Wear a stretch two-piece set or a bodysuit, closed-toe shoes you have already broken in, and something warm you can tie around your waist for later. Carry a small bag you do not have to hold. That is the whole answer. Everything below is the detail that stops a good outfit going wrong at hour six.
What should I wear to my first rave?
Start with one piece that does most of the work. A bodysuit or a matching two-piece set stays where you put it, which matters more than it sounds like it should once you have been dancing for three hours.
Romantic Thoughts Women's 4pc Pink Set
Then add one or two things that make the outfit yours: face gems, festival glasses, a body chain, kandi. One or two, not six. The first outfit you wear should be one you can forget about.
If you are in Los Angeles, the fastest version of all this is to come to the showroom at 414 W Pico Blvd and put a look together in one visit. We are open seven days a week and staff will pull pieces for you.
What fabric should a rave outfit be made of?
Four-way stretch, mesh, and spandex or polyester blends. Avoid cotton and avoid denim.
The reason is temperature rather than style. Cotton absorbs sweat and holds it, so it goes heavy during the night and then goes cold the moment you step outside or the sun drops. Denim does the same and restricts movement on top of it. Stretch synthetics move with you, dry as you go, and weigh nothing when you are carrying a layer.
Hypno Haze Women's Long Sleeve Bodysuit
Mesh is the one most first-timers underrate. A long-sleeve mesh layer gives you coverage without heat, which is a combination almost nothing else offers.
What should I not wear to a rave?
This question gets asked almost as often as the first one, and it has clearer answers.
- New shoes. A rave is six to nine miles of walking and standing at a multi-stage festival. Shoes you have not worn in will take skin off.
- Heels and open toes. Floors get wet, feet get stepped on, and there is nowhere to sit down.
- Heavy cotton or thick denim. Both trap heat for the first half of the night and hold cold for the second.
- Anything you would be upset to lose. Glitter, drinks and crowds are hard on clothing.
- A bag you have to hold. If one hand is permanently busy, you will put it down somewhere.
- A costume with a rigid bodice or a zip up the back. Fine for a photograph, miserable by hour two.
What shoes should I wear to a rave?
Closed-toe, broken in, and either flat or on a stable platform. Platform boots are the category standard and they are genuinely comfortable once worn in, but a pair straight out of the box on day one of a festival is a bad plan. Broken-in sneakers are not a compromise, they are what a lot of people wear by the second day.
Black Venom Women's Holographic Knee High Platform Boot
Platform boot sizing runs differently between makers. The brands with their own charts have them linked from the sizing page, and the general shoe chart converts US to UK and EU.
Whatever you choose, wear them around the house for a few hours first. That single step prevents most of what goes wrong with footwear at a festival.
What do women wear to a rave?
Most commonly a two-piece set or a bodysuit with bottoms, finished with boots and a few accessories. Beyond that the range is wide and genuinely unpoliced.
Flares and bell bottoms are the most comfortable bottom in the category and they cover your legs through a cold night without adding heat the way jeans would. They also sit over platform boots, which is why they are cut long.
Flower Power Women's Bell Bottoms
Shorts, skirts and one-pieces all work. What matters more than the silhouette is whether it stays put when you raise your arms, which is the test worth doing in front of a mirror before you leave.
What do guys wear to a rave?
A graphic tee, a tank or a jersey, with joggers, cargos or shorts you can move in. Mesh tops and open shirts work for the same reason the women's side uses them, which is airflow.
Jerseys are the single most worn men's piece in the scene, because they are loose, breathable and instantly read as festival rather than street. The rest is in men's rave clothing.
Men's sizing here is charted by garment rather than one chart for everything, because a hoodie and a jogger do not fit the same way. Those charts are on the sizing page.
What should I wear if I am plus size?
The same styles. Our range runs XS to 3XL in the same designs rather than a reduced selection of them, which is not true everywhere in this category and is worth checking before you buy anywhere.
Two practical notes. Stretch fabric is more forgiving than structured fabric, so sets and bodysuits tend to fit better than anything with a fixed waistband. And read the chart rather than ordering your usual size, because rave sizing runs small across the board.
What should I wear to a rave in my 30s or 40s?
The same things, cut differently. The scene has no dress code and no age limit, and the idea that there is one is mostly something people worry about on the way in rather than something they meet once they are there.
What does change is what you want from the outfit. Coverage and comfort tend to matter more than they did at twenty, and that is well served by a flare and top combination, a long-sleeve mesh layer, or a full set rather than separates.
The rule that actually applies at any age: wear something you can move in and stop thinking about.
Does it change between a club and an outdoor festival?
More than anything else on this page.
Indoor club or warehouse. Hot from the first hour and it stays hot. Minimal layers, breathable fabric, and nothing you will have to carry once you warm up. Concrete floors make a thicker sole worth more than it would be on grass.
Outdoor festival in summer. Sun during the day, then a real temperature drop at night, often twenty degrees in the desert. A shrug, a light jacket or a long-sleeve layer you can tie on is the difference between staying for the headliner and leaving early.
Mystic Mushroom Women's Mesh Bell Sleeve Shrug
Multi-day camping festival. Dust gets into everything, so darker pieces and anything you can rinse out beat delicate fabrics. Pack one outfit per day plus a spare top.
Winter or countdown events. Layers that look intentional rather than borrowed. Fishnet or mesh under a set gives warmth without bulk, and a faux fur layer you can stash once the room warms up is the move most experienced ravers end up at.
