Unique fashion statements are ties that bind ravers at EDC

At electronic music festivals like Electric Daisy Carnival, which wrapped up early Monday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, ravers take to heart the phrase “less is more.” It only takes a few moments to get a sense for the trends: metallics, spandex, fishnets, pastels and strappy tops and accessories. It’s the unicorn food trend in rave wear form.

The Review-Journal talked with attendees Saturday about their festival fashion.

Allie Alterio, 24

Flagstaff, Arizona

How did you acquire all these kandi bracelets?

Some of these I was traded, some of them I was given and some of them I made — all three of them. This one was a gift from (my boyfriend). All of these ones (on my right arm) I made and these I just make for fun to trade to people. And all of these (on my left arm) are the ones I’ve been traded from people that I found were really cool, and I keep all of these and usually I meet up with them. I have collections. This whole section is all from the same person.

How do you decide what characters or images to make from the Perler beads?

I do things that I love or just really make me happy. I make pandas because they’re my favorite animal. I love Game Boys because it was just something fun as a kid, you can relate to other people who are just like, ‘Oh (expletive), you play Game Boy.’ This one I made for some girl, she said she really likes wolves, so I’m going to find her and trade it to her.

Have you found that wearing this much kandi changes your experience at EDC?

For sure, you get a lot more attention with a lot of the kandi.

Dustin Pacheco, 24

Flagstaff, Arizona

How long have you been coming to raves?

Thirteen months.

What drew you into rave culture?

Best friends. I had free tickets to go to a pool party rave, and I invited (my best friend) because he’s a raver, and then later that night there was another one going on and he was like, ‘Hey, wanna come?’ And so, after that, it just started the ball rolling.

It’s that community that makes you happy. You get the idea here that there is no judgment. Everyone’s here just to be happy and have a good time.

For women, there’s a kind of an EDC uniform — the metallic spandex or bikini. How do you decide what you’re going to wear?

It’s definitely a group effort. The three guys in our group, me, him and our friend who got us into raving, we decided to do a Pokemon theme. So I’m dressed as Brock, he’s Pikachu and our other friend is Ash. So we’re matching. Another thing we’ll do is all tie-dye as a group.

Why do you wear kandi?

It adds to the community factor. It gets you talking to strangers. You get to see their work, and they can see yours and you just exchange.

Vana Orojian, 25

Los Angeles, California

How would you describe your EDC style?

I wanted to be a different person each day, so I have completely different wigs for each day and completely different things matching. I kind of have a professional job, so when I came here I wanted to be something completely wild and different and you’d never think I’m a professional or anything like that, you know? Just shiny and bling and all of that.

What’s the persona you’ve taken on tonight?

Luna, I guess. I love the (expletive) space and the moon. And also like Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter because she’s just so ridiculously nice, and she’s weird, but she’s just so nice, you know what I mean?

Where do you get the different pieces of your rave outfits?

I’m from Los Angeles, so a lot of them are just from downtown LA, from Santee Alley, where they have all those stores. They have lingerie shops there that sell everything. They had a jewelry store that sold these (bracelets), the wigs I got from a wig store in downtown, this (headband) is from the jewelry store, and this (corset) is from the lingerie shop. The glasses are from Amazon.

How many times have you come to EDC?

This is my first year. … I went to Life is Beautiful in Vegas last year, and they had an EDM stage, but I was more at the alternative rock. I saw Zhou performing and that got me really EDM. She’s been going EDM for years, my best friend, so finally I was like, ‘OK let’s just go.’ It’s amazing, oh my God, I love it.

So this is also your first time putting together a rave outfit?

Yes, absolutely. But I figured, go big or go home. I wanted to be a completely different person when I was here.

Amanda Berendsen, 27

Orange County, California

Where do you get your inspiration for EDC beauty?

I guess different people in the music scene. Gypsy Shrine is a vendor that makes these jewels, and they do the glitter too. I follow Coachella fashion and festival fashions, accounts like that. That’s kind of where I get the inspiration from. I’m really into rhinestones and over-the-top type stuff.

Are there any beauty trends that are particularly popular at EDC this year?

I’d probably say the glitter, for sure, and then also the face jewels are really popular. And then metallic stuff too.

How long did it take you to do your makeup tonight?

This took me like an hour, but I feel like it’s sweating off now.

Sari Hernandez, 26

Phoenix, Arizona

What goes into planning your EDC outfit?

Me and my best friend Michelle, this is our third EDC together and we meticulously plan every outfit. We ordered these like six months ago, we had everything custom made, down to the shoes — everything. A lot goes into it.

What are you typically attracted to in terms of rave wear?

Oh my gosh, I don’t even know where to start. We’ve really gotten into lately, like I said, doing custom designs and working with lesser-known designers to try and help build them up. We really just look for people on Etsy that are kind of up and coming and have really cool designs and aren’t just something you can find at any other rave store. We’ve really gotten into that.

Are there any up-and-coming designers you’ve really been a fan of lately?

Yes! Excess Lingerie. She is from Canada, she does lingerie typically but she just started working with rave wear. She designed my outfit last night and she’s designed a bunch of my friend Michelle’s outfits. She’s amazing, like so amazing. That’s a person I definitely want to build up.

What goes into custom making an outfit?

Basically, we send her the color scheme we want to go for, and the look. Last night we were going for really fairy raver kind of theme, so we told her that theme, we told her our general colors, and she came back with five or six different sketch templates with different color options. And then we just all built it up from there. It took us two months to get them made.

It sounds like creating custom rave wear takes a lot of time and money. What makes it worth it for you?

This is just kind of our escape. I’m a parent, and we work nonstop and everything and this is just the few days that we get to come and do whatever. So I really like putting the money into making it a really special thing.