After I get tickets for a concert, my first thought is always, “What am I going to wear?” I go through the entirety of my closet and can never find anything until the week before. Other than the stress of finding the perfect outfit, my thoughts are occupied by the excitement of seeing my favorite artist.
Concerts are fun environments created by the artists and their fans. When the fans and artists take inspiration from each other, it makes them even more entertaining. They change and add their own little details to other concerts. Concert culture, or certain aspects of fan culture such as dressing up or sharing little trinkets, is always growing and changing.
For example, The Jonas Brothers, who are currently on tour for their new record, “The Album,” have taken inspiration from Taylor Swift. In 2015, during The 1989 Tour, Swift introduced ‘Swiftbands,’ light up bracelets that sync up to the set list of the concert. These were also a part of Swift’s Reputation and Eras Tours.
Much to my surprise, I found that Swift was not the first one to start the light up bracelets aspect of concerts. This was originally started by the band Coldplay in 2011.
Harry Styles has inspired his fans to dress up and his events are known for changing how fans dress for concerts. In 2021, when Styles began touring for “Fine Line,” his second studio album, fans showed up in feather boas and extravagant outfits. This very quickly became a trend at other concerts.
Swift’s concerts are one of them. At The Eras Tour, concert-goers dress up in fancy outfits from the 10 different albums, or “eras” as Swift refers to them. An example of this is wearing pink for the “Lover” era and a white dress with cowboy boots and hat for the “Debut” era.
Fans of other artists, such as Beyoncé and the Jonas Brothers, have also taken note of this. Individuals dress up as the Jonas Brothers when they competed in the Disney Channel Games back in 2008. For Beyoncé, her fans have taken the liberty to dress in sparkling outfits that represent her most recent album “Renaissance.”
Even when I attended a Hippo Campus concert in June 2023, I decorated a cowboy hat because their EP “Wasteland,” had underlying country themes.
Another concert trend Swift introduced is friendship bracelets. In her 10th studio album, “Midnights,” a song titled “You’re On Your Own Kid” entered the scene. In the song, Swift mentions, “So make the friendship bracelets/Take the moment and taste it.” This is exactly what fans did. Fans started to make and trade bracelets at The Eras Tour, and as a result, it spilled over into other artists’ concerts. There were people trading friendship bracelets at the Jonas Brothers concert on Aug.12.
On Sept. 9, I had the privilege of attending an Arctic Monkeys concert. Alex Turner, the lead singer of the band, dresses in suits when he performs. Naturally, the fans follow. I wore a black skirt with a white top. I would look around and see girls in combat boots and skater skirts. As for the men who attended the concert, they all wore nicer shirts and khaki pants. I did, however, see one person in a suit.
The mentality of preparing for the Arctic Monkeys concert was different. I didn’t feel like I had to present myself as a different era of the band. I took inspiration from the song “Arabella” to put my outfit together.
Concert culture, as a whole, has had tons of influence on how people dress. The environment around concerts has also changed, in a good way. The younger crowds are having more fun and bringing other aspects of concerts around.
Concert culture should stay this way.
