GMAT Sentence Correction (SC) | Re: Midway through the parade, the rodeo queen from New

Hi Mike,
Thanks for this explanation. I read the article on absolute phrases and have a doubt in reference to this question.
As I understand, an absolute phrase can modify the preceding clause. But in this sentence, the phrase "a crown hugging the band of her cowboy hat" seems to be modifying "a red sash across her chest". Presence of "and" between these phrases would make both these modifiers separately modify the preceding clause which looks logical to me. Can you