Once upon a time this weekend would have marked the opening days of Coachella, the giant pop festival in the Southern California desert that attracts 250,000 revelers across two weekends. It is the unofficial opening ceremony for a summer run of global music extravaganzas as disparate as Glastonbury in Somerset, England, and the beach parties of Ibiza, Spain.

But now the festival ground, with its distinctive backdrop of bare mountains and towering palm trees, lies empty. Coachella has been postponed until October, organizers confirmed last month, over concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. Scores of other festivals have also fallen off the calendar, leaving musicians without stages to play on, millions of attendees set to stay home — and fashion brands with mountains of unsold denim hot pants, fringed skirts and sequin cropped tops.

“For some brands, festivals aren’t just a season like summer or fall, but the season of the year to build relationships with a certain kind of shopper, who buy fun new extra additions for their wardrobe that they wouldn’t normally be tempted by,” said Lucie Greene, a trend forecaster and the founder of the Light Years consultancy. “They define an entire aesthetic of collections and products for some labels.”

According to Katy Lubin, the vice president for communications at the global fashion search platform Lyst, online searches for “festival fashion” usually begin in March and last until July.