Coachella. It’s basically a meet and greet for fashion bloggers and influencers but on a monumental scale – with each passing year seeing more and more content creators from around the globe descending on California to grab their iconic shot in front of the ferris wheel. And let me tell you, as someone who’s only ever experienced Couchella [the act of sitting on one’s couch obsessively watching IG Stories from those in attendance] – it looks like a pretty epic affair.
But is this just a case of Instagram promoting a ‘perfect’ lifestyle so that those of us at home are left with a massive case of the FOMO? With Isabelle Clarke heading to Coachella with boyfriend Jai Waetford to help promote Chadstone‘s newest street-style offering, we tracked her down post-festival to find out what really goes on behind-the-feed at Coachella and if it lives up to all the hype…
“Coachella has always been the number one festival to go to on my bucket list, and I was so excited to be able to go there with my best friend and boyfriend Jai, as guests of Chadstone – The Fashion Capital. To get ready for the weekend, we had picked all our favourite festival looks from some of the new street-style retailers that have opened up at Chadstone in Melbourne.
It was easy to beat the jet lag with the adrenalin of actually being there! Everywhere we looked there were our favourite brands, bloggers and celebs (I even spotted Gigi Hadid) and honestly the fashion has given me some major inspo for the next Australian festival season. For Day 1, I wore a snake skin print two-piece from Bardot – which was the perfect choice for the fashion everyone sports at Coachella.
Whilst the fashion and mingling amongst the crowds was amazing, because most of our favourite artists were there, we had a strict itinerary of who we had to see. Day 1 was headlined by Childish Gambino, however our absolute fav set that day was by none other than Jaden Smith – one of both Jai and my all-time favourites. We knew every word to “Icon” and screamed it at the top of our lungs.
By Day 2, we had connected with a lot of our friends from Australia and decided to join forces for the rest of the weekend. As this year was Coachella’s 20th anniversary – I made sure I incorporated every festival piece I could think of into my look! I paired daisy prints blue jeans with a colourful crop top and topped the look off with a bandana, lots of glitter and reflective glasses – all to be found at General Pants and Mecca.
Coachella wouldn’t be the iconic festival that it is without all the extra parties held by some of the best brands in the world. Jai and I were lucky enough to be invited to the Nana Judy estate party to kick off the weekend inspired by the French Riviera and featuring some of the hottest celebs and world’s biggest music artists – it was a definite highlight!
Day 3 was headlined by none other than Ariana Grande and her performance was everything the fans wanted and more. Other stages were filled with iconic acts such as Zedd and Chvrches – but our absolute fav was Khalid.
It would be rude not to stop by In-N-Out for a post-Coachella refuel, but this for me was a serious case of doing it for the ‘Gram – who goes to Palm Springs and doesn’t make a cheeky stop at In-N-Out?! But I still like the food in Australia much better…
I’m calling it – Coachella is one of the happiest places on earth and I can’t wait to do it all again someday!”
All images feature Isabelle Clarke wearing pieces from Chadstone.
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