The Surprising Beauty Trend Found at Lollapalooza
Chicagoans redefined festival beauty this year.
Photo: Rachel Zuckerberg
It's no surprise that glitter and sparkles were trending this year at Lollapalooza, but one look stood out from the rest—body art. Not the metallic temporary tattoos that, in recent years, have become synonymous with festival beauty, but rather intricate works of art masterfully painted on attendees’ arms, backs, and other body parts. Chicago-based festival-goer Leann, for example, turned heads with galaxy-inspired body art covering the center of her back. The artists responsible for Leann’s design along with dozens of other designs in the crowd, were housed at the Toyota booth located in the Lollapalooza Art Market.
Lolla allows many different forms of creativity to come alive. Musicians get to share their music with an adoring audience, festival-goers can express themselves through bold style selections only appropriate for the music festival scene, and creative vendors have the opportunity to share their artistic talents at the Art Market. While ripped jeans and fishtail braids have become the unofficial uniform of Lolla, body art allows festival goers to update their beauty wardrobes with a unique element of suprise.
Chicago-based SFX artist and body painter Eric Benson has over 15 years of experience doing makeup around the world. With EBFX Designs, Inc. Benson has created the looks for actors at haunted houses, charity events, television shows, movies, theme parks, and more. This, however, was his first year body-painting at a music festival. At the Cosmic Paradise tent, he painted over 600 people within the first day—including Leann.
Guests chose from four “Galaxy Ink” designs by Kari’s Face and Body Art. Kari, the artist behind the brand, is an artist from Baltimore, MD with a passion for making people feel “powerful, magical, beautiful, and unique” through face and body paintings.
Others who were painted described the body art as a great conversation-starter that creates instant connections between people. Beauty and art are understood by people of all demographics and languages, and Lollapalooza certainly has a way of connecting everyone through them.
See how these miniature galaxies are created in the slideshow below.
