What To Wear To Austin City Limits Music Festival

By Kelsey Kennedy | September 13, 2024

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Wondering what to wear to ACL Fest? This guide is for you! After securing your tickets, choosing what to wear to a music festival is the next most important question!

Granted, you’ll need to think about what the weather is like in Austin, and of just practical stuff like how much you’ll be walking, which depends on whether or not you booked a cool hotel near ACL fest.

But ultimately you just want to look cute (y’know?) and finding the ultimate festival outfit idea is the end game!

What to Wear To Austin City Limits Music Festival

About me: I’m Kelsey, a bestselling travel book author and the creator of 3 Texas travel websites. As a native Texan, I spend my own time and money exploring this state to help millions of readers find the best food, things to do, places to stay in Austin and beyond. Check out my other sites: TheSanAntonioThings.com and TheWacoThings.com!

Related: Top 10 Tips for ACL Festival

What To Wear To Austin City Limits Music Festival

My #1 Tip: DRESS FOR THE WEATHER!

THIS IS TEXAS. So don’t be deceived by the fact that the ACL Festival is technically in the “fall season” of Austin. Ha!

It’s still hot hot hot in October when Austin City Limits occurs. So, what should you wear to ACL Festival? Well, your best bet is to wear something cool and breathable - clothes with cotton, linen, rayon, or any fabrics that are best for keeping you cool in sweaty and hot settings.

For instance, you can wear your shortest shorts (seriously..people wear the shortest shorty shorts, or sometimes no shorts at all and just swimsuit bottoms) and a crop top. But if you don’t want to show that much skin, other good options are mesh or breathable fabrics, thin wide-legged pants, and a breezy buttoned top. Or anything that you think is breathable enough and won’t make you too sweaty.

{Photo: Shop Y&I}

Outfit Ideas For Girls At ACL Festival

Every year, one of the best go-to festival outfit ideas for ladies is a mini skirt or pair of biker shorts with a bralette or sleeveless top. It's soooo easy to pull this one off!

There’s something about a high-waisted short paired with a boho bralette that looks so “music festival.” Pair it with a fun hat or hair accessory and some cute sunglasses, and maybe some body glitter or sparkly tattoos, and you’re ready to go.

Another popular idea, year after year, is a cute flowy dress. Why? They’re comfy and easy to wear.

Dresses, sleeveless tops, shorts, and mini skirts never go out of style, so you’ll always have a few odds and ends in your closet that are ready to go.

Also, keep in mind that festival outfits don’t really have to make sense. Just grab two contrasting pieces of clothing and don’t worry about things matching.

Oh, and if you’re looking for new dresses, try getting something with fringe or some flow to it. And then add some jewelry, glitter tattoos, or funky sunglasses to spice up your outfit. Again…nothing has to make sense. The motto in this town is Keep Austin Weird, so you’re just doing your part.

>>Note: overalls, rompers, jumpsuits, and basically any one-piece outfit (besides dresses) make using the porta-potty really difficult. Ask me how I know...<<

Best Shoes To Wear To Austin City Limits For Girls:

At Austin City Limits, your feet will be walking around in dirt and grass all day, so you should prioritize:

1) footwear that will make you comfortable, and

2) shoes that you don't mind getting dirty!

For the best festival footwear for girls, a pair of comfy street sneakers (or running shoes if you want to REALLY prioritize comfort) or some well-supported cool sandals are the best options.

Of course, a pair of cowboy boots can give your outfit Texas flair vibes. Boots look really cute at Austin City Limits Music Festival but keep in mind that they can get pretty hot.

Whatever you choose, always opt for durable footwear. The stages at opposite ends of the festival are really far apart, so you’ll be walking several miles throughout the day.

Outfit Ideas For Guys At ACL Festival

If you're one of the guys wondering what to wear to the ACL Festival, you should try to go for statement shirts, shirts with bold prints, or classic solid pieces. And then just add some fun accessories, like a unique hat, some funny sunglasses, whatever. (We’ll say this yet again…the weirder the better.)

You’ll want to wear lightweight clothing since it’s so hot in Austin. And bright colors and eye-catching patterns are really fun to help you stand out in a crowd.

>>Check out the guy in the picture below: colorful shirt, patriotic pants, holiday socks, baseball cap. He's living his best ACL Fest life.<<

Best Shoes To Wear To Austin City Limits For Guys

For guys, the most popular options that you see at ACL Festival are closed-toe shoes or beat-up sneakers, so those are probably the best shoes to wear.

You’ll be standing for hours in packed dirt and grass, walking into porta-potties, etc., so don’t wear your newest/whitest sneakers.

Keep in mind that there’s not a lot of sitting at ACL, so choosing comfortable shoes is the name of the game. And if you’re a sandals sort of a guy, popular all-terrain sandals like Chaco, Teva, and Reef are all solid options.

