With a ticket promised, I said yes then commenced to spend hours and hours, night after night into the wee hours engrossed in all things Burning Man (lawyers are great researchers if nothing else). What is it? Who goes? What do I bring? What will it be like? And what seemed most important at the time, what do I wear? Naturally, the first place I turned was Instagram and I was not disappointed. There is no shortage of hashtags related to fashion at Burning Man - #burnergirls #burnerfashion #burnerbabes #burnerstyle #burnerbraids and countless more. And just as quickly, I tumbled into overwhelm.
In the days of Instagram influencers, it is easy to be intimidated by the typecast of what a #burnergirl is … imagine a Victoria's Secret Fashion Show with even more sparkles and instead of stilettos think models in platform space boots and instead of a sleek runway, picture a barren wasteland of white desert (ironically called Black Rock Desert) with incredible art installations as their backdrop. So at first glance that meant lots of skin and lots of bling on uber svelte model types and even the occasional pair of angel wings. In recent years, the go-to style seemed a combination of Mad Max meets SteamPunk meets Bedoin and add “sexy” in front of every outfit. And if you planned your outfits solely based on what is shown on Instagram, you might conclude that nipple pasties or nude and sizes 0-4 is required.