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Almost everything Stephanie Cardenas, 26, wore to Coachella was thrifted, borrowed, or something she already owned. The vintage Coach bag that was slung over her shoulder was her aunt’s. The flowing white skirt that pulled together her favorite outfit was a gift her mother brought her from Colombia. The one thing she bought – for $8 – was a white belt which she threaded over a black bandeau to wear as a top.
Over two weekends, 250,000 people are expected to descend on the desert festival grounds to listen to music, party, and show off their festival fits – but the Coachella that’s shown on Instagram, through the eyes of influencers and celebrities who have cushy Airbnbs and stylists on call, isn’t the Coachella of the masses. And for some attendees, sharing their raw Coachella experiences on social media is part of the appeal. In the age of de-influencing, where influencers gain followings by telling people what not to buy, these creators are de-influencing Coachella.
It was Cardenas’s fourth time at the festival. In the years she’s been going, the way she’s thought about fashion has changed. “I had a lot of time to reflect on fashion and overconsumption,” she said. “As a pretty big shopaholic, I had gotten tired of that – and looking around and thinking we were all wearing the same thing.” Cardenas was proud that she only bought one new item for Coachella this year instead of giving into fast-fashion hauls or spending money she didn’t have. Instead, she thrifted pieces and asked her mom to send anything she wasn’t using anymore. Cardenas said this approach opened her up to the creativity she loves in fashion, and the opportunity to express her culture. “I really wanted to dip into classic Latina looks,” she said. “For day one, I was heavily inspired by 90s Latina culture, with a brown lip liner, chunky gold hoops, slicked down hair. It was very sexy yet very 90s baggy.” On the third day, she leaned into her Colombian roots by putting together a look she calls “Virgin Mary but cottagecore. I had a blast doing it and it’s the most compliments I’ve ever received.”
Far from the much-publicized influencer houses, with their amenities and free swag, Kaela Santos, 24, spent weekend one of Coachella car-camping. Santos shared her experience on TIkTok, racking up 4.9 million views on one video, with the top comment reading “I [love] that we’re able to finally see the real side of camping at Coachella.” It was Santos’s third year car camping and she was armed with a color-coded spreadsheet detailing who was responsible for bringing which supplies, from duct tape to phone chargers to ramen. She was camping with what she estimates to be 30 other friends and between them, they had 10 cars. Santos sketched out the best configuration for their car camping spots on a printed map and showed it to security guards, who helped the friends get everything in place.
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Santos’s TikToks detailing the realities of car camping went viral and she thinks it’s because, even though most Coachella attendees aren’t influencers or celebrities, the realities of being a regular attendee aren’t often shown – and according to influencer Loren Gray, the highlights of influencers are often faked or exaggerated. In a viral TikTok video, Gray said there are influencers who pretend to go to Coachella by taking photos in the desert. “Coachella is like the influencer Olympics, right?” she said. “But a lot of influencers don’t even go to Coachella.” Commenters praised Gray for “being real” and showing what Coachella is actually like, similarly to the way people reacted to Santos’s videos of car camping.
“That light has never been shown – the whole camping experience and how raw it is,” she said. In her most viewed video, she talks about having anxiety attacks over using the port-a-potties and brings viewers along to stand in line for the shower. “The port a potties are honestly my nightmare,” she said. “They’re humbling. But it’s worth it for the fun that I have.” Santos’s favorite part of car camping is being with her friends, with the day just starting and the excitement building. That, she said, was worth mostly sustaining herself off bread and chips and Gatorade for three days. And she’s glad she shared it on TikTok. “The majority of people going to Coachella are normal people,” she said. “[Car camping] isn't sexy by any means but it’s worth it for those experiences with your friends.”
Olivia Trinidad, 20, is headed to Coachella for weekend two and bringing her thrifted outfits with her. She knows people think Coachella is for influencers and celebrities and that’s part of why she’s sharing her own experience, like thrifting at Saver’s where she picked up white platform slides for $13 and blue sunglasses for $3.99. Trinidad used to work at a vintage store and after seeing the amount of clothes that ended up in landfills, she leaned toward sustainability in her own choices. “You see how quickly the microtrends cycle, especially with Shein and fast fashion,” she said. “It contributes to over-consumption and over-consumerism. And [thrifting] is cool because no else is going to have what you have.”
Trinidad and her friends are rave and festival regulars and they love to swap items from their closets and borrow each other’s pieces. Learning how to sew also changed her fashion game, allowing her to amend thrifted pieces, explore her own creativity, and save money. “There’s the pressure to be spending so much money but in reality, you can be smart about it,” she said..” Just look at Trinidad’s $13 thrifted shoes and consider yourself de-influenced.
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