All the looks from GALA Festival ’23

Seven years on, the community-driven GALA Festival has expanded from a small-scale day fest to one of London’s most exciting weekender events to look forward to on the cusp of summer. Set in Peckham Rye Park across May 26 to 28, the festival featured six stages with an extensive bill of local and international artists bringing sounds spanning house, jungle, soul, jazz and more. GALA’s ambitions were high and it undoubtedly delivered.

From Mali to Peckham, the festival welcomed the likes of Amadou & Mariam with open arms. The duo showed why they’ve been an absolute staple on turntables all over for years, playing classics such as ‘Je Passe Á Toi’ and ‘Sabali’ throughout an unmissable set. With a perfect sunset background, the highly anticipated Nubya Garcia took to the stage with jazzy tunes and rhythmic flows. The founding father of jungle Congo Natty, AKA Rebel MC, also blessed the Pleasure Dome stage, taking dancers on a musical journey through dub, reggae and jungle with blasts of gun fingers energy. New York duo AceMoMA brought the spirit of house music with classic and futuristic soundscapes from the States.

Feeling like the first day of summer with clear blue skies, green fields and the perfect temperature to show some skin, GALA welcomed in a lovely mix of ages and the spirit of festival season with a variety of fashionable fits. From Y2K classics to matching co-ords, Western touches with cowboy boots to denim fits — the festival saw it all.

This summer’s festival season is expected to be the big with one in five Brits choosing festivals over holidays, according to research from eBay Ads UK. Fashion movements will rise concurrently, and GALA was an interesting marker, with a fit for what seemed like every trend, genre, decade and era. From Barbiecore, grunge fairycore or ‘90s whimsigoth, the festival saw extra wide jeans to cargo miniskirts, bedazzled baby tees and every possible kind of mesh slip dress. Here’s a look at some of the fashion fits we saw over the weekend:

Vee Pandey is Mixmag’s Digital Trainee, follow her on Twitter