Spring Awakening Music Festival began as a series of concerts at Congress Theater in 2008. With the dramatic rise in popularity of EDM music over the past 5 years the event outgrew its original venue and is now hosted at Soldier Field. Given the lineup I knew the street style would be different from Lollapalooza or Pitchfork, but I was blown away by the widespread embrace of 1990s rave culture like kandi, fluffy leg warmers and EVERYTHING NEON!

Music festivals tap into the universal human desire to feel connected, like pilgrimages or massive religious gatherings. Dancing at an EDM concert is a joyous embrace of feeling alive as we lose ourselves in the crowd’s energy. The weird and wonderful fashions you see above are just one way people express themselves in the safe space created by the ‘alternate reality’ of music festivals, just like sports fans who paint their faces and go wild on game day.

After all – what woman doesn’t love playing dress up?

Amy Bluhm’s industrial, deconstructed look immediately caught my eye at SAIC’s The WALK 2013 student fashion show. Besides, is there anything more killer than a pair of Rick Owens boots?

Olympia and Alejandra are two friends from Mexico City who flew up to see the Rolling Stones play in Chicago last week. It was also Olympia’s 21st birthday – what better way to celebrate!?