So it was another big music festival in the northern hemisphere this past weekend — the 2012 V Festival - and I thought it would be cool to check out the style of the shin dig. Has festival fashion moved on? Well, let's start by looking at my favourite of the day, singer Sophie Ellis Bextor. Not only is she wearing an adorable, nautical striped dress of simplicity and prettiness, but she is grubby. Her knees and feet look like she is at a festival and not a cocktail party. Go girl.

Then there was the spice of life, Emma Bunton. She is wearing a DvF dress and a Mango denim shirt, with a cross body Mulberry bag thrown over it and the ubiquitous Isabel Marant boots, but the great attitude and lack of affectation make it work perfectly. Designer can work at a festival if you bring it with a gigantic smile like this.

Billie Piper wore a controversial Issa jumpsuit. Derided for wearing pyjamas, I think people missed the point. It is comfortable, vibrant, beautiful and totes appropriate for the event, it's just not what everyone else was wearing.

Which was denim shorts, those boots and a top of some kind. Snore. Seriously? No personal signature at all. No independent thought. This look was invented by Kate Moss like five years ago. Stop it. It is time to take festival fashion forward, not rehash it identically to all the other festival goers. It's not a uniform! I look forward to seeing how the girls up top inspire the next festival fashionistas.
All photos by Rex