Mexi-Style: Revamping The Rebozo

Mexi-Style with Anjelica (@la_anjel)

I’ve known about rebozos since I can remember.  They have always been a staple of my grandmother’s everyday wear.  I recall, that regardless of the day, or the occasion, she almost always seemed to be wearing one of her rebozos.  They were functional and stylish, I always thought.  Inspired by that idea, I’ve put together a couple of different looks using a rebozo.  Some of them reflect my grandmother’s everyday wear, the others are a more modern reflection of my own personal style.

My grandmother used her rebozos for functionality, not really in any vein way.  Of course, that doesn’t mean she didn’t look beautiful every time she wore one.  For example, I distinctly remember that every Sunday she would wear the most beautifully hand-crafted rebozos that were either crocheted with delicate threads or fabric from allá – you know, the imported stuff that came from somewhere far away.  These rebozos were only worn on special occasions or for Sunday mass.

Taking a cue from my grandmother’s selective approach, I opted to take this beautiful lightweight rebozo and use it to enhance my neck line.  The sheer fabric is very pretty and it almost feels like it’s not there.  That’s very important to me, after all I do live in Texas.  The heavy charm in the middle weighs the fabric down and gives the look a necklace feel.

For everyday life, a rebozo like this one would be more common.  They were a little bit nicer than what you would wear at home, but they didn’t include any of the fancier details like lace or more expensive fabric.  These rebozos most often were used when going into the pueblo or anywhere else in public.  They were nice enough for la gente to see and also served various purposes: they shielded your head from the sun’s rays when there was no shade; when walking around in the busy streets of the pueblo, they served as a shield to keep dirt, soot and smog away from your face.

I’m definitely not as wise of a mexicana as my grandmother.  If I were – living where I live and knowing what I know about UV rays – I’d be wearing rebozos around everywhere I go too!   Instead, I prefer to alter the look for a more everyday usage.  Here, I just added a pendant at the center to hold the rebozo together.  I folded the fringe in on both ends and secured them together by overlapping them to make a circle.  Then I wrapped the circle-shaped rebozo twice around my neck and added the pendant in the middle.

Yup, that’s what I remember about the rebozo!  Almost every piece of our clothing was functional in Mexico, but probably none more so than the rebozo.  You’d place it over your shoulder to carry la tina de agua or los sacos de maíz from half a mile away, and also to bring up the heavy, recently-washed clothes from el arroyo.  Again, it provided a shield from the sun, rain and dry dirt.  It even had a comfortable place for young children to lay their heads on and feel safe.  It put me to sleep a couple dozen times!

I’m not carrying around a lot of water or maíz on my shoulders these days, but I do still love to wear a colorful rebozo.  Right now, in the heat of this Texas summer, I’m using this rebozo to make my straw hat look pretty.

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