By late afternoon at Just Like Heaven, the grass at Brookside at the Rose Bowl was more beige than green. Dust had settled over boots and sneakers, and the Pasadena sun had made shade, or anything that could approximate it, part of the music festival’s dress code.

LCD Soundsystem, TV Girl, Chromeo, Feist and The Rapture gave attendees plenty of acts to plan around at the one-day festival on Saturday. Still, the Strokes fans proved especially easy to find. Some had the band printed directly across their chests, while others wore DIY shirts featuring the “Is This It” album cover in an allover print.

The rest of the festival wardrobe largely followed familiar summer formulas: halter tops, leather micro shorts, bikini tops, clear belt bags and a healthy number of cowboy boots. The Strokes crowd added band merchandise and the black denim, narrow sunglasses and deliberately disheveled styling associated with the group’s early-2000s New York rise.

One couple wore coordinating Strokes logo T-shirts, his in black and hers in white. Another pair near the stage had the same group portrait printed across the backs of their shirts. Band graphics also appeared with pleated denim, knee-high boots, patterned shorts and utility bags.

In April, WWD reported that music, nostalgia and fandom would remain major forces in 2026 festival fashion. “Music continues to be one of the biggest cultural drivers of fashion, particularly during festival season,” Alexa Andersen, Puma North America senior vice president of merchandising, said at the time.

That forecast also found festivalgoers moving away from copying performers in favor of more personal approaches to dressing. Around the Strokes crowd at Just Like Heaven, however, plenty were still game to try. Black skinny jeans, dark sunglasses, tousled hair and Casio watches approximated the indie sleaze hipster aesthetic as closely as the sweltering weather allowed.

One group of three Gen Z attendees had come specifically to see the Strokes. None had seen the band perform before, and they had also missed its first early-2000s go-round.

“We were born in, like, the 2000s,” one woman, Diane, told WWD. That did not temper her enthusiasm. “No, we’ve never seen them before,” she said. “Yeah, I’m excited.”

She handed the question of the band’s appeal to one of her companions, Isaac. “He knows more about the Strokes than me,” she said.

“I just really like the New York vibes,” he explained. “I wish I was born in New York, but I wasn’t.”

The couple had both draped scarves around their shoulders as makeshift ponchos. His was animal print, worn over a black T-shirt and black trousers with brown cowboy boots. He described the outfit as a “cowboy route.”

“I went, like, with a cowboy route because I really like cowboys,” he said. Pasadena, in his estimation, supported the decision.

“Pasadena feels like a really cowboy town, so I feel like it’s pretty apt to do cowboy boots and, like, a little makeshift poncho,” he said.

Diane wore a long fringed black scarf over her cap and shoulders with rectangular sunglasses, black shorts, a studded belt and tall black boots. For her, the scarf offered an answer to the heat.

“I went the route of, it’s so hot,” she said, explaining that she wanted protection from the sun and “all of the shade.”

“That was definitely intentional,” her companion said.

His accessories included a gold digital watch and several silver rings.

“The watch is a cheap Casio. It’s gold,” he said. “Both of my rings are Catholic rings. That’s about it,” he explained of his watch and saint portrait ring combination.

The third member of the group skipped Strokes merchandise but kept the Casio and Catholic rings. He wore a black West Coast Choppers button-down over a white tank with black skinny jeans, brown cowboy boots and dark sunglasses, landing closest to the Casablancas end of the group’s collective reference board.

Later that night, the Strokes closed the festival with older songs including “Reptilia,” “Someday” and “The Adults Are Talking,” as well as the live debut of “Going to Babble On” from their 2026 album, “Reality Awaits.”

Casablancas also used part of the set to playfully jab LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy, who had performed earlier that evening. “What a pleasant surprise. I thought you retired 15 years ago,” he joked, referring to LCD Soundsystem’s 2011 farewell and subsequent return. He then called Murphy the “Brett Favre of indie rock,” after the quarterback known for retiring and returning more than once.

“Yeah, announcing we’re retiring tonight to make it cooler when we play a show in two years,” Casablancas added. Whether the Strokes ultimately decide to retire — an unlikely choice at the moment, as they are promoting their latest album, “Reality Awaits” — or keep going, they will always have a growing fanbase looking to emulate their style.