Pop doppelgangers: when the audience is the act

Bucket hats, teddy nighties, bald caps ... dressing like their idols gives fans an enhanced sense of tribal affinity. And the stars are showing their appreciation.

- Rachael Healy

“Glasgow, you were absolutely phenomenal,” Lana Del Rey wrote on Instagram last week, in a post accompanied by pictures of fans dressed in various iterations of the singer's classic Americana style — floaty prairie dresses, bridal veils, flower crowns, American flags and Lolita sunglasses.

In Cardiff, the streets have been flooded with bucket hats, Adidas trainers and weather permitting - parkas, as the Oasis reunion finally kicked off, despite some fashion articles questioning whether middle-aged blokes were now too old to pull off the Britpop look.

In Hyde Park in London, where Sabrina Carpenter has been playing this weekend, ticket holders came wearing hotpants, heart motifs and teddy nighties. On Pitbull’s recent tour, fans donned bald caps, suit jackets and painted-on facial hair in honour of Mr Worldwide.

Fashion and music have always been entwined. But, fuelled by social media, fans are taking “concert dressing” to new heights. The fashion psychologist Shakaila Forbes-Bell says concert fancy dress is a way of combating increasing loneliness among young people - satisfying a “desire to belong and to connect”.