Charro outfit

File:Charra outfit.jpg.]]

A basic charro outfit worn by men consists of long, tight pants covered with decoration on the sides.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22981801/|title=The Charro Spirit Survives and Suits Us Well|last=Gurza|first=Agustin|date=14 September 1999|work=The Los Angeles Times|access-date=2018-08-20|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}} The coat worn by both men and women is short and embroidered. These coats are also known as bolero jackets or chaquetillas.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22983175/|title=Rodeo: It's a Violent Sport South of the Border|last=Ray|first=Grace Ernestine|date=10 May 1942|work=Arizona Republic|access-date=2018-08-20|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://hauteculturefashion.com/charro-mexican-cowboy-costume/|title=Charro: A Brief History Of How The Mexican Cowboy Became a National Fashion Symbol – Haute Culture Textile Tours|date=2018-05-08|work=Haute Culture Textile Tours|access-date=2018-08-20|language=en-US}} Embroidery often depicts plant life, Aztec motifs or other themes. Traditionally, the embroidery was made of metallic thread or of pitea fiber. Charro outfits also consist of a wide-brimmed hat (sombrero) and silk tie. The charra outfit for women is similar, with women wearing a long, embroidered skirt, reaching the ankles, instead of the pants. The skirt is typically full enough to allow the woman to ride sidesaddle.{{cite book |last=Hernández-Ehrisman |first=Laura |title=Inventing the Fiesta City: Heritage and Carnival in San Antonio |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-l4-58Wvxu0C&pg=PA143 |year=2008 |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |location=Albuquerque, New Mexico |isbn=978-0-8263-4310-9 | page=143}} Other aspects of the outfit may include a dress shirt, chaps, serape and pitea belt.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22982958/|title=Devotion to the Charreada Must Come From the Heart|last=England|first=Nelson|date=16 September 1986|work=Austin American-Statesman|access-date=2018-08-20|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite journal|last=Martinón-Torres|first=Lucas|date=2010|title=The Mexican Charro Suit, A Uniform of Tradition|url=http://www.revistasexcelencias.com/en/caribbean/again/reportaje/mexican-charro-suit-uniform-tradition|journal=Caribbean|issue=37}} The outfits are often colorful.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22983109/|title='Charro Days Will Give|date=7 March 1938|work=The Brownsville Herald|access-date=2018-08-20|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}} The footwear is either a high-heeled boot, or a leather shoe.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22985912/|title=Cowboy Boots Taboo With Charro Outfit|date=9 February 1947|work=The Brownsville Herald|access-date=2018-08-20|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}

Different versions of the charro outfit are ranked based on a 1960 decision of the National Charro Federation.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mexico.mx/en/articles/the-charro-suit-mexican-tradition|title=The charro suit: Mexican tradition|date=7 December 2017|website=Mexico|language=en|access-date=2018-08-20}} The least formal is known as the faena or work outfit. The next levels are media gala, gala, gran gala and etiqueta or formal. Mariachi performers wear a version of a charro outfit called the "gala version" and is most often black with silver, though modern mariachis wear more colorful outfits.{{Cite web|url=https://mariachimusic.com/about/history/mariachi-attire/|title=Mariachi Attire|website=Mariachi Music|language=en-US|access-date=2018-08-20}} The faena outfit is unadorned and typical of working charros.

An expensive charro outfit was reported in a 1942 edition of the Arizona Republic that was decorated in silver and "evaluated at 10,000 pesos." In 1985, Victor Almaraz of California made a charro outfit consisting mainly of around 2,500 interlocking aluminum can pull tabs.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22982815/|title=El Charro|last=Hendricks|first=Dan|date=6 September 1985|work=The San Bernardino County Sun|access-date=2018-08-20|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}

