Nothing about this festival has ever appealed to me. Even less appealing as I’ve seen time pass and Coachella go from mostly indie rock/experimental acts having a place to shine to being mostly mainstream predictable pop music. With that also of course brings… terrible attempts at “alternative” style.

Exhibit A: Girl In Crop Top With Unicorn Mask Fist Pumping

However, there was one band who played Coachella this year that was somewhat of an anomaly. Los Tucanes de Tijuana. A Narco Ballad band from Tijuana where I current reside. Their music is a style that has been coined “narcocorridor”. Mostly their songs celebrate drug traffickers and the narco lifestyle. Quite honestly probably the most authentic local desert band to play at this festival in years. The fact that most people specifically go to festivals to get high and listen to music, Tijuana was just listed as the most violent city in the world, and that Los Tucanes de Tijuana headlined Coachella last weekend… Well, let’s just say the irony is not lost on me as a purveyor of my surroundings.

In short. I love the desert. I loathe Coachella and all the try hard attempts at desert style. Therefore this week I wanted to showcase you how to dress desert chic as a local does adhering to the surrounding environment. Whether you live in Southern California, Arizona or in Baja like myself. Let’s take inspiration from the landscape that surrounds us and apply that to our looks. Rather than the clones of cardi-crop, ankle boot wearing fist pumpers.

Here are some examples of what the my current desert surroundings in Baja California Norte look like. It’s hard and rough. Prickly cacti, snakes hiding in the sand and mountains, and handmade leather goods can easily be found in every town lining the coastline here. This is the real desert.

I applied these beautiful hard and tough aspects of my current environment directly to my look today. Snake-print button up shirt, leather pants & jacket, and over-sized tinted glasses to protect me from the blazing desert sun.

Style Hack of the week is to not ever blend in with the pack. If everyone is wearing one thing. You should be wearing another. The entire focus and purpose of the Metal Mouth Style blog is to show you how to tell your life story through their personal style everyday. While also getting the look for less.

Snake-print shirt Street Shop 2100 Paseo Ensenada Playas de Tijuana – $3.50

Vintage Leather pants Creations of Lily Non-Profit Boutique – $5

Fringe Bag Coppel – $7

Leather Jacket See Thru Soul – $5

Leopard Print Slides Agaci – $5

Shades – $6