Fashion is known to be a form of expression throughout many cultures, just like the Mexican American culture. Over the decades Mexican American women's fashion evolved to celebrate beauty and fashion standards of the day. However, such evolution wasn't often well seen by society, instead it was often deemed non-normative and un-American. This style evolution started in the 1920's with American influence creating the Pelonas, the1940s when the Pachuca culture came to be, and later evolved into the Chicanas in the 70s and the Cholas in the 90s.
Pelonas - 20s edit
Las Pelonas, meaning "the shorthaired/bald girls," is a style that emerged in the U.S-Mexico borderlands during the early 20th century and served as a form of rebellion against traditional gender roles and societal expectations.[1][2][3] The name refers to the bobbed haircuts that these women had.[1] This style, characterized by short haircuts, masculine clothing, and bold accessories, challenged the media's perception of femininity and empowered women to express themselves.[3] By rejecting restrictive dress codes, Las Pelonas created a new standard for female fashion that celebrated individuality and self-expression.[2] The media would often use the recognizability of the pelona image to perpetuate negative stereotypes.[3] This led to violence in the streets directed towards las pelonas for their choice of fashion.[1]
Etymology edit
In the 1920’s, pelonas were 15-25-year-old women who were known for their adaptation of the American flapper.[4] Popular American actresses appearing in Spanish-language media and American consumerism began to influence young Chicanas into a new Americanized style.[3] This style is defined by short-bobbed hair, scarlet lips, and short dresses, which conflicted with traditional expectations of Chicana women.[3][4][5] Pelonas preferred an elegant masculine look suitable for sports, driving, and shopping.[3][4] It allowed them to move more freely and comfortably than the restrictive corsets and long skirts of previous eras.[4] This era also saw the widespread purchasing of manufactured products, which let women save time on sewing clothes for their family, and this created more time for leisure activities. This embracement of consumerism is a marker of the pelona identity, which upset conservatives who favored traditional ways of living.[3] The bobbed haircut was heavily criticized, because it was seen as a threat to endangered indigenous culture and the femininity of Chicana women.[6] The bold use of cosmetics were previously only commonly used by sex workers, which led to critics comparing their application to a painted pinata; however, makeup products were used in barrio beauty pageants where young women were supported by local organizations, like churches, labor unions, and newspapers, for emphasizing their physical appearance.[3][7][8] Pelonas’ preferences for makeup, attire, and disposition were also criticized and seen as a rejection of obligatory feminine purity.[4][8] The U.S-Mexico borderlands create unique cultural and social dynamics for Chicana women.[4][7][8] Chicano social scientists have characterized this role as “the glue that keeps the Chicano family together” and “the guardians of traditional culture.”[7]
Media depictions edit
Media depictions of pelonas’ style influenced how society viewed them.[3] Newspapers would often mock pelonas in comic strips that depicted them as morally bankrupt, greedy, or dirty through the power of their image.[3] Jose Posada created “Catrina Calaveras” in 1912 as a political satire image of wealthy Mexican elite.[9] After his death, the metal print press for his work was recycled to create “El Pantheon de Las Pelonas” in 1924, which inspired Diego Rivera to start incorporating calaveras in his work; thus, using the pelona style to create the iconic images for Día de Los Muertos.[10] The playful humor when depicting pelonas became bitter contempt. The media used to mock pelonas resulted in dehumanizing them into a few sexual signifiers.[3] This dehumanization resulted in the 1924 summer incident in Mexico City where a group of male students attacked pelonas by throwing water on them and shaving their heads.[11] This attack was done to express their distaste for the style and to chastise pelonas for their intrusion into public male-dominated spaces.[7][11] Pelonas carved out a unique space for themselves that did not fit into any existing figures of femininity.[2] The image was powerful enough to cross borders and, most influentially, it was available for those who are nonliterate.[2][7] The style lost popularity in the 1930’s depression and some people celebrated the ‘death’ of las pelonas as a sign of a return to tradition; however, thirty years later Pachuca’s would continue to challenge gender norms.[3][11]
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References edit
- ^ a b c Beezley, William H. (2009). Mexicans in Revolution, 1910-1946: An Introduction. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 47–78.
- ^ a b c d Haney, Peter C. (1999-01-01). "Fantasía and Disobedient Daughters: Undistressing Genres and Reinventing Traditions in the Mexican American Carpa". Journal of American Folklore. 112 (445): 437–449. doi:10.2307/541371. ISSN 0021-8715.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Montserrat-López, Maria-Feu (1 October 2015). "The U.S. Hispanic Flapper: Pelonas and Flapperismo in U.S. Spanish-Language Newspapers, 1920–1929". Studies in American Humor.
- ^ a b c d e f Ruvalcaba, Gerardo Contreras (2017). "La chica moderna, colaboradora de la liberación femenina: (de) construcción de la identidad femenina en el México de 1924 a 1936". Horizonte Histórico - Revista semestral de los estudiantes de la Licenciatura en Historia de la UAA (in Spanish) (14): 35–44. doi:10.33064/hh.vi14.1454. ISSN 2954-355X.
- ^ Ruiz, Vicki (2006). Building with our hands: New directions in chicana studies. Univ. of California Press. pp. 109–129.
- ^ Mushro, Lauren (2017). "Frida Kahlo and the Feminine". Colloquium: The Political Science Journal of Boston College. ISSN 2476-2482.
- ^ a b c d e Ruiz, Vicki (2008). From out of the Shadows Mexican women in Twentieth-century Americ. Oxford University Press. pp. 51–71.
- ^ a b c Ramirez, C. S (2009). "The Woman in the Zoot Suit: Gender, Nationalism, and the Cultural Politics of Memory". Duke University Press – via JSTOR.
- ^ shaimaje. "El Panteón de las Pelonas (The Graveyard of Bald Women) – Broadsides & Calaveras: Jos Guadalupe Posada". Retrieved 2023-05-03.
- ^ Jiménez, Teresa - Andreu (2018). "José Guadalupe Posada. Strokes of life and death" (PDF).
- ^ a b c Porter, Susie S. (2022-01-07). "Towards a history of sexual harassment in the workplace, Mexico city (1920-1950)". Korpus 21: 117–132. doi:10.22136/korpus21202272. ISSN 2683-2682.