The charro outfit is seen as a representative symbol of Mexican culture.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22986121/|title=Mexico City Inaugurates 'Charro' Cops|date=10 December 2002|work=Newspapers.com|access-date=2018-08-20|language=en}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22995034/|title=Something Different|last=Chang|first=Daniel|date=9 December 2000|work=El Paso Times|access-date=2018-08-21|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}} The outfit and other charro imagery is often incorporated in tourist advertisements and has become one of the "most universally recognized emblem of Mexican identity around the world."{{Sfn|Conway|2017|p=68}} The charro suit can be worn to express pride for Mexican heritage.{{Cite news|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-162698789.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180908132517/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-162698789.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 September 2018|title=Many in Latino Community Shocked|last=Salinas|first=Claudia Melendez|date=26 April 2007|work=The Monterey County Herald|access-date=20 August 2018}}

The origins of the charro outfit may be traced back to Salamanca of the 16th century. Spanish conquistadors brought this type of clothing with them to Mexico.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22994922/|title=Just What Is a Charro? Charlie Explains It All|date=16 February 1944|work=The Brownsville Herald|access-date=2018-08-21|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}} When Spain colonized Mexico, the government initially made it illegal for indigenous Mexicans to ride horses without Spanish landowner permission. This was part of a system that created the casta or caste system in Mexico.{{Sfn|Márquez|2018|p=35}} When the Spanish allowed lower classes to ride, they were required to wear clothing that differentiated themselves from the Spanish, which led to a new fashion. The wide brim of the sombrero worn by charros protected them both from the sun and, due to the hard crown, from head injuries.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22985754/|title=Do You Know That... A Tour of Mexico in Los Angeles|last=Rodriguez|first=Raul|date=17 May 1931|work=The Los Angeles Times|access-date=2018-08-20|page=7|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}} and {{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22985651/|title=Did You Know That|date=17 May 1931|work=The Los Angeles Times|access-date=2018-08-20|page=18|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}} The pants were worn tight to prevent snagging on brush, or chaparral and the coat worn short to provide better access to weaponry. Charros were considered part of the lower class in 17th century Mexico. The word charro was a derogatory term, originally meant to indicate their class status.{{Sfn|Márquez|2018|p=35-36}}

When President Benito Juárez created the first national police force of Mexico, Los Rurales (the Rural Police) in 1861 their official uniform was based on the charro outfits of the infamous Platenados (silver) bandit gangs. In fact, many bandits enlisted in this new police force, primarily because President Juárez and his Constitutional government, whose funds were limited, had to enlist bandit gangs to fight, first in the Civil War of Reform (1857-1860) and then against the ensuing French Intervention (1861-1867). The charro uniform was all about maintaining a special macho image. The wearer of a charro outfit was supposed to be seen as an excellent horseman, marksman, and lover, although very few Rurales actually were all three, according to historians like Paul J. Vanderwood.Paul J.Vanderwood, pages 54-55 "Disorder and Progress - Bandits, Police, and Mexican Development", {{ISBN|0-8420-2438-7}} For decades it was believed that General Porfirio Díaz, the "presidential dictator" of Mexico for thirty-five years (1876-1911) created the Rurales until the truth about Juárez's role was discovered in the national archives. Therefore, one can argue that the charro uniform was important in Mexican culture prior to the Mexican Revolution (1911-1920). The Rurales were disbanded in 1914 by President Venustiano Carranza, during the Mexican Revolution.

After the Mexican Revolution, the imagery of the charro became important to Mexican culture.{{Sfn|Conway|2017|p=69}} Mexican president, Porfirio Díaz, influenced mariachi performers to adopt the charro costume in the early 1900s.{{Cite journal|last=Betz|first=Virginia Marie|date=1995|editor-last=Sands|editor-first=Kathleen Mullen|title=On the History of the Mexican Charro: A Review Essay|journal=Journal of the Southwest|volume=37|issue=3|pages=512|jstor=40169936}}{{Cite news|url=http://magazine.ucla.edu/features/the-magic-of-mariachi/|title=The Magic of Mariachi|last=Marquez|first=Letisia|date=1 October 2013|work=UCLA Magazine|access-date=2018-08-20}} Mariachi musicians would accompany ranchera singers starting in the 1930s and in the 1940s ranchera musicians adopted the charro suit.{{Sfn|Conway|2017|p=71}}

