Music influences fashion and vice versa.
Last weekend hundreds of thousands of people began flocking to the California desert to attend the annual, two-weekend long, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Coachella, which began as a small weekend for music-loving Californians back in 1999, is now a worldwide phenomenon that attracts a diverse fan base; from Indie Rockers to Rap fans.
However, in recent years Coachella has gained attention not just for its star-studded musical lineup but for its influence on fashion. Commonly known as “Festival Fashion,” the fashion industry is infatuated with Coachella. Swedish fashion retailer, H&M, even launched a worldwide Coachella-inspired collection this year in preparation for the festival.
But why the focus on fashion? We live in a social media savvy and image-obsessed society, and Coachella is a platform for fashion brands to showcase their style to the world. With big-name acts such as Guns N’ Roses, Calvin Harris, and The Chainsmokers in attendance, fashion brands understand the mass appeal these acts have and use Coachella as their runway. Celebrities, both in attendance and performing, are even paid to show up to Coachella and wear brand-name clothes.
This meeting of fashion and music sparked our interest. We wanted to learn more about these two distinct communities. To do this, we used Affinio, the marketing intelligence platform, to analyze the Coachella Twitter following. Affinio’s algorithm then segments these individuals into interest-based groups. Immediately we were able to identify these two distinct groups, Festivalgoers and Fashionistas. The folks that attend Coachella for the music, and those that attend specifically for the fashion. Here’s what we learned:
They are influenced by different things
While both communities share a common interest in Coachella, their interests outside of the festival are extremely different.
For the Festivalgoers, interests such as other music festivals like lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, SXSW, and the Glatsonbury Festival all appear as top interests. Celebrities like Lana Del Rey, Kanye West, Radiohead, and Skrillex also appear as top interests (all celebrities that have performed at these events).
However, for the Fashionista community, Coachella is the only music festival on their radar. Instead, interests and influences such as Vogue, Stella MacCartney, and TopShop appear.
How they see themselves and what they talk about
We also took a look at their top bio keywords and top used hashtags to see how they differ.
The Festivalgoers use words like music, life, and live to self-describe. They also participate in conversations using hashtags such as #Soundcloud, #nowplaying, #iheartawards and #mambaday.
On the other hand, the Fashionistas use words like fashion, lover, designer, and blogger to self-describe. They use hashtags such as #fashion, #ootd, #spring, and #beauty in conversation.
The content they care about is vastly different
The Festivalgoers top liked content includes many Coachella-themed posts and posts from past Coachella performers such as Kanye West.
Desert dreaming pic.twitter.com/wRqAHLe4ce
— Coachella (@coachella) March 15, 2016
Fixing Wolves 2day… Worked on it for 3 weeks. Life Of Pablo is a living breathing changing creative expression. #contemporaryart
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) March 15, 2016
All we need is somebody to lean on pic.twitter.com/qOpIhcH9k7
— Coachella (@coachella) March 19, 2016
The Fashionistas top liked content includes visual content from relevant fashion brands and leading models such as Kendall Jenner and GiGi Hadid.
@voguemagazine @mariotestino pic.twitter.com/N5sFeloS9g
— Kendall (@KendallJenner) March 23, 2016
6:25am pic.twitter.com/DfrGvaj82P
— Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) April 6, 2016
vintage Hermès pic.twitter.com/ZzoWRUgmif
— Kendall (@KendallJenner) April 4, 2016
How Coachella fashion has grown and why it matters
Today it can be argued that Coachella is as much about fashion and style as it is its original purpose… the music. We took a look at the Coachella audience last year and the users that fit into the Fashionista community. Since last year, this community has grown by 28%. As Coachella has become more mainstream over the past few years and more and more brands are attaching their name to the festival, its fashion following has grown substantially.
Coachella has essentially become a cultural melting pot for fashion and music. By understanding the different audiences Coachella attracts, particularly the fashion community, intimately, fashion brands can secure viable partnerships for 2017!
Originally posted on the Affinio blog, “Crowdculture: The Differences Between Coachella’s Music and Fashion Fans.”