Every spring, Texas’s little blue dot of a city gears up for the biggest event of the year. Austin’s South By South West (SXSW) festival is a two-week extravaganza comprising of interactive panels of the creative, tech and entertainment industries, this year’s newly added marketplace for local brands and designers, a film festival, and of course, it wouldn’t be an Austin event without live music. It is, after all, the live music capital of the world.
SXSW is the unofficial kick-off to festival season. It is—however—different to other festivals in the way that it takes over the entire metroplex. There is no set venue or field of festival goers camping out. There are instead, bands playing and pop-up shops at every corner including at local bars, venues or even a popular donut shop, Voodoo Doughnut.
Austin's style is known to be unique and is where funky hair colors, facial piercings and grunge apparel is a normal site. Walking the streets of Austin during SX, you get to experience the essence of Austin's style scene. And if you think you know festival style already through the likes of Coachella outfit posts, Austin's quote-unquote "festival" style is possibly the antithesis. No one is wearing a flowy dress with booties for the sake of a festival because that is not what defines the city of Austin.
Of course there are those outliers, but it is at its core an authentic city with rebel-like tendencies. Austinites love its quirkiness. In fact, they celebrate it and make efforts to see that it remains that way. It’s why the city’s tagline is “Keep Austin Weird” and it is absolutely reflected in the way the people choose to dress themselves.