5 Clothing Items You Should Wear To ACL Music Festival

Above everything else, you should dress appropriately for Austin weather. We can’t say this enough: it’s not worth it to wear a crazy fun music festival outfit that’s wayyyy too hot when it’s 95 degrees outside. For real: even during the fall, it is still so hot in Austin from the hours of 1 - 6 pm.

So here are my top 5 picks for EXCELLENT clothes to wear to ACL Music Festival:

1. Sleeveless shirts. Tank tops, thin-strap shirts, halters...basically anything that's really lightweight and summery. There are lots of cute festival-style tops, but anything sleeveless will look "festival-y."

2. Button-up shirts. Walk around ACL Fest and you'll see tons of guys wearing shirts that button up the front. And then later in the day (and a few drinks in...) those buttons come undone for a half-dressed look, ha. Have I mentioned that ACL Fest is a very "clothing optional" type of place?

3. Crop tops, crop tops, crop tops! Pair them with a high-waisted anything (flowy pants, denim shorts, mini skirt, whatever) and you've got a festival outfit.

4. Little dresses. I wore a really cute long, boho dress once and it looked amazing...but it was way too much fabric and I was sweating like crazy. Go for short, little dresses for ACL Fest.

5. Denim shorts/skirts. Relaxed denim is an excellent look for festival attire. Go for cute denim shorts, a mini skirts, or rock an entire Canadian tuxedo! (Just make sure it's a shorts/sleeveless top look so you don't get too hot!

One more tip for things to bring to the festival: you might want to bring a jacket or sweater if you’ll be sticking around for nighttime sets. It cools off quite a bit when the sun sets.

Also, if you want an easy way to flair up your festival outfit, get some fun hats or caps with brims to shade your face and neck. (You’ll be so happy to get that shade in the middle of the day!)

If you want, you can bring handheld umbrellas. Sun protection is also an important part of your festival preparation because you’ll be standing out in the bright Texas sun for hours on end. Note that non-aerosol sunscreen is permitted inside the festival, so you’ll probably want to bring some of that, regardless of your hat choices.

5 Clothing Items You Should Definitely NOT Bring to ACL Festival

So, we mentioned above some of the best festival outfit ideas. Now we’re going to share some clothes you should NOT wear or items you should NOT bring to the music fest.

1. Don't wear expensive, nice, designer items. Since it can get pretty muddy, sweaty, and dirty, (especially if it’s a rainy year at the ACL festival), wearing really nice designer clothes or new shoes that you don’t want to get dirty are not a good idea.

2. No uncomfortable clothes like rompers or overalls (too difficult when you're in the porta potty bathrooms!!) Any outfit where you have to remove the ENTIRE outfit just to pee is going to get really annoying in those tiny, gross, hot porta-potty bathrooms. I'm telling you from experience and as a friend...avoid the rompers!!!

3. Don't dress in clothes that are too hot! Have I mentioned that Austin is hot, even in October??? You’re going to party and have a great time, so you’ll probably get really sweaty as the festival goes on. Best to prioritize comfort!

4. For footwear, veteran festival-goers will always suggest not wearing uncomfortable or high-heeled shoes as you will stand there for long hours. Also, I wouldn't recommend wearing a brand new pair of shoes. You'll walk SOOO many steps, and if your shoes rub you and give you a blister, it will be a really long day. Again, you’ll be walking miles and miles every single day, and it’s a 3-day festival. Pace yourself.

5. For accessories, wearing some is fun, but wearing too many heavy or bulky accessories isn’t the best thing to do. Choose some fun, lightweight accessories that won’t annoy you throughout the day.

Oh, and be sure your bag is 6 X 9 or smaller. Otherwise, it needs to be a clear bag that's 12 X 6 X 12 or smaller. You can read ACL’s formal bag policy here.

All in all, don’t sacrifice comfort for style. Of COURSE, you can get both of them at the same time, but if you’re thinking of wearing something that looks really cute but it’s really uncomfortable, this is your sign to reconsider. If you really want to enjoy ACL Festival, your top priority when choosing a festival outfit is comfortability. Wearing and bringing uncomfy clothes and accessories zaps away lots of the fun.

So, enjoy the festival, wear some comfy festival attire, dress for hot weather, and soak up the fun Austin vibes!

About ACL Fest (For The Newbies Out There!)

Ok, a bit about the festival: the renowned Austin City Limits (or ACL) Music Festival occurs annually, so it’s always coming up again! It’s a well-known music festival in Austin Texas that was originally inspired by the PBS show. ACL Fest features a diverse group or lineup of music performances for two consecutive three-day weekends at Zilker Park. The concerts take place on various stages scattered across the park from dawn to dusk on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

ACL Music Festival typically features 9 stages where musicians perform in more than 100 music acts across a variety of musical genres. No matter what type of music you’re interested in, you’ll probably find it at ACL Fest! Rock, indie, country, folk, electronic, and hip-hop music are a few of the musical genres that are typically performed. It’s definitely not an exaggeration to say that this annual music fest helped Austin grow in popularity in the United States.