The Ultimate Festival Footwear Guide

Festival footwear can be very tricky. You want to be stylish – after all, it’s one of few opportunities you’ll get all year to really go wild and make a statement – but you also want to dance your socks off, protect yourself from the mud, protect your toes from being squished within an inch of their lives AND be comfortable frolicking around the place, loving life and making new best friends that you won’t know in a week’s time. No mean feat! (Pun totally intended).

You also want shoes that you won’t be too upset about getting a little dirty. In other words, anyone stepping up to Body & Soul or Longitude in a pair of summery Manolos really ought to seek help.

Here, we round up some of our festival footwear finds, sure to tick all of your boxes this summer.

An Irish festival on a dry day.

With a chunky platform, your feet will be far enough away from the ground to get covered in mud, provided the previous day’s rain hasn’t made a mud bath of the festival grounds. These metallic platforms have you covered on the fashion front, and if they do get a little dirty, the material lends itself nicely to being wiped clean with one fell swoop. Perfect!

?89.04 Asos.com

An Irish festival, when the heavens have opened.

If it is raining cats and dogs, wellies will always be there to save the day. Avoid materials that soak through at all costs; you will be miserable. What’s more, if it’s looking well that you’re worried about, nobody ever photographs your feet anyway, so on this occasion, choose practicality over fashion. Save yourself the cost of a pair of Hunter wellies and opt for these cheap and cheerful colour block boots from Asos. And BTW, we’re totally over patterned wellies.

?24.66, Asos.com

Any festival, anywhere, any weather.

Finally, we can wear comfortable trainers, safe in the knowledge that we’re not a) stuck in a time-warp and b) mid commute to work, in a pair of tights and Asics. Now, trainers are not only a-ok, most of us are choosing to wear them daily. Why wear strappy, blister-giving sandals to a festival when you can rock out in these? Simple, black Nike runners. Every festival goer’s best friend.

?94, Littlewoods.ie

Plimsoles are also the perfect festival shoe. They work like magic with a pair of drainpipe skinnies or shorts and, again, you won’t go home with muck-encrusted toes come Monday.

?22, RiverIsland.com

A festival abroad, where it’s actually summer.

Here is where you can have fun and actually get your toes out. If we were setting off for a festival in Croatia or Lollapalooza in Chicago, we’d be safe in the knowledge that our feet won’t be drowning in a mixture of dirt, beer and rain, joining together for one miserable mood. Feel free to dabble in delicate footwear, provided they’re not too high, and you don’t plan on being the centre of a mosh-pit. We love these from Topshop.

?65 Topshop.com

Got the shoes? Now it’s all about where to wear ’em. Check out Longitude.ie for their full line up.