Since 1934, September 14 is the national holiday known as the Día Nacional del Charro (National Day of the Charro) and is celebrated throughout Mexico to recognize the importance of horsemen and women to the culture of the country.{{cite news |title=Mexico celebrates Día del Charro |url=https://www.vallartadaily.com/mexico-celebrates-charro-tradition/ |access-date=23 August 2018 |publisher=Vallarta Daily News |date=September 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823145924/https://www.vallartadaily.com/mexico-celebrates-charro-tradition/ |archive-date=23 August 2018 |location=Puerto Vallarta, Mexico}} Festivities include parades and shows of horsemanship, with riders in the iconic traditional costume.{{cite web |title=Celebran Día del Charro en Monumento a la Patria |url=http://www.yucatan.gob.mx/saladeprensa/ver_nota.php?id=200932 |access-date=23 August 2018 |publisher=Government of the State of Yucatan |date=September 14, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823150321/http://www.yucatan.gob.mx/saladeprensa/ver_nota.php?id=200932 |archive-date=23 August 2018 |location=Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico |language=es |trans-title=Celebrate the Day of the Charro at the Monument of Patrimony}} Spanish poet Manuel Benítez Carrasco, in describing the importance of the outfit stated, "Vestirse de charro es como vestirse de México" (Dressing as a charro is like dressing up as Mexico).{{citation needed|date=April 2019}} The outfit was further popularized by actors who wore the charro suit in movies made during the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema.

In 2002, police officers in Mexico City began to wear charro outfits on patrol in the city's historic districts.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22981507|title=Police Donning 'Charro' Outfits|date=14 September 2002|work=Newspapers.com|access-date=2018-08-20|language=en}} The officers were meant to both "entertain and protect the tourists that flood the Central Alameda area."

During the 2011 Pan American Games Parade of Nations, charro outfits were the uniform for the Games' Mexican home team. Theirs had white bolero jackets, green, white, and red striped ties, white sombreros, brown belts, and black pants (men) or skirts (women).

Charro outfits were worn in the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema by actors such as Jorge Negrete, Pedro Infante, Emilio Fernández, Pedro Armendáriz and Luis Aguilar. The character, Gordo, in the eponymous comic strip by Gustavo Arriola, was portrayed dressed in charro outfits.{{Cite news|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-174315538.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823174203/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-174315538.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 August 2018|title=Cartoonist Drew 'Gordo,' Celebrating Hispanics|last=Rourke|first=Mary|date=6 February 2008|work=The Virginian-Pilot|access-date=20 August 2018}} The children's story, La Fiesta y el Mariachi by Marta Arroyo, describes traditional Mexican clothing, including the charro outfit.{{Cite news|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1324695641.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823210347/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1324695641.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 August 2018|title=A Mariachi Crash-Course for Children and Grown Ups, Too!|last=Sáinz|first=Pablo Jaime|date=13 July 2007|work=La Prensa San Diego|access-date=20 August 2018}} An annual celebration known as Charro Days in Brownsville, Texas incorporates the charro outfit among many participants and attendees.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22960706/|title=Charro Costumes Are Cheap and Easy to Make|date=10 February 1942|work=The Brownsville Herald|access-date=2018-08-21|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}

• Charreada
• Charro Days
• Mariachi
• Ranchera
• Michoacán
• Jalisco

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book|chapter-url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/55235|title=Modern Mexican Culture: Critical Foundations|last=Conway|first=Christopher|publisher=University of Arizona Press|year=2017|isbn=9780816537532|editor-last=Day|editor-first=Stuart A.|location=Tucson|chapter=Charros: A Critical Introduction}}{{subscription required|via=Project MUSE}}
• {{Cite journal|last=Márquez|first=Beatriz Aldana|date=2018|title=Shift in Social Character:Charro Cultural Representations in Mexican Popular Culture|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/696184|journal=Studies in Latin American Popular Culture|volume=36|pages=30–46|doi=10.7560/SLAPC3603|s2cid=150002983}}{{subscription required|via=Project MUSE}}

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g0dF7SlKuQ La sastrería más antigua de trajes de charro] (2014 video in Spanish)

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Category:Culture of Mexico

Category:Mexican fashion

Category:History of clothing (Western fashion)