The Sombrero

All right, I'll admit it, my blog has been primarily geared toward ladies fashion. So, for the one or two gentlemen out there (Hi Dad) who read my blog, today is your lucky day. I've dedicated this entry to an accessory that smacks of the tradition and gaiety of Mexican culture:

The Sombrero.

The word "sombrero" is derived from the Spanish word "sombra" which means shade or shadow. The sombrero is a wide-brimmed hat ideal for laborers who work long hours in the desert's heat and need to shield their heads, necks and shoulders from the blistering sun. The first people said to wear sombreros were Mestizo workers in the "agricultural belt", commonly known today as the border between the United States and Mexico.

Traditional sombreros vary in appearance but all are constructed out of loosely woven straw. Some are plain with unfinished edges and others are incredibly vibrant and covered in intricate embroidery.

Though the sombrero is often attributed to the Mexican harvester and charro (cowboy), mariachi musicians also embrace the hat as part of their intricate costume. It became known for the famous Mexican folk song and dance called the Jarabe Tapatio. It tells the tale of a courtship between a poor charro peasant and the woman he loves. In an effort to flirt with her, he tosses his sombrero on the ground as a gesture of kindness. In return the woman dances on and around the brim of his sombrero.

Unfortunately, most Americans are unaware of the rich history behind the sombrero. Americans refer to the traditional Jarabe Tapatio tale as the "Mexican Hat Dance" and the hat itself has become a symbol of the Mexican leaning up on a cactus while taking a siesta. For American children the sombrero is associated with the cartoon mouse Speedy Gonzales. The sombrero has also become a tourist souvenir for Americans and is often given out as a gag gift at parties.

See below to watch dancers perform the Jarabe Tapatio:

Threads of Love

On the first Thursday of every month, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Nogales, Ariz. is turned into a medical clinic. Health practitioners, volunteers, and interpreters head down to St. Andrew's Children's Clinic to provide Mexican children with medical services.

On Thursday, Nov. 6, my journalism class visited the clinic to cover stories about its patients and staff for Border Beat, our student-run online publication.

St. Andrew's Clinic's services are free. The doctors and nurses leave their own practices to come to Nogales to work on these children simply out of the goodness of their hearts. I was truly amazed by the amount of care the staff gave to each patient.

St. Andrew's Clinic performs services in a variety of specialized areas from audiology to orthotics. In addition to the medical treatments it offers, the clinic also distributes donated clothing and food to the children and their families.

The church garden is transformed into a mini superstore. On a rack hang sweaters, jackets, and dresses of all shades and sizes. Colorful pairs of sneakers rest on the tiered ledges of the garden's stone fountain. Shopping bags filled to the brim with clothes cover the ground for visitors to rummage through.

For the last 8 years, one volunteer in particular has made the Church's distribution garden an important part of her life and vice versa. Rosemary Fitzpatrick sees it as a place where she can help children in need and watch as they gratefully accept the garments she's knitted for them.

Fitzgerald dedicates her spare time to knitting garments for the clinic. "I can knit and watch TV, I can knit and talk, I knit in the car if someone else is driving, not when I'm driving," Fitzgerald said. With that time she produces knitted hat and scarf sets, sweaters, and afghans for the children. Her individual goal is to produce 52 garments a year, finishing one every week.

"I get so choked up when I see somebody take something I've made and hug it because to me that's what I work for," Fitzpatrick said.

Where to find: Frida Kahlo Inspired Clothing

As promised, here are local venues that offer Frida Kahlo inspired/traditional Mexican clothing. There are two stores in particular, both located on Tucson's historic 4th Avenue, that have a wide selection.

How Sweet It Was
419 N. 4th Ave.
(520) 623-9854

This vintage clothing store offers everything from acid washed denim from the 80s, to flapper dresses from the "Roaring Twenties." When I first entered the store I immediately spotted a rack full of vibrant tehuana skirts (see below) and white billowy blouses, both staples in Kahlo's wardrobe. The store also carries other Mexican garments like the rebozo (see below & Oct. 13 post), which Kahlo often wore.



How Sweet It Was also offers a large collection of chunky Mexican jewelry and dead pawn jewelry (see Sept. 15 post), another element unique to Kahlo's classic ensemble.


