I didn't need an occasion to wear my alt stuff, but I did try not to wear out certain things, until they were too broken in to worry about, thereafter I'd just wear them all the time. I used to be far more active so there were usually at least 4 events a month to really get fancy for.

Burning Man politics was across the spectrum. Many folks came from SF and LA with a variety of views and of course a lot from the Reno area where it was held - but there also many of us from other countries (a lot from Canada) and of course NY, Florida, Texas, etc. Back then 1999-2008, there wasn't the insane division there is now, though there was a lot of anitwar art since the Iraq War was new and there was still a peace movement.