During the decade of the 1930s, Mexico and the United States were going through a tumultuous time of political dilemmas, war, and a revolution of art and fashion. The United States had seen one of the worst economic times of its era. The Great Depression, a period in American history where its people lost their jobs, the economy crashed, and many Americans did not have much money to spare. Eventually towards the end of the 1930s the United States had entered World War II, stimulating the industry earning the country back for what it lost. Mexico was also affected by the Great Depression that was happening in the Untied States, many immigrants faced deportation, jobs were scarce, and some of the farm workers that remained in the country struggled to survive. Desperate conditions were changing the stability of both countries. Mass deportations were occurring due to the lack of jobs, and purchasing goods, like fashion, was the last item citizens were purchasing. In order to keep their businesses running, fashion designers needed to be more innovative and creative with their clothing. Therefore, new sawing techniques and use of fabrics was emerging. This period in time saw a widespread of man-made fibers, the rayon was used for dresses, viscose for lining, and the zipper became widely used. Men were sporting suits called the “drape cut” accessorized with fedoras, and trousers were getting relaxed on the legs and some fitted on the cuffs. At this period in time in Mexico, Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist, was widely spreading her fame as a painter, feminist, fashion icon, and political activist. Her fashion, style, and matriarchal identity appropriated from indigenous women of Mexico became an emblem for many chicanos in the era of the 1960s, she was viewed as a heroine for her courageous legacy. Her style had been glamorized, fetishized, and widely copied. The Tehuana dress is a garment sacred to the original peoples of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec from Oaxaca, Mexico. The women of this community live in a matriarchal society where women are the ones that bring in the bread to the table. Frida Kahlo took the Tehuana dress as a symbol of womanhood, femininity, power, and matriarchal identity, many of her self portraits show her wearing this dress, a garment she made famous around the world. Controversial enough, her style has been widely copied by many fashion designers and artists, meanwhile, the indigenous women, originators of the Tehuana dress, are still, today, being subjugated economically and socially from their human rights. Although Frida is seen as an emblem of feminism, she did put the Mexican name high across the globe, and for many Chicanos, her act of nonconformity to oppressive societal views towards women is what makes her a heroine. Mexican Americans specifically, were going through a fashion revolution. The Chicano style in fact dates back to the 1930s and the 1940s with the subculture pachuco, a style of tapered trousers, fedoras, oversized suits, and the pompadour hairstyle. “The Pachuco Look” is an inception of identity for chicanos, events after the World War II established this trend that was developed by Mexican Americans. The Zoot Suit Riots is an important event in which its shared narrative is retold through fashion, and the style that was produced by the chicanos. The Zoot Suit Riots occurred after Mexican Americans were being targeted in a series of racist attacks that lead many to jail and several death. Mexican Americans adopted the Zoot Suit look while searching for a way to differentiate their “gang” and subculture. Zooters at the time felt a sense of not belonging, they would travel in groups, arrange their own party venues, and interact only with those who identified likewise. They felt misunderstood even from fellow Mexicans and Americans, their subculture was stereotyped with violence and rage, and servicemen along with civilians were targeting them simply because of their skin color and ancestry. The Zoot Suit was their iconography at the time.
The 1960s for Mexican Americans was a time of reclaiming their stolen land, their identity among a country that subjugated their livelihoods, segregated of brown and white students in schools, and a culture of protesting. Chicanos of the 1960s were pushing equality in institution of academia, where racist institutionalized studies were teaching students a different story of their people, they took on the establishment that kept policing their neighborhoods because of stereotypes, as well as the erasure of the indigenous peoples that lived in the southwest part of California bordering Mexico. They were fighting to not conform with the views of the Anglos on how Chicanos should live their lives. Mexican Americans were viwed as foreigners by Anglos that had immigrated from Europe and adapted to the American way of living, when in fact, chicanos had been in their territory long before the invasion. Chicanos from across the United States moved to California and gathered in numbers to protest the lack of Chicano studies in academic institutions. The Chicano Movement eventually grew out of the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panther Party in the late 1960s, inspired by their courage to fight inequality. Mexican American youths were successful with their protests that eventually forced institutions to teach about the history of Mexican Americans living in the United States.
These political events shaped the fashions at the time, they elevated the zoot suit look, and many companies today, copy their unique looks. But, it is not just a fashion trend, there is history, culture, and oppression in the garments chicanos, zooters, and cholos produced. The chicano movement contained a lot of courage, they sought on Frida Kahlo as their savor. Towards the 1970s and mid 1980s, in Tijuana, Mexico, Los Angeles, and Colorado was seeing an influx of a new wave of fashion, from baggy pants, white tank-tops, fedoras, and a lot of disturbance with loud music. They were cholos, a new gang of people like the zoot suiters, who were also struggling to “fit it.” Mexicans as well as Americas did not understand their clique, their activities, and they would be stereotype with violence and laziness. The cholo look of the 19970s and 1980s was influenced heavily by hip-hop, the Pachuco fashion, and somewhat by gang culture. The cholo look came largely out of the resourcefulness of impoverished Mexican American women and men who shared clothes with their brothers and bought workwear labels at local supermarkets. Dark lip-liner and oversized flannel shirts buttoned to the top are key components of the Chola and cholo aesthetic. While Mexican fashion fed from the result of American exports like film, television, and magazines, Mexican American style was the product of political issues, economic inequality, and the creativity of the Mexican American community.
First, there is Madame Rivera. A Mexican artist who was famous for her paintings, her feminism, and her marriage to muralist Diego Rivera. She was also known for her style and fashion choices. She was considered to be one of Mexico’s greatest artist of the twentieth century, and her legacy still lives today. Frida Kahlo was born on July 7, 1910 in Coyoacán, Mexico City, Mexico. Her father is German and her mother is Mexican. Since her childhood, Frida Kahlo grew up with poor health, she contracted polio at the age of six and developed a disease that caused her right leg to grow much thinner then her left one. Then, at the age of eighteen, Frida got into a horrific bus accident on the way home from school that left her with a broken pelvis, spine, collarbone, leg, foot, and ribs. This accident forced her to wear a corset that would support her with her spine. While recovering from the accident, Frida began to paint, she started this hobby to simply pass the time as she heals from her injuries while hospitalized. She wanted to study medicine, but painting became her life long career. Eventually, in the year 1953, her right leg was amputated, a doctor had discovered gangrene and had to remove it. Frida then incorporated her fashion into a form of art, using it to channel both her physical and emotional insecurities into statements of strength, proudness, and beauty (Wolfe 64-66).”