Tucson Thrift Store
319 N. 4th Ave
(520) 623-8736

This store is just a block away from How Sweet It Was. Yes, it's a thrift store but it also offers vintage clothing and costumes. It too devotes a rack to traditional Mexican clothing like the tehuana skirt. The store has a nice selection of huipil dresses as well (see Oct. 13 post).

Frida Kahlo: Fashion Inspiration

Everyone has at least one famous person they admire. For some it's an influential industrialist like Howard Hughes. For others it's a writer like Ernest Hemingway. There are a handful of celebrities that I idolize and have spent years learning about. One of them is Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954).

My interest in Kahlo was sparked by a love for art and art history. After being introduced to her work eight years ago while studying overseas at the University of Cambridge, I was eager to learn about her life. I bought biographical books and watched every documentary that aired on TV. I saw Salma Hayek's big-screen rendition of her life multiple times. I was simply in awe of her accomplishments.

Kahlo was aggressive and played by her own rules. And though her life was filled with tragedy she never allowed it to conquer her spirit. She was a vivacious, strong-minded, and passionate woman. As a woman, I heartily respect that.

One of Kahlo's many qualities that I most admire was that her canvas wasn't the only place where she expressed her creativity. She lived her art and it was apparent in her appearance.

I (like many) consider Kahlo a fashion icon. She had such a unique way of dressing. She wore indigenous Mexican attire but added her own twist-- weaving roses through her braided hair and accessorizing with chunky jewelry. While times were changing and women's fashion was evolving, she continued to wear traditional tehuana skirts (see right) and wrapped herself in vibrant rebozos (see Oct. 13 post).

I chose to devote this posting to Frida Kahlo's style as a way to illustrate how traditional Mexican garments have made their way into contemporary fashion. Kahlo's revolutionary "look" has become the inspiration for many designers.

Noted fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier produced an entire collection inspired by her style. In that collection he showcased several corsets, which fashion critics believed to be inspired by the ones Kahlo had to wear to support her spine following a near-fatal accident.

Images from Jean Paul Gaultier's runway show in Paris

Christian Dior, Moschino, and Christian Lacroix have also shown designs influenced by Kahlo's style.

Harper's Bazaar magazine featured a fashion spread inspired by Kahlo. The model had a garland of red flowers in her hair and wore white blouses and embroidered skirts reminiscent of Kahlo's style.



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Watch a fashion show presented in Montevideo, Uruguay inspired by the Mexican painter:


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Be sure to check back this Wednesday 10/5 to learn where to find Frida Kahlo inspired clothing in Tucson and around the border.

Magic Hands

Any business man, on both the Arizona and Sonora sides of Nogales, will tell you that if you are looking for a tailor "go to Mr. Cuevas, of course."

Jose Cuevas started learning the art of tailoring when he was 13-years-old. At 15 he learned how to cut trousers and at 19, when business began to slow in Nogales, he decided to move to Mexico City to learn from a successful tailor.



57 years later, Mr. Cuevas works out of the same first-floor shop he bought in 1973 in Nogales, Sonora. Originally he had 14 tailors working for him and now it's down to two. But that doesn't bother Mr. Cuevas at all. He loves his job and loves all the work sent his way.

Unfortunately, for me, fewer tailors on hand means Mr. Cuevas no longer has the time to make garments for women. That's too bad because I've had the pleasure of watching him construct a suit from scratch using extravagant Ermenegildo Zegna fabric he keeps in stock. I've also seen him alter a Phoenix businessman's Hugo Boss suit from four different seams. Both came out flawlessly.

Click HERE to read my full Q&A with Mr. Cuevas.

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Mexico Primavera/Verano 2009

They are events that make or break a designer's career. They are platforms that showcase what will become the industry's most sought after trends.

They dictate what we will see celebrities wearing on the red carpet and what will grace the closets of fashionable men and women around the globe.

Paris, New York, Milan, and London host them twice a year. Berlin has one too. So does Hong Kong and Buenos Aires.

It's Fashion Week.

These days it's not only the fashion capitals that stage the fashion world's largest talent shows. In fact, Mexico plays host to a semiannual fashion week and its runway shows have received the attention of the international fashion community.

Mercedes-Benz, which sponsors New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and Berlin's fashion weeks, has participated in Mexico's fashion week since 2001.

