Somewhere past 1 a.m., the MC lifts the mic, the DJ pulls the record back, and a whole tent roars for the rewind.
Then the drop lands again. The snares clatter past like a train at full speed while the bassline rolls underneath, slow and enormous, and a thousand people ride both at once. Up front, a junglist in a sleeveless hoodie is soaked through and grinning. Near the back, somebody peels off a layer, knots it round their waist and dives straight back in.
Drum and bass runs at around 174 beats per minute, and the crowd dresses like it knows. The best drum and bass festival outfits breathe, stretch and move, and they keep one warm hooded layer waiting for the walk outside, where the night air lands hard after an hour inside the bass.
We're Magus and Lylyth Fawn, two Los Angeles visionary artists whose whole life orbits festivals and the EDM world. Here's how we dress for a night at 174, plus the UK story the sound carries with it.
What do you wear to a drum and bass rave?
Wear light, breathable, sporty pieces you can dance in for hours: a cotton tee, sleeveless hoodie or mesh top, shorts or stretchy bottoms, broken-in trainers (sneakers), and a cap or bandana. Then bring one warm hooded layer for outside. Magus Fawn's drum and bass formula is simple: dress for the heat inside and the cool air after.
Drum and bass is athletic music, so the dress code leans sporty, practical and loud in all the right places:
- Tops that let heat out: cotton tees, sleeveless hoodies, mesh, anything with room under the arms.
- Bottoms that move: shorts, joggers or leggings with an elastic waist and real pockets.
- Feet: trainers with grip and a few weekends already in them.
- Head: a cap, bucket hat or bandana to keep hair off your face.
- Kit: earplugs, a refillable water bottle and a small bag you can wear on your front.
- The layer: a zip-front hooded piece for the queue, the bus stop and the walk back to camp.
Start with the oracle. Our Galactic Alien Oracle design is a tall alien figure woven out of indigo, violet and silver-white filigree, perfectly symmetrical down the chest like a visitor carved into a temple wall. The Galactic Alien Oracle cotton t-shirt ($60) is 100% cotton at 190 g/m², the base layer for a night that starts warm and only gets warmer.
Where did drum and bass come from?
Drum and bass grew out of jungle, which took shape in the UK in the early 1990s when rave's breakbeat hardcore met Jamaican sound system culture. Producers sped up old funk drum breaks and laid dub and reggae basslines underneath. By the mid-1990s the tempo had settled in the 170s, and the music had its new name.
The building blocks are older than the genre. The most famous is the Amen break, a seven-second drum solo from "Amen, Brother", the 1969 B-side by the Washington, D.C., soul band The Winstons. Chopped, pitched and looped, those seven seconds became a cornerstone of jungle, which fused breakbeats with the basslines, melodies and vocal samples of dub, reggae and dancehall. Its fans called themselves junglists.
Pirate radio carried it. Kool FM first broadcast on 28 November 1991 from Clapton in North East London and is widely credited with helping build the jungle scene. Jungle hit its commercial peak in 1994–95, and the sound kept evolving. Wikipedia's drum and bass history traces the tempo from about 130 BPM in 1990–91 to 155–165 by 1993, then mostly 170–180 from about 1996. Goldie's Timeless arrived in 1995, and in 1997 Roni Size & Reprazent won the Mercury Prize with New Forms.
Today most producers work at or near 174 BPM; the Native Instruments drum and bass guide sets its tutorial project to exactly that. The MC tradition stayed too. Paul Terzulli's oral history Who Say Reload describes records that would leave "hundreds of people screaming for a rewind on Saturday night," per 909originals. The rewind itself came from Jamaican sound systems in the late 1960s, traveled to the UK with West Indian sound system culture, and jumped into jungle in the early-90s rave years, as DJ TechTools' history of the rewind tells it. It's still the loudest compliment a DJ can get.
Wear the soundsystem. Our Temple of Sound design is a shrine to the speaker stack: a crowned goddess haloed in gold above a meditating figure and a Flower of Life grid on one leg, a winged dragon rising through blue-grey smoke on the other, and a glowing violet altar at the hem. The Temple of Sound unisex cotton shorts ($65) are 100% cotton at 245 g/m², with an elastic waistband, side pockets and a back pocket, regular fit in S–5XL (more soundsystem devotion: Play for the Floor).
