A Latina's viewpoint

"Native, Latina, and black girls have been pushing boundaries and trends with what little monetary means we have for as long as the collective american fashion memory exists; it’s been us who have been making and wearing jewelry considered gaudy, cheap, and obnoxious, it’s been us making fashion statements our of dollar tube tops and high waisted leggings, it’s been us doing our hair tight or big, we are the origin of resourcefulness, girls on reservations and in the poorest neighborhoods were drawing on their beauty marks and getting glossy long before girls on Instagram, we are queens of the dollar store and beauty shop, and it astounds me that not only are these looks being taken without a nod to the source, they are being put at designer price points. meanwhile we’re still out here doing our highlighter with two dollar shimmer eye shadow and scrubbing thrifted white Adidas shoes clean with plastic toothbrushes, and we’re looking great"

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Gwen Stefani appropriating the chola aesthetic in the past

Gwen Stefani Gwen Stefani's been ripping them off basically forever. It's the "chola look," a Mexican-American female aesthetic that's now being appropriated by celebrities. Think white sleeveless undershirts, Dickies pants with suspenders, thinly plucked eyebrows, maroon lips with a lot of liner, big Aquanet-enabled bangs, and a general " don't mess with me" vibe . Gwen Stefani is perhaps the poser Chola-in-chief. In her music video for “Luxurious” she wore chanclas and shirts with old English lettering. Even La Virgen de Guadalupe makes an appearance. Gwen Stefani, whose 2004 Luxurious video places her as the only (blonde, glimmering) white chola at a Mexican American barbecue, reflecting her upbringing in the majority-Latino city of Anaheim, California . “I love other cultures, but I was most influenced where I grew up in Anaheim, two hours from the Mexico border. The girls in class would use a safety pin to separate their three-week-ol...

Appropriation of the Mexican blackletter font in current fashion

Appropriation of the Blackletter Font in modern fashion Today in Mexico blackletter can be found mostly in folk functional graphics such as fascia lettering, signage, do-it-yourself advertisements and labels; it has also proven its popularity in tattoos, concert posters and less – but still present – in graffiti. Don't be mistaken by the contents of this book and believe that most folk Mexican lettering a set in blackletter, however. Unquestionably, most folk graphics use roman type in its serif or sans serif versions. The purpose of this book is to show the presence and anatomy of blackletter in contemporary Mexico, and no examples of roman type are included. The blackletter that adorns countless small stores, shops and service providers all over Mexico has a long history that today enjoys a wholly Mexican twist that caters to the everyday needs of people, from plumbers to cobblers and everything in between. More than a way t...

Lana Del Rey chola appropriation in Tropico

Lana Del Rey Lana’s portrayal of Latino/Cholo culture in her short film 'Tropico’ is only a small piece of the actual stereotyped depiction of Latino American culture , but it is still a huge issue, due to her enormous, young adult following. As a woman of Hispanic descent, I do not feel offended because cholo culture is not one that I feel represents an entire culture of people, or even specifically my cultural group. Of course, we should make the space for actual Latinas/Latinos to speak about whether this image that Lana is portraying is actually an act of cultural appropriation. If a Latina says it’s fine with her, then end of argument right? I also think that we need to shift the focus to what Lana is trying to do. Is Lana celebrating Latino culture or cholo/gangster culture? How do we know if she’s celebrating it or exploiting it? How do we know if white people genuinely wa...

How is Hispanic culture appropriated in the fashion industry?

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