise in accumulating TikTok followers and sponsorship deals. High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens reigned as the event’s unofficial style leader in 2012, adopting a sunny and sanitised take on Moss’s boho Cool Britannia style, accessorising with flower crowns instead of cigarettes. So what went wrong?
The Kardashian/Jenners are not completely to blame for style sameness at Coachella, with luxury labels increasingly starring alongside musical acts.
Sabrina Carpenter’s stylist, Jared Ellner, tapped creative director Jonathan Anderson to create four custom Christian Dior looks for the Manchild singer’s set, turning the Coachella stage into a mini Met Gala.
Justin Bieber paired leather Loewe boots with a pink hoodie from his own label Skylrk, while his wife Hailey spruiked pimple patches off-stage in a vintage Christian Dior slip.
Former Disney star Joe Jonas wore Prada to join Teddy Swims on stage.
Back in 1974 The Rolling Stones sang It’s Only Rock ’n Roll (But I Like It). At Coachella, it can only be from the Paris runway, or freshly pressed from a stylist’s rack (and I don’t like it).
The Loewe boots, however, were my favourite part of Bieber’s performance.
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