What did people wear to jungle raves in the 90s?
Jungle ravers in the 1990s dressed sharp. Italian designer labels such as Moschino, Versace and Iceberg sat alongside football-terrace sportswear like Sergio Tacchini and Fila, with bold logos, printed shirts and gold accessories. Spending on the look showed dedication to the scene. Magus Fawn's modern take keeps the flash and adds the comfort to dance.
In 2018, Saul Milton of Chase & Status and archivist Tory Turk turned that wardrobe into an exhibition, Super Sharp, at London's Fashion Space Gallery, drawing on Milton's archive of more than 1,000 garments. As Dazed reported, Turk saw nerve in the look ("You have to be pretty brave to wear head-to-toe prints and logos") and saw the money spent on it as proof of belonging to the tribe. Milton's own daily uniform two decades later? "I'm still in my Classics and a neat tracksuit from Ralph Lauren or Reebok most days," he told Dazed.
Modern drum and bass clothing inherits that: sportswear as the base, one statement piece on top.
A collar with a past. Our Void Mandala design scatters silver-grey mandala medallions across black, each one detailed like an engraved coin, a quiet echo of the medallion prints that ruled 90s club wear. The Void Mandala crushed velvet polo shirt ($65) is 240 g/m² crushed velvet with a collar and short sleeves, regular fit in S–5XL. The velvet throws back every strobe.
Drum and bass outfits by subgenre: liquid, neurofunk, jump-up and jungle
Drum and bass is a family of sounds, and each branch has its own mood. The Native Instruments guide sums up three of the biggest as "the abrasive jump-up, technically complex neurofunk, and soul-inspired liquid funk," with jungle as the breakbeat-heavy root of the tree. Here's how we'd dress for each.
Liquid funk: let it flow. Liquid is the melodic, soulful side, built for long, smooth nights. Our Liquid Fire design is pure motion: molten marbled swirls of gold, orange, magenta, violet and lime, veined with black like lava finding its way downhill. The Liquid Fire men's sleeveless hoodie ($75) is 180 g/m² jersey, 95% poly and 5% spandex, regular fit in S–2XL. It keeps the hood and drops the sleeves, so your arms stay free and cool.
Neurofunk: dress like the machine. Neuro is precise, technical and full of sound design that feels engineered. Our Alien Cyber Punk Mech design answers with a white faceted crystal set in a ring at the chest, surrounded by biomechanical swirls in cobalt, violet, teal and turquoise with flashes of red, like a power core humming inside a living machine. The Alien Cyber Punk Mech mesh top ($55) is light, breathable mesh, 95% poly and 5% spandex, sheer and skinny-fit with long sleeves. Wear it over a bralette or bodysuit and dance as hard as the drums ask (for another race to the front of a bass crowd, read Three Songs to the Rail).
Jump-up: bring the bounce. Jump-up is the playful, high-energy end, with heavy, robotic basslines, a sense of humor and a crowd that bounces. Go loud: the brightest print you own, shorts, and a grin.
Jungle: honor the roots. Reach for soundsystem art, a crisp collar or a tracksuit in the 90s spirit.
What fabrics keep you cool at a drum and bass rave?
Cotton, lightweight jersey and open mesh keep you coolest at a drum and bass rave, because they're thin, soft and let air reach your skin. Save heavier velvet and fleece for cooler rooms and the walk outside. At Magus Fawn the dance-floor tops run from 180 g/m² jersey to 190 g/m² cotton, with crushed velvet at 240.
What fabric weight tells you. Grams per square meter (g/m²) measures how heavy a fabric is; lower numbers mean lighter, thinner cloth. Our sleeveless hoodies sit at 180 g/m², our cotton tees at 190, crushed velvet at 240, and our cotton pullover hoodies at 310. For a packed tent at 174 BPM, the lighter end is your friend.
A few habits the veterans swear by, offered as general advice:
- Pack a spare top. A dry shirt at 3 a.m. feels like a second wind.
- Drink water steadily through the night, not all at once.
- Protect your ears. Bass music is loud by design. The NIDCD recommends earplugs or earmuffs around loud sound, and good musician's plugs keep the music clear.
