Thermal, Calif. — “People are getting more brave, which I love, just embracing it,” said Kelson Berkus, 30, a marketing executive in Los Angeles, nodding approvingly as he surveyed the Lacoste party, clad in aqua giraffe-print swim trunks (source: “probably Fred Segal”).

A few steps away, Ryan Greeley, 28, a former model who works in retail in Long Beach, Calif., stepped out of the pool and pulled what appeared to be a large piece of cheesecloth (it was actually vintage, from Buffalo Exchange) close to his chest.

“I call it a shawl, but that’s just because it’s a cardigan that’s mesh,” Mr. Greeley said.

It was the first weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and around him, hundreds of young men milled about, clad in sleeveless shirts and short shorts, hoisting up vodka sodas enthusiastically (“Let’s do this, bro!”), reliving the previous night’s excesses (“Ugh, the ceiling was spinning”) and puffing up their pecs as they strutted around the private estate here.

Nearby, Tim Palmer, 28, a pharmacist who lives in Long Beach, laid on his back as happy electronic music wafted across the bright green lawn. “You know, it was a process,” he said of picking out his clothes for the festival, which on this day included floral denim shorts from Top Man. “I’m going with people who have been coming here for so long, and they were like, ‘You have to have this outfit, you have to have that outfit.’ ”