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Mexico took place this past week (Oct. 13-17). Five runway shows were held each day in Antara Polanco, Mexico City's premiere shopping center.

The world-renowned design house Strenesse kicked off fashion week with the debut of its Spring 2009 collection.

Mexican designers such as Alberto Rodriguez, Armando Mafud, and Manuel Mendez also showcased their spring/summer collections during the week.

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Mexico hosted non-runway events as well. The week of activities included an "Accessories Day" and a "Perfume Night". In 2007, for instance, Spanish accessory designer Purificacion Garcia debuted her collection and Carolina Herrera presented her new fragrance. A film festival was also offered, which featured films like Sophia Coppola's 2006 masterpiece Marie Antoinette and director Steven Soderbergh's Solaris (2002).

Mexican Clothing 101

I am dedicating this entry to something I should have done at the inception of Local Threads: I am going to describe traditional Mexican clothing.

Traditional Mexican clothing incorporated indigenous elements with European influences. Materials like cotton, wool, agave, and bark were typically used to make garments, and later the Spaniards introduced the natives to silk.

Mexicans originally used color from natural elements to dye fabrics until the Europeans introduced them to their dying techniques, which utilized aniline dyes.


Below are some of the traditional Mexican garments worn:

Quechquemitl: This garment is reminiscent of our modern-day poncho. It is produced using two pieces of rectangular handwoven cloth, which is sewn together on each side. A hole is made at the top of the two attached pieces of fabric so it can be slipped over the head.


Huipil (Wee-peel): This might be considered similar to our modern-day "muu muu". It is a long, woven sack-like tunic. This garment is made using strips of fabric (length and width vary) that are then stitched together on the sides and often adorned with decorative embroidery.


Rebozo: This is a rectangular piece of fabric worn as a scarf or shawl. Sometimes it was used to carry goods to and from the market. Today the rebozo is still worn, and can often be seen on new mothers as an alternative way to carry their babies.


Puebla Dress: This is a short-sleeved, loose-fitting dress that is garlanded with intricate embellishments and embroidering. It later took on the name "boho dress" and is still seen today in designer collections that channel 70s chic with a Spanish flair (see left from Joie collection).



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Arte Huaxyacac is a company in Oaxaca, Mexico that still sells traditional garments as well as contemporary ones. Here is a quick film showcasing some of its handcrafted designs.

Bulletproof Fashion

During times of internecine conflict in parts of Latin America and the multiplicity of war zones abroad, I guess it makes sense to take extra precaution and integrate bulletproof apparel into your wardrobe.

But my goodness, these garments are actually chic!

Miguel Caballero, nicknamed the "Armored Armani", makes specialized personal protection gear through innovative products.

Caballero first opened for business in Columbia. Shortly

 after he opened his first boutique in Mexico, which is where the company is now primarily based. Caballero also sells his merchandise to Harrod's, one of London's upscale department stores.

This is not just some modernized camouflage bulletproof vest.  Caballero creates lightweight stylish pieces like blazers for men and suede and leather bomber jackets for women.  He even offers a bulletproof Hawaiian shirt for men.

Caballero's clients include the King of Jordan, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, President Lula of Brazil, the Spanish Royal Family, and American actor, Steven Seagal.

Currently, Caballero's biggest market is in Latin America but he anticipates a U.S. following very soon.  He expects the U.S. hip/hop industry to become his next largest market.

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Criminal activity is one of the biggest issues local Mexican governments face.  Each year there are up to 1500 murders and 2000 kidnappings in Mexico City alone.  To watch an in-depth video on Miguel Caballero and the high demand for his products in Mexico CLICK HERE

Designer Spotlight: Isha Elafi of Nomadic Knotwork

Isha Elafi's designs are truly one-of-a-kind. A self-proclaimed "nomad"  during her 20s, Isha started making jewelry to make ends meet.

Her craftsmanship is undeniably unique.  Rather than work with common materials like silver and gold, Isha's pieces are constructed out of colorful threads intertwined with beads and semi-precious stones.

Isha's unusual approach to jewelry-making quickly gained her notoriety.  And now, 25 years after she began Nomadic Knotwork, Isha works out of a beautiful home/studio in Bali, accompanied by three Balinese

 women who assist with her eagerly sought-after creations.