What if the event has a theme?
Most of the large festivals run one, and they are a suggestion rather than a requirement. Nobody is checked at the gate and plenty of people ignore it entirely.
If you do want to dress to it, the reliable approach is to take the palette rather than the costume. A theme read as colors and finishes gives you an outfit that works whether or not anyone else bothered; a theme read literally gives you a costume that only makes sense in one place.
We build a collection per event for exactly this reason, so what fits the theme is already gathered: Beyond Wonderland, Nocturnal Wonderland, EDC, Hard Summer and Electric Forest among them.
What should I bring with me?
The outfit is half of it. This is the other half, and it is the part first-timers leave at home.
- Earplugs. Nobody puts them on an outfit list and everybody wishes they had them by the third set. Filtered ones cut volume without muffling the music.
- A small bag that fastens and sits across your body.
- A layer, even if the forecast says you will not need one.
- Something to keep your phone charged, because the night is longer than a battery.
- Blister bandages. Cheap, tiny, and the highest return item in the bag.
What kind of bag will they let me bring in?
Check the event's own page before you buy a bag, because this is the rule most likely to catch you out at the gate and it varies by venue rather than by city.
The common patterns are a clear bag requirement, a maximum size measured in inches, and a limit of one bag per person. Large backpacks are refused at most ticketed events, and hydration packs are usually allowed but often only empty and with the reservoir removable for inspection.
What works almost everywhere is a small crossbody or a fanny pack that fastens. It passes most size limits, it leaves both hands free, and there is nothing to put down.
How much should a rave outfit cost?
A full first outfit lands around sixty to a hundred and twenty dollars if you build it from a set plus accessories and already own shoes. Boots are the part that moves the number, because a platform boot is a one-off purchase that then lasts several seasons.
The cheaper route is one strong base piece plus accessories you rotate. A bodysuit or a set worn three different ways with different bottoms, glasses and kandi reads as three outfits, and that is how most regulars actually do it rather than buying a new look per event.
Where it is worth spending: shoes, and the one piece everything else hangs off. Where it is not: anything you will wear once.
How do I wash it afterwards?
Cold water, inside out, and never a tumble dryer. Heat is what kills stretch fabric, holographic finishes and anything with a foil print, and it does it in one cycle.
Hand wash anything with gems, fringe or attached trim, and lay flat to dry. Rinse glitter and sweat out the same night if you can, because both set into synthetic fabric once they dry in.
Boots get wiped rather than washed, and stuffed with paper while they dry so the shaft keeps its shape.
What is kandi and do I need it?
Kandi are the beaded bracelets you will see traded at raves. The trade is the point: two people make the same hand gesture, link hands, and pass a bracelet across. It stands for peace, love, unity and respect, and it is the closest thing the scene has to a ritual.
You do not need any. Nobody will mind if you have none and nobody will mind if you are covered in them. If you want to join in, bring a few spares to give away rather than only ones you want to keep.
What about hair, makeup and glitter?
Whatever you do, set it. Everything moves once a room heats up, and face paint that looked sharp at the door will not survive three hours otherwise.
Use cosmetic grade glitter rather than craft glitter, and keep anything loose away from your eyes. Hair that is tied or braided stays out of the way; anything that needs rearranging will need rearranging all night.
Interstellar Punk Unisex Sunglasses
How do I get the size right when I am buying online?
Rave clothing is cut small and cut unusually, which is the single most common reason a first order goes wrong.
Measure your bust, waist and hips with a soft tape and read the number off the chart rather than ordering your usual size. Our charts are published as tables with the measurements on the sizing page, including separate charts for the brands whose sizing genuinely differs. If you are between two sizes, size up. Stretch fabric sits closer than most people expect.
Returns are 30 days from the delivery date and come back as store credit, so an order that does not fit is not a disaster, but it does cost you time you may not have before an event. The returns policy has the detail, and some categories including hosiery and wigs are final sale.
How long before the event should I order?
Count backwards from the event rather than forwards from the order. We take one to two business days to prepare an order, then Economy is five to eight days at $5.99, Priority is two to four days at $9.95, and Express is one to three days at $24.99.
For an event inside two weeks, choose Priority or Express. Inside a week, Express, or come to the showroom.
Common questions
What does a 40 year old wear to a rave?
The same range as anyone else. Full sets, flares and long-sleeve mesh layers tend to suit people who want more coverage, and they read as deliberate rather than cautious. There is no age dress code.
What should I wear to my first rave if I do not want to stand out?
A plain black two-piece or a bodysuit with shorts, broken-in sneakers, and one accessory. You will fit in anywhere and you can build from there once you have been.
Can I wear jeans to a rave?
You can, and by the third hour you will wish you had not. Denim does not breathe and does not dry.
Can I wear the same outfit two days running at a festival?
The base piece, yes, if it is a bodysuit or a set in a synthetic that dries overnight. Change the bottoms and the accessories and it reads as a different outfit. That is the main argument for building around one strong base piece.
Where can I try rave clothes on before buying?
At our Downtown Los Angeles showroom, 414 W Pico Blvd, open seven days a week. It carries the full range in XS to 3XL, which is the fastest way to solve sizing if you are nearby.
Ready to put a look together? Start with women's rave clothing or men's rave clothing, check the store guide for shipping and returns in full, or see Halloween costume ideas if that is the event you are shopping for.
