What to Wear to Rainbow Serpent Festival

Best option here: Broken-in boots or sturdy trainers.

Avoid: brand-new shoes, heels, and anything you have not walked 10 kilometres in.

You will walk between 15.000 and 30.000 steps a day at a festival of this size, repeated over 4 days. Footwear is the only part of a festival outfit that can genuinely end your weekend, so it is the one place to spend money and break things in beforehand. Pack a second, dry pair for the campsite. Putting wet boots back on at 9am is the classic mistake.

• Bag size. Most festivals of this size cap bags at roughly A4 or require a clear bag at the main stages. A belt bag plus a small crossbody clears almost every policy. Check the official rules before you buy anything bigger.
• Chains and studs. Long chains, spikes and metal-heavy accessories are refused at some gates. If a piece is central to the look, have a backup.
• Glitter. Biodegradable only at a growing number of festivals; plastic glitter is banned outright at several. It is also, practically, the hardest thing to remove from a tent.
• Camping. Whatever you wear on day one lives in a tent for 4 days. Pack in outfit sets, not individual pieces, and put each day in its own bag.
• Sun. At 31°C (88°F) with no shade, a hat and SPF 50 do more for how you look on day three than any single garment.
• Cultural dress. Several festivals in this category explicitly ban headdresses and other appropriated cultural dress. Check the site's own policy. It is usually stated plainly.

• Two tops per day (one gets ruined)
• One layer for the night
• Earplugs
• Refillable water bottle
• Portable charger
• Sun cream or SPF stick
• Baby wipes
• A bag with a zip
• Head torch
• Second pair of dry shoes
• Bin bag for wet clothes
• Hand fan or cooling towel
• Electrolyte sachets
• Costume repair kit: safety pins, glue, spare elastic

Camping changes the whole calculation. Your outfits live in a bag on the ground for 4 days, in dusty conditions, with no iron, no mirror and a 13°C (55°F) night to sleep through. Three rules from people who do this every year:

1. Pack in sets, not pieces. One bag per day with the whole outfit in it. You will be getting dressed in the dark.
2. Sleep clothes are separate and sacred. Never sleep in what you danced in. That is how a tent starts to smell and how you get cold at 5am.
3. One jacket does everything. Pick the layer that works over every outfit, and accept it will be in every photo.

• Heavy denim and synthetic fabrics. At 31°C (88°F) they trap heat and sweat; you will be looking for a merch t-shirt by 3pm.
• A full face of heavy makeup. It slides. Waterproof mascara, a tinted SPF and a setting spray outperform a full base every time.
• Heels of any kind. Grass, gravel and crowd crush. Platform boots give the height with a surface area that works.
• Your good bag. Beer, mud, being sat on. Take the one you would not mind losing, with a zip.
• One outfit per day, hung up. Nothing stays flat in a tent. Roll sets, and accept creases as part of the aesthetic.