By: Fredwill Hernandez
“I’ve been waiting for twenty-years [now] for an event like this, no one thought of creating it [and if they did they did they never brought to life] so I did,” explains Peruvian Fashion Designer Elvira Zamora, who was highly influenced by Chicano Culture who embraced her since day one while growing up as a teen in Canoga Park – a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California. “I wanted to create an elegant event showcasing the “beauty and greatness of our Chicano Culture,” where all attendees are treated equal, where they all can walk the red carpet if they so desire. Not like other events where just certain individuals only get that preferential treatment and luxury. This vision and desire of mine gave birth to the inaugural Chicano Elegance event we had last year.”
The fashion designer component of it, “it was unintentionally instilled in me [as a kid growing up] by my father who had a tailor shop. As a kid growing up I saw my father customize clothes for his clients, so I was unintentionally exposed to that environment, of seeing [for example] the sewing machine, threads, buttons, needles, and the materials he used to keep his customers happy. My father would also take ideas from his clients’ clothes to also make clothes for me and my sister,” explained Zamora, who in 2001, created the brand Wardrobe Divas who has since made a name for herself and her genderless label Thrifs. A brand who has set out to represent the voices of those that grew up in the ghetto, through a minority woman of indigenous roots who has struggled and persevered against all odds as an immigrant. “When I launched Wardrobe Divas, guys would ask for stuff too — so for a short time also created the Chale Homie brand for guys but it eventually became too much for me to keep up with, so I morphed Wardrobe Divas and the Chale Homie [men’s] brand into Thrifs. The Thrifs [name] kind of has a borrowed component or meaning since I’m known for customizing pieces bought at thrift stores and making them original by adding to them from other pieces: be it a jacket, dress, pants, and so forth. I might buy a dress at a thrift store and use two or three other dresses to customize it, give it my [special] touch and vision to create something new. A thrift store is also where you sometimes find that original authentic stuff and [garment] pieces you really can’t get anymore.”
This year’s Chicano Elegance will feature interactive installations, live music, entertainment, a couture runway show, a podcast and media room, an art show, a Chicano Mall, a complimentary gift suite, an open bar, catered dinner and a photobooth — is here “to display our culture on an elevated platform to inspire our community and to tell a story from our experiences,” and “proceeds from the event will this year be donated to Warrior Road,” a diverse, Veteran founded 501(c) (3) non-profit organization on a mission to heal veterans and first responders through the power of working with horses. The event this year will take place Sat, – June 15, 2024 – in Hollywood, Ca at 7225 W. Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles.
“Chicano Elegance is not about me forgetting where I was born or came from, but it’s also about showing love to the [Chicano] culture [and the people] that embraced me from day one. You might not be Mexican per se, but if you grow up here in Los Angeles [like me in Canoga Park] you will in some form or fashion be influenced by Chicano Culture, plus I want to enlighten folks about our identity, to amplify our voices and empower our communities, and also “do away with the negative connotation” that the term Chicano might have had in the beginning, or still has to some,” eloquently also explained Zamora.
“The term Chicano wasn’t fully embraced by the community. It was deemed negative, part of “cholo” culture, and struggled to gain respect by elders who deemed the term as “degrading” Mexican culture where in fact “it was honoring Mexican heritage” by taking the concept of Mexica-indigenous people in the phonetics of the “x” to “ch” in Chicano,” pointed out Martha A. Rivas, Ph.D., CSUDH faculty, also a Critical Race Theorist, Author, Speaker, and one of the top scholars on the subject. “The evolution was to include Chicana (a) in the women’s movement as a way to challenge the deep-seeded machismo in the Chicano movement. We are now at Chicanx with an “x” to dismantle gendered terminology. In all, this is really indicative of the fluidity of language as it intersects with identity and identity labels.”