- Tie, don't drop. Knot your layer round your waist instead of leaving it on the floor.
What do you wear outside a drum and bass rave?
Outside a drum and bass rave, wear a warm hooded layer that zips over everything: the queue, the night bus, the walk to camp and the ride home all feel colder after hours in a hot tent. Magus Fawn's faux-fur-lined festival cloaks zip over a damp tee in seconds, with pockets for your phone and earplugs.
The hour after the last track is part of the night. Steam rises off the crowd as it pours out, and everyone is replaying the rewinds. Ride the cloak open while you wait for your friends, then zip up and hood up for the long walk back.
For the walk home. Our Mystic Eye design puts an all-seeing eye at the top of the back, watching over a column of three glowing blue Flower of Life orbs bound in silver knotwork, all on a silver Flower of Life lattice over black. The Silver Mystic Eye men's festival cloak ($250) has a micro-mink poly outer and an ultra-soft fluffy microfiber fleece lining in black or white faux fur (listed fabric weight 200 g/m²), a double front zipper, heavy drawstrings and four pockets: two interior stash pockets (one zippered) and two deep side pockets. It's unisex in XS–5XL, and our FAQ suggests sizing up for outerwear, "sometimes even 2 sizes up to fit extra layers under."
Nicholas wrote in a December 2023 review of a Sacred Grounds cloak: "Super comfortable and warm. Fell asleep with it on. Kept me warm all night." On a camping weekend, that's the after-party plan sorted. For the full cold-night system, see how to stay warm at a festival at night, and for indoor winter nights, our guide to what to wear to a winter rave.
Sizing, ordering and the fine print
Every Magus Fawn piece is made to order: 7–11 business days of production, then 6–14 business days of delivery, so plan about five weeks ahead of a festival weekend.
- Sizing: for outerwear like cloaks and hoodies, size up to fit layers underneath. Email your measurements to art@magusfawn.com and we'll help you choose.
- Shipping: US orders of $70 or more ship free; below that, US standard shipping is $8.
- Policies: each piece is made for you, so all sales are final. If something arrives damaged or incorrect, email us within 48 hours of delivery with photos.
- Care: machine wash cold with like colors, no bleach, tumble dry low (hang dry is best), and don't iron or dry clean.
See you in the tent when the MC calls for the rewind.
Explore more dance-floor pieces: cotton shirts · shorts · women's tops · crushed velvet polos · men's cloaks · women's cloaks
Frequently asked questions
What BPM is drum and bass?
Most modern drum and bass sits around 170 to 176 beats per minute, with 174 BPM the common studio default. The tempo climbed through the early 1990s, from about 130 BPM in 1990–91 to 155–165 by 1993, and has mostly stayed between 170 and 180 since about 1996. Native Instruments' production guide sets its tutorial tempo at 174.
Is jungle the same as drum and bass?
Jungle is the parent of drum and bass. It emerged in the UK in the early 1990s, mixing chopped breakbeats such as the Amen break with reggae, dub and dancehall basslines and samples. Drum and bass grew from it in the mid-1990s with cleaner production. Many DJs still play both, and fans use the names side by side.
What does rewind mean at a drum and bass rave?
A rewind, or reload, is when the DJ spins a record back to the start and drops it again because the crowd went wild. It began on Jamaican sound systems in the late 1960s and reached jungle through UK sound system culture. In drum and bass the MC often calls for it, and it means the crowd loves that track.
What shoes should you wear to a drum and bass rave?
Wear broken-in trainers or sneakers with grip and a cushioned sole. Drum and bass keeps you moving fast for hours, often on concrete or packed earth, so comfort beats style here. Skip brand-new shoes and open toes. Pack fresh socks for a festival weekend, and keep a second pair of shoes at camp.
Written by Magus & Lylyth Fawn, the Los Angeles artists behind Magus Fawn. Magus makes VR and digital visionary art and produces Psy EDM. Lylyth makes fractal digital art and runs design and customer care. We've been selling wearable art since 2020 on Etsy (4.7★ from 144 reviews as of October 2026) and here at magusfawn.com. Come say hi on Instagram @magusfawn.
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