Creative Differences: Lyna Schofield Always Goes Out in Style

head·lin·er ˈhed-ˌlī-nər noun – One who is the primary attraction of an event and given prominent billing; a star; YOU

If you’re one of those Headliners who spend hours perfecting the perfect festival outfit, there’s someone you should meet: Lyna Schofield spent nearly two months assembling her costume for last year’s EDC Vegas, and she puts just as much time and effort—dying fluffies, fashioning gauntlets, sorting fishnets—into the other handmade costumes that she wears to shows and events throughout the year. Based in San Diego, California, Schofield is a three-year member of the Marine Corps and an avid cosplayer. Thus, her intricate costumes (that she assembles while listening to hardstyle and drum & bass) are made with both military precision and influences from the fantasy world.

“Every week is a different event [with a] different theme, so I’m constantly working on [a new outfit],” explains Schofield, who attends shows with a crew of 10 other military ravers. “Everybody that I know that goes to the events is like, ‘Oh my God, you have something different!’ because they know my personality.”

Every week is a different event with a different theme, so I’m constantly working on a new outfit.

Schofield’s passion for fashion and electronic music is undoubtedly the result of her mother’s influence. A raver herself, she not only taught her daughter how to make her own outfits, but she took her to her first dance music festival when she was 16. Since then, Schofield has built up a collection of more than 75 costumes. Whether it’s feathers, chains or patterns, she makes sure to create a new look for each event she attends, and she never wears the same outfit twice.

EDC Vegas 2013 was her biggest undertaking to date. Inspired by the massively popular video game World of Warcraft, her human warlock outfit included custom-made shoulder pads, which she shaped out of clay and layered in cotton cloth. As a finishing touch, she attached metal spikes that she dyed ruby red. Once a show is over, Schofield sends her favorite outfits home to her native Alabama, where her mom places them in display cases—the same way any proud parent shows off trophies representing their children’s victories.

“We have cases all throughout my bedroom at home,” she says. “My mom does the same thing with her outfits.”