Despite the fact that I'm jaded, spend most of my time working, and consider not going up until the last few weeks - I fuckin' love dressing up like a stupid fool. I used to go out to tons of Burner events and rotate my wardrobe like it was crack. I have a big custom Zebra jacket, three different pairs of black/white patterned spandex, multiple shirts depending on the mood, two pairs of footie pajamas... a badass pair of boots, functional shoes, colorful socks, two hats, a combat helmet, and an entire regalia for working Gate depending on the weather, and whether it's day or night, which works out to three separate outfits (A patched vest, a utilikilt, carhartts, and the various gate shirts I've earned for volunteering at regionals). Alongside all of those, I have my entirely functional set of clothes: thermals, long sleeve shirts for layering, biking shorts for layering, various kinds of socks, gloves... and then I have two pairs of furry boot let covers, I have a cape, I have... I have too much shit. It takes up two bins and makes my girlfriend angry because I bring more clothes than her.

And yet, I basically just walk around in my underwear during the day, and I just wear my big zebra jacket over a bunch of comfy clothes at night. Burning Man is the worst place to dress up on earth, despite all of the photographic evidence to the contrary.

Going to a porto-potty on drugs wearing one of my more ornate set-ups a few years ago (An El-wire shirt, a big cowboy hat, zebra pants, zebra shorts, zebra socks, and a big light-up jacket) made me realize that functional clothing beats the hell out of fun clothing. Yeah, you'll see people wearing all sorts of ridiculous regalia - but look closely and it's probably an entirely functional thing as well. Utility belts are common for a good reason!

My advice is to make one totally fucking kickass jacket, or skirt, or something. Make something that makes people go "Fuck yeah!" or buy it on Etsy or whatever. Make sure it's easy to use. When you're feeling flashy and sexy, put it on and feel amazing. Otherwise, build your wardrobe around being functional.

My actual wardrobe ends up being -

Day: Boxer Briefs, shoes, silly socks

Night: Layers, Layers, Layers, cool shirt over the layers, big kickass jacket, and one of the pairs of spandex

Every goddamn year, I bring so many outfits, plan them out... and then every time I wake up I say "fuck it" and don't bother, run out of my tent wearing boxers, put some sunscreen on, and I hop on the nearest bus to madness. When I get home for the evening, I end up drinking beer or something, and by the time I get the urge to leave, I say "Fuck it" and throw together a few layers of clothes and put my jacket on over it.

Another factor is that effort is difficult to find out there, especially for mundane things. Getting dressed up is pretty damn mundane when all of a sudden a gigantic frog drives by with a Karaoke machine.

And definitely no glitter or anything that will break, shed, or tear easily. Make sure it's durable.