At Coachella, It’s a Guy Thing

By Sheila Marikar

April 18, 2014

Thermal, Calif. — “People are getting more brave, which I love, just embracing it,” said Kelson Berkus,
30, a marketing executive in Los Angeles, nodding approvingly as he surveyed the Lacoste party, clad in
aqua giraffe-print swim trunks (source: “probably Fred Segal”).

A few steps away, Ryan Greeley, 28, a former model who works in retail in Long Beach, Calif., stepped
out of the pool and pulled what appeared to be a large piece of cheesecloth (it was actually vintage,
from Buffalo Exchange) close to his chest.

“I call it a shawl, but that’s just because it’s a cardigan that’s mesh,” Mr. Greeley said.

It was the first weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and around him, hundreds of
young men milled about, clad in sleeveless shirts and short shorts, hoisting up vodka sodas
enthusiastically (“Let’s do this, bro!”), reliving the previous night’s excesses (“Ugh, the ceiling was
spinning”) and puffing up their pecs as they strutted around the private estate here.

Nearby, Tim Palmer, 28, a pharmacist who lives in Long Beach, laid on his back as happy electronic music
wafted across the bright green lawn. “You know, it was a process,” he said of picking out his clothes for
the festival, which on this day included floral denim shorts from Top Man. “I’m going with people who
have been coming here for so long, and they were like, ‘You have to have this outfit, you have to have
that outfit.’
“It was a struggle,” he added, with a sigh. Such are the tribulations these days at Coachella, the festival
that has run yearly since 2001 and has become as much about looking good as hearing music. Major
brands like Guess, Forever 21 and H&M descended on this sleepy stretch of California desert this year,
holding lavish parties for the beautiful Hollywood types that swarmed the six-day marathon. (The
festival, split into two weekends, ends Sunday.) Alexander Wang, a Coachella regular, chose the
occasion to announce his collaboration with H&M on Instagram last weekend.

“You can see,” Mr. Greeley added, gesturing at the pool, “everyone knows that it’s a part of fashion.
Fashion and Coachella go hand in hand.”

Women, at least, have been wise to this connection for a while, their sheer tops and flower crowns
having inspired a slew of style blogs and hashtags. But now, men, who once headbanged their way
through concerts in cargo shorts and beer-stained T-shirts, are feeling a similar sense of duty to rev up
their style. And men’s wear labels are flocking to Coachella to entice these style-conscious 20- and 30-
somethings.

a party for the last five years. “It’s not the core of our business, but the future core of our customers are
there,” he said.“Back in 2008, 2009, fashion wasn’t, like, a Coachella thing,” said Mr. Collins, 27. “It’s
evolved more into a Silverlake, Los Feliz hipster thing and now there’s the Brooklyn vibe, because
everyone from New York is here, like people coming in with rolled up jeans and loafers to a pool party.
It’s different.”
A version of this article appears in print on April 20, 2014, Section ST, Page 7 of the New York edition
with the headline: Coachella Flaunts Its Masculinity. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe