chola'zzz

I said to look out for an in depth chola-related post soon and here it is.
Chola style is bad ass, by definition. Generally characterized by chinos, white vests (tight or baggy, depending)/crop tops, converse high tops, bandanas, religious imagery, false nails, pencilled on eyebrows, and red/brown lips. Definitely an acquired taste, and one that's hard to pull off unless you are actually in a Latino all girl gang. I would not recommend donning an entire outfit of chola typicals, unless its Halloween. There is, however, a different tact to take, which is the old classic of taking elements from this look and incorporating them into your own steeze. As if that wasn't obvious.

Before all that though, I wanna look at how this look features in pop culture...


Sandra Bullock chola makeover on some American TV show.

Christina aguilera in the video for 'can't hold us down' (more hoodrat than chola but still...)

Lady Gaga's little sister in the video for 'telephone'.

You can definitely see the connection between chola style and pop culture in a lot of music videos. The most recent I can think of is, of course, the masterpiece that is 'telephone' by lady g and honey b. The prison scene at the beginning of the video is full of chola-looking bitches strutting around.


(picture from elle.com)

Gwen Stefani is possibly, in my mind anyway, the best purveyor of wearable chola 'chic' (if you wana call it that). Her debut L.A.M.B collection for S/S 06 was sprinkled with obvious nods to this style. Like the look above, the makeup is an obvious homage, as well as the white chino style shorts. The sporty bomber jacket completes the look perfectly. It is chola-esque without being costume. I'm not sure if the jacket would be for me, but its definitely wearable.



This chain print drop arm vest is pretty rad. Something that I would definitely wear. Again, the chola influence is obviously represented in the hair styling and makeup choice, not to mention the clothes themselves. This collection was/is brilliant because, while being influenced by la chola, it doesn't take the influence to the extreme and the end result is a very mix-and-matchable collection.


prison gang tee - for the homies

I was just perusing some more up to date chola related trends and found this rad tee on forthehomies.com. I'm pretty sure its menswear but this tshirt has a definite chola/cholo inspired steeze to it.

Also anyone remember these...


Mary is my homegirl tee - Teenage Millionaire.

These tee's were real big a couple of years ago, and the connection is undeniable. Although definitely not my style, these tee's point out that religious (Catholic/Christian) imagery are a big way of incorporating a chola-esque look into your own. Oversized cross necklaces are everywhere at the minute, as are cross rings, as well as two-finger knuckle duster style rings. These are pretty bang on for this style. What says tough more than a two finger ring that could leave an implant 2 inches deep in a rival bitches face? (Purely hypothetical, I am not condoning or suggesting this).

Basically I feel like I've got nowhere with this post so I'm giving up now, finally! I hope and pray that this was somehow worth the amount of time it took to write but I feel like it probably was not. This is a shit conclusion. I need a cigarette and some pasta.

Bey xxx