Womenswear Articles       7/1/1999

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AllWomenMenHome  Eco-fashion Print This Page It appears the growing popularity of tango, salsa, and meringue contributes to the increased interest in dressing up for evening WOMEN WHO SAY THEY GET THEIR CLOTHING IDEAS FROM CELEBRITIES Hispanic-American women: 18% Non-Latina women 10%

LATINA LOCA

Selena, the Texan singer who met her untimely and tragic demise in 1995, made an indelible mark on American pop culture. Surprisingly though, it is not in the area of music. Tejano, the local blend of Texas and Mexican sounds that Selena popularized, died with the 23-year-old legend.

Still, her influence on young women, particularly in the area of fashion, lives on. “Selena,” a line of clothing designed by Selena’s sister, Suzette Quintanilla Arriaga, and sold in selected JC Penney stores, is very successful, especially in Hispanic markets.

According to the Cotton Incorporated Lifestyle MonitorTM, nearly two out of ten American women of Hispanic descent look to celebrities for fashion ideas, as opposed to only one out of ten non-Hispanic American women.

“In terms of fashion, we as Hispanics accept celebrities to a very high degree,” says Carolina Echeverria, senior researcher at Hispanic Marketing Communication Research, a Belmont, Cal. -based marketing firm. “We recognize them as being part of our own culture and identify with that. Kids in particular often imitate Latino celebrities in their way of clothing and dance.”

In fact, 25% of Hispanic-American women between the ages of 16 and 24 say they look to celebrities for fashion ideas, as compared to 19% of non-Latinos in the same age group.

Selena, Jennifer Lopez, and Ricky Martin are all examples of stars who are widely emulated by young Hispanic-Americans. But if Hispanic-Americans are looking to specific Latin stars for their fashion cues, American fashion is looking to Latino culture, on the whole, for fashion inspiration.

For instance, Anna Sui’s spring 1999 collection had a strong folksy Mexicana theme; supermodel Rebecca Romijn-Stamos sports one of Sui’s white cotton tops with colorful embroidery on the cover of this month’s Cosmopolitan. The summer clothing collection for Bebe, the well-known bridge contemporary women’s line, is called “Tango Tango.” The collection features slim skirts with ruffled hems, pretty knit fringed dresses and halter tops, and embroidered flouncy skirts.

“The whole look is doing very well,” says Heather Vandenburghe, Bebe’s director of marketing. “Our Latin theme definitely speaks to the [current American] culture, with the popularity of Ricky Martin, Shakira, and Jennifer Lopez.”

The Bebe store displays and national ad campaign feature Brazilian model Adriana Lima wearing various outfits from Bebe’s collection in poses evocative of tango, meringue, salsa, mambo, and flamenco.

As a tie-in, Bebe is selling its first compilation CD, “Tango Tango,” in its clothing stores.

Popular styles of dance can certainly have an impact on fashion. Last year, this column described how the revival of swing dancing in youth culture has contributed to a noticeable rise in the number of young people dressing up for evening. According to the Monitor, 65% of women between the ages of 16 and 24 say they “like to dress up for dinner and dancing,” compared with 55% in 1997 (However, the majority of young people still like to dress comfortably for daytime activities such as going to the mall).

No doubt the growing popularity of tango, salsa, and meringue is also contributing to the increased interest in dressing up for evening; 55% of Hispanic-American women say they like to dress up for dinner & dancing, as compared to 41% a year ago.

Even flamenco, a dance which is native to Spain rather than Latin America, is becoming one of America’s hottest imports. Recently, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Antonio Banderas performed a sizzling flamenco dance in the movie The Mask of Zorro.

This April, millions of American television viewers were exposed to the dance when the Spanish dancer Joaquin Cortes danced at the Academy Awards ceremony to a medley of Oscar-nominated songs. In the Southwest, the dance is also very popular.

In the most prominent ad in Bebe’s ad campaign, model Adriana Lima lifts the hem of her blood-red skirt seductively with one hand, and holds her other hand curled over her head in a classic flamenco pose.

Last month, Albuquerque’s 10th Annual Flamenco Festival attracted dancers from all over the world and sold out more than a month in advance. The festival is organized by Eva Encinias, director of the Conservatory of Flamenco Arts.

“Flamenco has been gaining in popularity for a while,” says Pablo Rodarte, director of the Pablo Rodarte school of Flamenco and Spanish Dance. “The festival’s attendance increases every year. But yes, Cortes has added to the dance’s popularity in this country.”

Paradoxically, while ruffled skirts and tops evocative of flamenco are flying off retailers’ racks all over the country, most dancers no longer wear them.

“The women wear full, flowy cocktail dresses or couture gowns – you rarely see ruffles,” says Rodarte. “The men wear slacks and nice shirts. The folk dress is gone.”

But whether women are wearing ruffled or non-ruffled skirts, whether they are dancing to flamenco guitar or Ricky Martin’s hit song “La Vida Loca (literally the crazy life)”, one thing is clear.

Americans have gone “Latina Loca.”

This story is one in a series of articles based on findings from Cotton Incorporated’s Lifestyle Monitor™ tracking research. Each story will focus on a specific topic as it relates to the American women’s wear consumer and her attitudes and behavior regarding clothing, appearance, fashion, fiber selection and many other timely, relevant subjects.