Lakeside songstress Lupita Jimenez pulled a black mermaid gown from the hanger and holding it up, she checked the mirror and did a dance step to flip out the flounces at the bottom.
“Maybe if it’s not too cold I’ll wear this tonight,” she said, perking up the yellow and orange roses. “I was thinking of using the new black Michoacan dress with all the ribbons, but that may not be quite right. This event is to raise money for the foundation my mentors and old friends Lucha y Jorge have started to help the elderly. I’ll be performing with seven other artists plus Lucha y Jorge in Guadalajara’s Casa Mariachi.”
After 25 years of stepping onto stages between 20 and 60 times every year, the La Floresta singer still selects each costume and each song with great care. Her drive for excellence is obvious in the quality of every detail of her performances, and especially in the array of the 35 handmade and custom designed dresses and suits that fill the rack that lines a wall in the room she converted into a costume closet.
Each outfit has a history, and each evokes memories for the singer of the times and places she wore the costume, and with whom she performed.
“I usually wear this when I perform at weddings and anniversaries,” she said holding up a glamorous fitted gold gown with halter neckline and flouncy mermaid skirt in golden chiffon.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information." src="/images/stories/2015/4-4-15-JPGS/4-4-15-17a.jpg" alt="" width="305" height="203" />
Then she pulled out a white dress with red and green trim. “I wear this for Independence Day. Didn’t I have this when you came to see me in San Juan Cosala when I sang with El Gallo?”
A formal, more severe dress features black chiffon and elaborate black and white brocade. “My grandmother used this tela (fabric) for a cocktail dress, but she only wore it once, so I had my designer, Ana Rosa Ribera, recycle it for me,” said Jimenez.
Next she held up a gigantic full-circle black skirt embellished with Mexico’s eagle and the Aztec calendar and other traditional symbols. “I have a lot of costumes, she said, “this skirt and some of the others are nearly 25 years old. These skirts were typical of the dancers’ costumes sold at the giant downtown Guadalajara market, San Juan de Dios, back then. It had some sequins. We added a lot more.”
Among the ballooning flounces and ruffles of every color were dresses covered from shoulder to hem with sequins and beads. Light reflected like jewels and glanced off the other wall filled with framed awards and honors signed by organizations, mayors, governors and at least two presidents.
Jimenez flipped quickly through the section of charro suits, the long skirts emblazoned with the same designs as the fitted short jackets and vests. There was the red with crystal beading, grey with typical silver buttons, white with royal blue doves and trailing ribbons, tan with clusters of beaded grapes and leaves, and the white suit detailed with hand-embroidered pastel flowers and the matching embroidered hat that she wore for the cover photo of one of her CDs.
Before we reached the full extent of the costumes Jimenez reached into a cabinet and began displaying a few of the most special of her rebozos or shawls, those that once belonged to her grandmother. Each was more beautiful than the last as she unfolded and modeled a black rebozo covered with creamy embroidered flowers and with 18-inch fringe. The cream shawl was nearly transparent with a spring meadow of multicolored blooms. And probably the most precious is black with huge flowers in hot pink, yellow, orange and white, but the value for Jimenez is that the shawl was given to her grandmother by the “grandmother” of ranchera music, Lucha Reyes, who died in 1944.
Then there were the hats – a rainbow collection of charro sombreros, each in its own zipped hat bag. A lovely high quality white felted fur hat with silver trim is Jimenez’s very favorite treasure. She explained, “Our 54th president was Gustavo Diaz Ordaz. He was in office from 1964 until 1970. His wife, Guadalupe, was given this magnificent hat. See, her initials ‘GO’ are here on the sides of the crown. When she heard about me, and because my full name is Guadalupe, too, she gave me the hat.”
As in every industry, there have been some changes in Mexican performance wear in the past decade as painted dresses have come into vogue. In addition to having her own traditional designer, Jimenez also has a designer of painted gowns, Lidia Elizarraraz. The scenes painted on the skirts range from agave fields to cactus in the desert to tequila barrels to old-time Mexican events. The imagination is the only limit to the possible designs.
So, what does all of this finery cost a Mexican mariachi performer? “It depends,” answered Jimenez, explaining that the fabric, the number of pieces in a costume, the amount of embroidery or other hand work, the style of the gown or suit all play a part. Basically, she added, most fine charro suits are going to be 8,000 pesos or more. The embroidered dresses cost between 4,000 and up to 12,000 pesos. “But remember that many of my outfits are 25 years old. They were much less expensive then.”
Jimenez will have plenty of upcoming opportunities to wear all these wonderful pieces. In July she’s headed to Irving, Texas, where she will be joined in three performances by rebozo guru Lupita Zepeda. In the events Zepeda will instruct audiences in the myriad of ways they can twist, tie and turn rebozos to create different looks. Jimenez will model the rebozos and will entertain the audience with her Jalisco brand of music.
Jimenez is awaiting final word on September performances with Fernando Allende in Los Angeles. And she is currently working out details for a possible traditional Mother’s Day event right here at lakeside. She is also available for private parties. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.