A giant horse sculpture with Taylor Swift friendship bracelets seen on Saturday, April 13, 2024, at Coachella in Indio, Calif.
Sarah Scheideman didn’t mean to feed the Taylor Swift rumor mill. But after her Coachella Art Studios team decked out a giant horse with the megafamous singer’s familiar friendship bracelets, predictable fan theories began to swirl.
Scheideman and the Art Studios team are a mainstay at Indio’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, helping to anchor the “arts” side of the admittedly music-focused two-weekend event. Attendees can find them, a gaggle of professional sewers and jewelers who man booths for craft-happy Coachella revelers, tucked into a tent near the camping area from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day. Guests can get alterations, pick up new pieces and find fashion advice, all free of charge.
Scheideman’s group has been around since 2009, and she’s seen, done and heard a lot in that time; but she promises that they don’t know if Swift is going to make a surprise appearance this weekend or not.
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Goldenvoice, which runs Coachella, first reached out to Scheideman because of her now-defunct local blog, asking how the festival might better feature Coachella Valley artists. The first year, her group just got a couple of 10-by-10 canopies — now they run an upcycler’s paradise.
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Bands of fake gemstones, pins, zippers, fabric, glue and a mix of other crafting materials are spread across tables. Dozens of spools of ribbon and banding hang off a portable shelf. In one corner, there’s an entire rack of available pieces from Goodwill.
Craft-minded fans are encouraged to experiment, find inspiration for the day’s outfits and spread the word to other Coachella-goers. Scheideman says foot traffic picks up a bit each day, though another attendee says the earliest visitors are usually the most industrious. In a trash bin at closing time, a pile of discarded bits and pieces shows off the day’s work. “If it’s ugly,” Scheideman tells guests, “throw it away.”
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Inside the Coachella Art Studios tent on Saturday, April 13, 2024, at Coachella in Indio, Calif.
Austin Galindo worked in the group’s jewelry booth for eight years at the festival, he says, before hopping over to the sewing machines for 2024. He’s a professional designer and says about 60 people are involved in the Coachella Art Studios project; the group found him through his small jewelry business. He is paid for the Coachella work and also gets to attend shows during his off hours — though he’s just as likely to spend the downtime examining everyone’s outfits.
So what’s the mood for this year? Very long boots are in, part of an overall move toward a cowboy chic aesthetic, but there’s always one constant at this early spring desert festival, Galindo says: “Skin is in.”
“Sparkle is always on the forecast,” he adds.
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Attendees this year have loved flowy designs and breathable mesh fabrics, he says, and the best piece he saw emerge from the tent was a ’70s-style bedazzled bodysuit — flared, with a zipper closing the front.
Coming to the tent has become a yearly tradition for 32-year-old Kaila Fick from Redlands. A hairdresser, she says she enjoys crafting and upcycling but doesn’t have her own sewing machine at home. Fick first dropped by the craft booths in 2019, so she’s seen the setup grow in scope and complexity. For emphasis, she gestures toward the models posing in bright, outlandish outfits in the middle of the tent.
Fans look over used clothing and other crafts on Saturday, April 13, 2024, at Coachella in Indio, Calif.
Fick’s own efforts have become more ambitious, too. On Friday, she took freely available lacelike ribbons of blue and white, picked up a blue bow and had one of the sewers fashion her a wedding garter. When Fick gets married next month, it could be with “something borrowed” courtesy of Coachella Art Studios.
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Fick also brought to the festival a decades-old T-shirt repping rock band the Misfits, which she’s hoping to rejuvenate using safety pins, in “traditional punk spirit.” She’s hoping the sewers can also alter a 6-year-old shirt, a quirky number featuring both firefighting and Rastafarianism, to a smaller size.
She appreciates the alterations and advice, she says, but points out that — as for other inexpensive or free things at Coachella — it’s the pricey entry ticket that covers the costs.
“It’s free,” she says, “but you paid for it.”
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Stephen Council is the tech reporter at SFGATE. He has covered technology and business for The Information, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC and CalMatters, where his reporting won a San Francisco Press Club award.
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