Isha travels all over the world looking for inspiration and rare stones to incorporate into her pieces. "I think of it as modern tribal jewelry," she says.  Most of the time she spends traveling throughout parts of Asia and South America.  But each year she makes a quick but necessary stop through Tucson for its annual gem show.

You won't find Isha's designs in department stores or chain stores of any kind.  Nor will you find Nomadic Knotwork written up or featured in any mainstream fashion and design magazines.

Isha prefers to sell only a few pieces at a time and only to select boutiques and stores, which specialize in rare trinkets and baubles.  And since her creations are in fact art, she sells them to galleries all over the world, from Clouds Gallery in New York to Far Horizons Gallery in the U.K.

From the nomadic manner in which she buys her supplies to the nomadic distribution by which her pieces find boutiques and buyers around the world, her art certainly lives up to its name.  

A Tubac Gem: Old Presidio Traders

Nestled between Tucson and Nogales, the little town of Tubac is an enclave for some of the most fantastic art galleries and pottery shops.

And while it is a flourishing marketplace, a Southwest souk of sorts, filled with exciting and unique finds, on Sundays Tubac resembles somewhat of a ghost town, and after 3p.m. consider yourself lucky if you find a store open or a restaurant serving.

I got lucky.

I stumbled across the Old Presidio Traders, and was greeted by Garry Hembree the store's proprietor of 25 years.

Old Presidio Traders sells incredible Indian jewelry and

 Navajo sandpaintings and other artwork.  But Old Presidio's real specialty is "dead pawn" jewelry.

Dead pawn jewelry refers to jewelry that Indians pawned to local pawnshops, which were used as collateral for loans.

If the loan wasn't paid by the date agreed upon, the contract became "dead" and the jewelry was put up for sale.

The unique and valuable aspect of dead pawn jewelry is that they are typically family heirlooms and one-of-a-kind pieces that can't be replicated or reproduced.

Garry's store has three large cases of dead pawn jewelry that range from necklaces to rings, to bolos and cuffs. The majority though are sandcast cuffs.

Most of the dead pawn pieces are hallmarked-- inscribed with the artist's name and tribe, and sometimes a census number.

I fell in love with Garry's collection of dead pawn sandcast cuffs so

 much that I couldn't leave without a nice purchase.  My piece (photographed on the right), was created by Ansel M Wallace,

 an Indian artist of the Zuni Tribe, whose census # is B1317.

Designer Spotlight: Lee Downey of Artifactual

For the last 30 years, Lee Downey has created unusual baubles, jewelry, belt buckles and sculptures.  Born in Barstow, CA, Lee now lives and works out of Bali.  The designer/jeweler/sculpture gains much of his inspiration from his frequent trips to Mexico, Central America, Tucson and Santa Fe. 

Lee is often recognized for his pieces that feature the skull symbol.  While Lee realizes that people often attribute the skull with death, for him,  "...Hells Angels, lots of Asian and Mexican reference, skateboarders, and the Grateful Dead will always be the ultimate absconders of the symbol.  The artwork of those musical times was resplendent with skeletal forms, both new and ancient, blending in the old religions with the new awareness of expanded horizons".

Most recently, Governor Schwarzenegger was photographed with Mayor Bloomberg for the cover of TIME Magazine wearing one of Lee's bold sterling silver skull belt buckles.  Guv Terminator clad in a conservative suit with a massive skull belt buckle peaking out from behind his tie...now that's pretty bad-ass...

Skull art is Lee's "thing", but it doesn't stop there.  On 

perhaps the other end of the spectrum, he has produced

some amazing one-of-a-kind butterfly pendants. 

In creating these butterflies as well as his other designs, Lee has been known to work with unusual materials such as prehistoric walrus ivory, excavated by Eskimos on the Bering Sea Coast.

Welcome!

Join me as I explore local designers, boutiques, trends, and all things fashion.  As a native New Yorker and self-proclaimed fashion junkie, I am excited to discover the border's many hidden treasures, from vintage cowboy boots to hand-carved jewelry to indigenous Mexican textiles.  Check in each week as I profile the border's rising and celebrated designers, describe the inspiration and craftsmanship behind their creations, and reveal my favorite finds.

Also be sure to check out my "Look Book", dedicated to highlighting local street fashion.