What to Wear to Shambala Festival

Best option here: Waterproof boots. Wellingtons or a lined hiking boot.

Avoid: white trainers, anything suede, any heel.

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.
• 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
• Packable rain poncho
• Dry socks, more than you think
• Head torch
• Second pair of dry shoes
• Bin bag for wet clothes
• 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 damp conditions, with no iron, no mirror and a 12°C (54°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.

• White trainers. They will be brown before the first act finishes, and they will not recover.
• Anything suede or leather-soled. Wet suede is finished, and a leather sole on wet grass is an accident.
• 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.