“PLURR, we got the most important five letters of raving: peace, love, unity, respect, and responsibility.” says Cooper Groh, a third year raver.
This word PLURR is used throughout the rave community and describes the five values everyone should bring into a rave. PLURR is intertwined with the fashion at raves.
In general, rave fashion is vibrant, colorful, and sparkly. Brianna Gordon, a sophomore majoring in computer science, has started raving with her older sister in Colorado and has loved it since: “She would walk out of the house with her hair all crazy, and the makeup and the outfits, and I just thought that was the coolest thing.”
Rave fashion is a very busy and maximalist style of fashion. “It’s really about the accessories when it comes to making or breaking, being kind of iconic about it,” says Groh.
A well known accessory at raves are sprouts and kandis. Liam Riley, a second year raver, says kandis and sprouts are little trinkets or jewelry exchanged at no cost between two people at a rave. “You’ll get a bunch of sprouts if they like your energy,” he says.
When exchanging kandis, both people will hold a peace sign, a heart, and then lock fingers. Then, one person will take a bracelet from their wrist and put it on to the other’s wrist. “That’s just another way of, you know, passing our love to each other,” Gordon says. “It very much reminds me of being a child, and getting these little toys from random strangers.”
Pashminas are another big piece at raves, a long scarf originating from the Himalayas. “It was something that could be handed down through generations to women back when they weren’t allowed to have property,” says Groh. Now, ravers use it to protect them from sun, dust, and cold during raves.
“I think the clothes definitely contribute to our openness towards each other,” says Gordon. Raves are a place for self expression without judgment. “You should be able to wear whatever you want,” says Cruz Arnett, an electronic dance music DJ and raver. “Express yourself however you want to.”
When you are dressing how you want at raves, it is a “warding spell,” of bad vibes. Cooper says, “It’s kind of like this magnetic force that repels what you don’t want.”
“I feel like raving is all about coming together. It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter, you know, necessarily where you come from.” says Riley.
Erik Ebenal, a second year raver and electronic dance music DJ and producer, says, “I do feel like that a lot of the time, people feel like the rave is their home away from home.”
“When you’re authentically yourself, it gives other people permission to be themselves,” says Gordon, “and that’s why I think that the rave community is so close knit…because there is no fourth wall. There is no ego there. It’s kind of just people being people, loving each other.”
