Chola

Throughout my research in to cultures which are most commonly appropriated by western society, i found the Latino subculture Chola's are being appropriated within the current fashion trends of today. 
I had never heard of the term 'Chola' before my research began, i found that Chola is the name which refers to a subculture of Latino women who in terms of fashion and styling wear dark lip liner, with thin eyebrows, baggy trousers such as dickes, oversized flannel shirts which are buttoned at the top, often wearing gold chains with crucifixes. 

what is a chola? - "working-class, young Mexican-American female from the barrios of the southwest with a very distinct aesthetic, style, and attitude," - Hellabreezy 


The chola aesthetic was first forged by the marginalised Mexican-American youths of Southern California. It embodies the remarkable strength and creative independence it takes to survive in a society where your social mobility has been thwarted by racism. The clothes these women wore were more than a fashion statement—they were signifiers of their struggle and hard-won identity.



After learning more about the Chola style, i started to see examples of the appropriation of the culture, for example the music video for Young Money's "Senile" video.

Within the music video (as seen left) Niki Minaj can be seen clearly emulating the Chola style within her look including gold hoop earrings, a red bandana around her forehead, and sagging Dickies atop a sporty Moschino underwear set. Her lips were heavy with liner as she rapped in front of a crew of tattooed and shirtless Mexican men.
A perfect examples of the ways in which cultures are appropriated for their aesthetic value. 

Similarly Kendall and Kylie Jenner have released a new line of clothing, in which the Chola style can again be seen throughout, profiting off of the identity conceived by a culture which dealt with poverty, warfare, violence and conservative gender roles. 

Although the actual clothes haven't explicitly been taken from the Chola style, it's the way in which they have been styled, with the oversized plaid shirt just buttoned at the top, along with the large hoop earnings which are prevalent throughout Latino culture as symbols of strength and resistance. The problem with these celebrities and the fashion industry as a whole is the fact that they are commercialising a culture which isn't their own, for their own gain and in result end up marginalising a culture. 

Originally the poster i was going to create would focus on many cultures/subcultures which are being appropriated within the fashion industry, however i think it would be more appropriate to create the first in a series of informative pieces of design in which each one focuses on a different culture which is being appropriated.

I think Chola's would be a really interesting subculture to try and gain cultural awareness for; as just 2 hours ago i hadn't heard of the latino subculture and now i am beginning to see examples of the way it is being aesthetically exploited within fashion today.