Desert heat: Coachella brings a sexier slant to festival fashion

Megan Thee Stallion wore a bodysuit with suggestive cut-outs at the Coachella festival. Image: Valerie Macon / AFP

Gone is the boho style that helped make Coachella famous in fashion, replaced by a confident and heightened expression of sensuality. This year, the Californian festival, which kicks off the season, has turned up the heat with sexier-than-ever looks, featuring cut-outs, micro-skirts and micro-shorts, tight jumpsuits and visible g-strings, no less.

For its grand return, the Coachella festival will (inevitably) be sure to make a mark. Not content with being considered one of the most coveted music festivals in the world, Coachella is also a veritable life-size fashion show, setting the tone for summer trends. And it seems that the boho style synonymous with the event is now but a distant memory. This year, festival girls have swapped their long flowing dresses, cowgirl hats, and denim shorts, for much skimpier and sexier pieces. Like we said, this summer, fashion is going mini for maximum effect.

A hive of celebrities enjoying the sound of music's top artists of the moment, stepping out in designer outfits, in the middle of the desert, and all for two consecutive weekends. That's Coachella! And after two cancelled editions, suffice to say that prominent guests were all-too keen to get back to the event, bringing with them an array of outfits, each more eccentric than the next. And so, bohemian chic is no more, giving way to some incredibly sexy looks. Get ready for one red-hot summer...

Cut-outs flash the flesh

A strong trend from this beginning of the year, the cut-out has been all over the Californian desert, seen on tops, bodysuits and dresses, offering a glimpse of the waist, the hips, the chest or the belly, and sometimes all at once. On stage, the American rapper Megan Thee Stallion did not refrain from embracing that particular trend, wearing a silver bodysuit cut out in various places. Meanwhile, the singer Karol G performed in a bodysuit made only of denim belts, accessorized with fishnet pantyhose and thigh-high boots. All of which is a far, distant cry from the typical boho style. In another spirit, the influencer Leonie Hanne stepped out in a jewel dress, also mostly transparent, and covered entirely with crystals.

Unsurprisingly, crop tops were also on the agenda, in sportswear versions for some, braided knits for others, and even cut-out styles (yes, it's possible) for a handful. Doja Cat opted for this version, wearing a sculptural crop top hiding only a tiny area of her chest. She matched this with low-waist jeans, another great trend of the festival. Because yes, if you want to wear a crop top, you might as well wear it with pants or a skirt that reveals everything down to your hips... at least! And when the cut of the pants did not make that possible, celebrities took matters into their own hands by posing with the fastenings wide open. Halsey, Shanina Shaik, and Anitta all chose this option.

Again keeping the vibe ultra sexy, tight jumpsuits were on parade, with transparent effects for a guaranteed 'wow' effect. And this time it was Lena Situations who stood out from the crowd. For the first day of the festival, the influencer chose a jumpsuit adorned with fringing—perhaps referencing the one-time fashion spirit of Coachella?—and inspired by one of the stage outfits of "the queen" Dua Lipa, she explains on her Instagram page. It was an outfit that did not go unnoticed, just like her cut-out dress and cowboy boots spotted on the third day of the event.

But the top prize of this first weekend of the festival goes to the visible g-string, which made a comeback in the California desert. Anitta, for example, stepped out in pants revealing this underwear option, which had more or less disappeared from sight after the 2000s. A tour de force of the most daring kind that is likely to inspire more than one follower this summer. The festival continues, April 22 to 24.