Don't Know What to Wear to Coachella? See Some MVP Looks Over the Years

Coachella is the biggest music festival of the year, drawing in names like Lady Gaga and Charli Xcx. Beyond the talent on-stage, the outfits attendees wear are also a pretty huge deal. Finding the right festival look may feel daunting, as it requires the perfect marriage of fun and functionality to nail the outfit. After all, a typical ]day at Coachella involves hours spent on foot and in the heat. Looks over the past few years, however, offer plenty inspiration.

Festival style first was popularized in the 1960s, most notably through the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969 when 400,000 guests, remembered for their overwhelmingly bohemian dress, gathered in upstate New York to listen to musicians like Jimi Hendrix and The Grateful Dead. Plenty of denim, fringe, headbands, halter tops, and loose silhouettes graced the Woodstock attendees, partly laying the bricks for the boho trend seen on runways today. Woodstock walked so Coachella's take on boho could run. 

Festival style is ultimately about uninhibited freedom of expression. The best looks over the years lean into this, whether they're full of gladiator sandals, circular shades, flower crowns, or crochet dresses. It has been a minute since the boho look took over the Coachella Valley, and new style inspiration leans into other trends, including makeup ones, that still sit firmly in self-expression.

If finding the perfect festival outfit is feeling more like a burden than a joy, we gathered some of our favorite Coachella looks over the past almost decade, starting in 2016. While many are bohemian in nature, there are plenty other MVP ensembles like a Tommy Hilfiger-clad look that channels Aaliyah to a someone dressed in the perfect trompe-l'œil top. Keep scrolling to get last-minute styling inspiration from the best looks of years past.