Coachella might be America’s premier desert music fest, but often I find myself so distracted from whatever MGMT thought they were doing (jeeze they were shockingly boring) because the people watching is top notch.  Here are some of the most memorable looks I captured at Coachella this year.  It looks like Coachella 2011 is going to be the year of the costume, since the trend seems to have started this year.

Behold, a guy dressed as a taco and a guy dressed as Pinocchio:

Pinocchio got a LOT of shout outs walking through the beer gardens. I saw that stuff in action.

We also have “serious guys wearing jumpsuits and ties” and a dude half-wearing a bear costume with a captain’s hat:

Now that I’ve confounded you, let’s go a few steps further?

SORRY! I should have warned you, I know.  This man was very proud of his underpants.

Just one more on the confounding front and we can move on:

You guys make the call on this guy, I can’t tell if he’s being ironic or not. I’m dead on the inside.

Alright, how about a few t-shirt palette cleansers?  I chased this guy down for a picture:

Turns out he’s the man who makes these t-shirts!  You can get this classic Sophia Loren/Jayne Mansfield moment on a shirt from shopelectrictangerine.com.  Good business acumen, dude!

I also liked this rather serious hipster fellow:

More from the dude fashion front…I think this next fellow is the Tom’s Shoes entrepreneur guy?  At least the women in the crowd around me thought so too (sorry I cut off his shoes – he was wearing a pair of red Tom’s shoes for sure).  He was there to check out Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

A nice combo of preppy with just a touch of hippie.

As usual though, the hipsters outnumbered the hippies and preppies.  I didn’t want to dedicate so much picture time to stuff you can laugh at over at the stellar latfh.com, so how about this guy instead.

Jeans, sneakers, white t shirt, classic. It looks great without any taxing effort.  Kind of like Mr. Statham in the VIP tent.

On to the lady looks.  I think Jade Castrinos of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros was one of the top ten most fashionable women at Coachella for sure.

Only the chicks from The Dirty Projectors could give her a run for her money.

Once again, simplicity is best:

You could try the sequin thing, sure. It’s eye-catching, but are you comfortable?  Sequins from head to toe seems rather heavy for the desert:

White is graceful and classic – although do you basically spend all of Coachella standing? I wouldn’t want to get grass stains on my lovely white dress:

This next girl in her little printed dress really stood out from the rest of the pack on the side of the Outdoor stage VIP area:

This next lass’ look embodies the laid back spirit of Coachella. But I am SICK TO DEATH of these little straw hats everyone, and I mean, everyone, was wearing:

LOOK, even a baby was wearing one.

(Awww, a Coachella baby! There’s always one or two you spot every year, going deaf in their infancy).

And here it is, one of my favorite fashion snaps at Coachella 2010, this vintage vision:

Amongst the hos with their hip-bones a poppin’, bikini strings burning bad suntans into bronzed flesh – this girl was truly a stand out.

Stay frosty, folks. See you next year!  Ooof, there’s that hat again.