Caroline Polachek’s Coachella Fashion Diary
For her first performance at the Indio Valley festival, Polachek donned custom Elena Velez, plenty of Dion Lee, and wet-look hair all weekend long.
On Saturday, April 16, the Australian musician Flume brought four guest artists to accompany his packed performance during Coachella week one: Beck, Vince Staples, and Tove Lo all showed up on the main stage to perform their respective hits with Flume. But once Caroline Polachek emerged to sing her new song with the DJ, “ Sirens,” the house was officially brought down. Polachek, the former frontwoman of the synth-pop group Chairlift, made her solo presence known back in 2019, when she released her debut project Pang. The album included “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings,” a single that instantly took off, propelling her to stardom and inspiring a TikTok trend in the process (the ultimate mark of “making it” these days). For the past three years, Polachek has steadily been releasing hits, including “Sirens,” which came out just 14 days before the singer practically floated onstage during Flume’s Coachella set, emitting dreamy, falsetto notes while the desert wind whipped the lace wings sewed onto her bespoke Dion Lee look. Just one hour prior to her surprise appearance, Polachek performed her very own set to a jam-packed crowd at the Gobi stage—this time, wearing a custom Elena Velez outfit done in all-black. Below, the musician shares with W her fashion and beauty diary from before, during, and after both performances at her very first Coachella.
After arriving at Coachella in the afternoon, Polachek “popped into the KROQ tent for a radio interview,” she tells W. Here, the artist wears an Evade House crochet bonnet, Heliot Emil dress, and sunglasses from Chris Habana x David Koma’s line.
Ahead of her performance, Polachek hits the hair and makeup chair, where stylist Fitch Lunar perfects her wet-look, sculpted hairdo.
For her solo set, Polachek wore a custom look made by the rising New York City designer Elena Velez. Here, the singer does “vocal warmups pre-show.”
Polachek’s pre-show rituals also include “doing my best to hydrate,” she says.
Caroline Polachek performing at Coachella 2022, styled here by Kat Typaldos.
“Midway through ‘Billions,’ collecting invisible fruit.”
“I played ‘Bunny Is a Rider’ in the volcano-scape,” Polachek says of the set design on stage. “This is the peak of the set, when the volcano goes off.”
“Post-show with my bandmates Matt Horton [guitar and bass player] and Chloe Saavedra [drums].”
“A quick reset between my show and Flume’s—relieved we went with a wet hair look, as it blended in with all the performance sweat,” Polachek recalls. Here, makeup artist Leo Chapparo does a speedy touch-up.
For her second look, Polachek was styled by Mindy Le Brock in a custom Dion Lee dress, which she paired with neon Balenciaga boots.
“Feeling the power of the massive sound system minutes before singing through it.”
“Whipped by the desert wind as I get into position backstage to sing with Flume.”
“Joining Flume on the main stage to play our new collab song, ‘Sirens’—under the full moon.”
