Outfit inspiration for Austin City Limits follows the typical festival outfit formula: the flower crown, flash tattoos and a flowy crop top. An alternative to this outfit is allowing the music to inspire your festival fashion, which can be accomplished by constructing an outfit based on your favorite ACL artists’ album art.

By Hunter Tanem

Extracting inspiration from such an unexpected place can be tricky, so below are a couple of examples of how to incorporate album art into your outfit.  

Flume

Drawing inspiration from this year’s lineup, take Flume’s recent release, Skin, for example, and analyze the cover’s artistic qualities, or anything at stands out visually. The gradient background can provide inspiration to wear a gradient tee, while the flower imagery may inspire you to wear a floral dress. Pulling color inspiration from the dusty roses, pinks, and indigos can produce a fresh and pleasing color palette. An example of combining both color and floral print can be seen in the Kimchi Blue Flutter Sleeve shirt from Urban Outfitters or in this classic Stussy tee. The color of the blouse is taken straight from the album art, with the florals matching the same pattern on the album art. The shimmering gold on the album can influence accessories and makeup, such as  gold geometric flash tattoos, or a gold chain. In addition, gold rings, bracelets, a blue and pink eyeshadow look with gold liner and the infamous festival glitter can all be used to complete the look.

Gallant

Another example you can draw inspiration from is Gallant’s Ology, which portrays a subdued black and white image of the artist with hints of gold. A crisp grayscale outfit, with a classic crop-top and black shorts are possible choices. You could also opt for a sheen black top, similar to Gallant’s, accompanied by gold accessories, such as this choker necklace from Zara, or this watch. An Adidas Jacquard short and crop top combo can provide the balance of festival wear and urban aesthetic that is expressed in the album art. Also try pairing a crisp black tee with a classic pair of ripped black jeans.

Festival fashion can offer a connection to artists through personal creativity based on album art. This ACL season is the perfect time to exercise this trend. Not only will you feel inspired by your look, but you’ll be thankful for thinking outside of the box when it comes to standard festival style.