Hi, I’m Ari. I am a twenty-year-old fashion student and intern. I like concerts, cats, and clothes, and my goal in life is to make art and the world a better place. In 2024, I sent a self-tape to a casting director searching for girls in America to share their stories, a call that felt urgent after the presidential election. I along with 7 other talented and amazing teenage girls were chosen and published in one of my favorite magazines, and I’ve been in the i-D stratosphere ever since. Giving girls a platform is an ethos close to my heart.
So when Steff Yokta, i-D’s soon-to-be editor-in-chief, asked if I was available to cover Daisy Chain Fields—Olivia Rodrigo’s first ever benefit festival with an all-female lineup—I knew it was meant to be.
My first day of coverage began the day before the festival, at a press conference run by Olivia Rodrigo herself. There, she pledged a $10 million donation to nonprofits supporting women, girls, reproductive rights, and community health. As we were heading out, Rachel Carroll, a journalist at NME, turned to me and said that this was the first time she’d been in a press conference where women outnumbered men. I wondered if I’d ever experience it again. I hope I will in this lifetime.
Once I got home, I decided to make i-D-themed pins to hand out at the festival. My social media pages were flooded with girls sharing what charms they were going to bring to trade, and what better way to join in than with i-D memorabilia?
Finally, the day of the festival came. I hopped on an Amtrak to dodge traffic, where I encountered some girls sporting the cutest Daisy Chain Fields pins. I took it as an opportunity to make new friends (I’m a stranger to stranger danger), and we ended up sitting together the entire train ride there. There’s something so beautiful about girlhood and the way it draws us together, and this time, it happened through outfit compliments and pin trading.
The best thing about the festival was that the set times were staggered so no two artists overlapped. I ran back and forth between stages all day, which in turn meant I got to run into a lot of cool people and see so many amazing sets.
Quiet Light and her backup dancers came out in these sheer long-sleeved babydoll minidresses that were seriously to die for.
Eli got the crowd pumped. She pledged a $30,000 donation to the Black Mamas Matter Alliance and FreeFrom, and then proceeded to kill it on stage!!!
A mom and daughter gave me a rundown of their hand-drawn pins with their favorite artists. So cute.
Rachel Chinouriri’s stage presence is everything; she even played an unreleased song from her upcoming album, I Think I Spoke Too Soon.
Megan, Yoonchae, and Lara from Katseye came out to introduce Baby2Baby, an organization that provides children in need with basic necessities.
Devon Again has done it again!!!!
I lost my portable charger in the Die Spitz mosh pit. Worth it.
Santigold is the definition of cool.
Two sisters wearing matching flower crowns told me how pins were their way of expressing that everyone deserves love and support. My heart.
Bikini Kill took me back to my riot grrrl roots.
I cried through the Mitski set but was also locked in to get good footage for i-D’s social pages (praying you don’t hear my sobs in some of the clips).
I camped at the main stage after Mitski and met the sweetest mother-daughter duo ever. Shoutout to Annie and Hallie (yes, like the Parent Trap, they say) who stayed with me in the barricade until the very end.
Doechii IS the don, Doechii IS the dean, Doechii IS supreme!!!
Chappell Roan’s set was. Wow.
Olivia brought out Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morissette, and Stevie Nicks through her set. I don’t think there was a single dry eye in the audience by the end of it!!!
Events like this don’t come often though they’re especially needed. I dream of a future where a press room filled with women is the norm, festivals actively support important charitable organizations, and women everywhere receive the recognition they deserve.
In Chappell’s own words, it’s a femininomenon!
This is so cute! Love these photos and the Rookie vibes of everyone's outfit.