hell bent for metal

Today we have a guest post from the fab­u­lous and always styl­ish Zoe Zom­bie. You can also read more of her stuff on Quite Lovely.

My expe­ri­ences from Wacken 2008 will for­ever stay with me. Not bring­ing trousers was THE worst mis­take of my life. Appar­ently, the only trousers they sell at the Wacken mar­kets are leather and I wasn’t about to fork out the dosh for a pair. So I shiv­ered the nights away. Next time, I thought as I was moments away from freez­ing to death (I’m being dra­matic of course, it makes for a good story) I am not going to put myself in that posi­tion again. So now I am going to be smart about it and take my years of fes­ti­val expe­ri­ence into con­sid­er­a­tion and PACK ACCORDINGLY.

Metal fash­ion is com­pletely male-centric. That usu­ally leaves us with shirts that are too big or we go the com­plete oppo­site way — fish­nets and tits. I’m totally fine with women doing either but I don’t. I don’t believe that look­ing trashy is nec­es­sary (because not every­one loves see­ing that pim­ple on your ass being squeezed through those fish­nets). On the other hand, look­ing and dress­ing like a dude shows com­plete lack of self confidence.

So ladies, I hereby intro­duce to you some­one you may know. Her name is Sarah Con­nor. Not Sarah Con­nor Ter­mi­na­tor 2. Or even Ter­mi­na­tor 1. OH GOD NO — THE HAIR. I’m talk­ing Ter­mi­na­tor: The Sarah Con­nor Chron­i­cles. Why? Because it’s a lit­tle more mod­ern, it’s not slutty and it’s not too manly. It’s a per­fect exam­ple of how you CAN dress at Wacken. Not just for looks but for prac­ti­cal­ity. That’s right, I’m not a com­pletely shal­low woman. If you’ve never watched the show, I sug­gest you acti­vate some down­load­ing action now. And if you have watched the show and per­haps have a few episodes legally or ille­gally lying around on your com­puter have a quick look at them now.

Sarah’s cloth­ing is quite mil­i­tary (which is appar­ently super-duper in right now): boots, trousers, tank top and some­times a leather jacket. There are always vari­a­tions, there may be belts here or there. Her boots change but they are always boots. And she’s either wear­ing jeans, leather pants or pants with lots of pock­ets depend­ing on the day. So here’s what you can take from dress­ing like a fic­tional char­ac­ter and con­vert it into Wacken Wear.

• Lay­ers: These will save you from the crazy weather which has been known to go from boil­ing hot to freez­ing cold and rain­ing in not much time at all. A cou­ple of tank tops, a shirt, long sleeved top and jacket. Easy to carry around with you and stops you hav­ing to go to your tent dur­ing the day to make (what I like to call) cos­tume changes.
• Bot­toms etc: Jeans are only prac­ti­cal when it’s not rain­ing. Oth­er­wise, if it looks like rain I sug­gest trousers that dry eas­ily or work the tights-under-shorts combo. It’ll also help keep your undies dry if you don’t have a garbage bag to put over yourself.
• Boots: Boots are a must and the higher up your leg, the bet­ter. If it rains, you could very well find your­self in mud. Sarah usu­ally wore boots with buck­les or exposed zips but over-the-knee options are always fun. I would stay away from PVC or patent leather unless you want to look like a strip­per. Sarah’s boots are always FLAT. Don’t wear heels unless you want to help aer­ate the grass or sink in the mud. Wedge/platform boots to be worn at your own risk (the ground isn’t exactly flat). And most impor­tantly, make sure they are com­fort­able as you will be stand­ing for long peri­ods of time. Ones that you can pull on or zip up are the most practical.
• Acces­sories: I am not really one to acces­sorize at Wacken because this requires effort and more lug­gage. Also, no one cares. But if you must, I would stick with belts and very min­i­mal jewelery.
• Bags: Bags at fes­ti­vals annoy me but if I’m going to be out all day I need a place to keep my water, med­ica­tion, pass­ports etc. And I am NOT one to wear pants with lots of pock­ets. Make sure it’s a bag that goes over your shoul­der and you can keep it close to your body so you don’t bash peo­ple with it. Sarah rarely uses bags (she’s cool like that) but if she does, it’s a brown leather mes­sen­ger bag.

Yes, you can look awe­some and be prac­ti­cal at Wacken. It just takes thought, con­sid­er­a­tion, mul­ti­ple tank tops and episodes of Ter­mi­na­tor: The Sarah Con­nor Chronicles.