(laughing)
- She knows how to have fun!
(upbeat music)
This week I'm only wearing clothes
from Latina-owned stores.
I'm super excited because I'm going to interview
Latina business owners
and they're going to get to style me for a week.
So I'm half Peruvian and I'm half Persian.
I really wanna delve into my Latina side
and get reconnected with my roots.
By doing this I'll be able to
meet other Latinas in the community
and learn a little bit more about myself.
(upbeat music)
I'm here with Noelle.
She's a creative entrepreneur at Mi Vida.
- I'm a proud Chicana.
My family has lived here in Los Angeles
since the turn of the century.
Just having these LA roots with the Mexicana background
is all of what you see here.
- [Shila] How would you describe like
the clothing that you sell here?
- I like to think that this style
is a reflection of like a city girl.
Our focus right now is to really shine.
Mi Vida, you know, my life.
It's living your life the way that you choose,
that always shines brighter on those around you.
Our store really operates as a non-profit,
because everything we do is recycled back
to the artists that create the goods
and hosting more events.
We'd really love to see Shila rocking
some of our muscle tanks which are really popular.
- I'm obsessed with these earrings,
they're beautiful, they have the Virgin Mary on it.
In the Latin community the Virgin Mary is someone
who is there to protect you and guide you.
This shirt definitely brings nostalgia back to
before I went to college and my mom gave me a rosary,
and said "Here, take this, if I'm not with you,
"the Virgin Mary will be."
Having the Virgin on your chest,
it's like gosh damn, I gotta be the best version of myself
I can be, wearing that.
- It's magical, it's ancient, it's full figure.
I love your outfit so, so, so, so much.
Treat that shirt right or I'm gonna pull your hair.
- Oh my God.
I love the message of the shirt,
and the way that it made me feel on the inside
and on the outside.
The next store that I went to was called Wasi Clothing.
- It's a Latina, brown-owned business,
small business, all eco-friendly, all handmade in LA.
I do source my stuff from Bolivia,
so I like to represent my culture and my ancestors.
I also do custom sizing because a lot of us are curvy.
I make custom sizes for them, so they like that a lot.
'Cause we've got hips.
When I make the clothes I have to be in a good place,
because whatever I'm making, you know,
I think that energy is transferable onto the clothing.
So I think I'm gonna style you in some, like,
colorful, fun fabrics with like a funky print.
So we'll have a lot of fun with that.
- Llamas on my shirt and llamas on my shorts.
It's gonna be a good day.
I just could see myself wearing that outside,
out with friends,
but I also saw myself wearing it to sleep too.
It was kind of like a two-in-one outfit.
Alpacas and llamas are all around Peru,
so it's really cool to have them all over my shirt
'cause they're actually one of my favorite animals.
What are your thoughts on my outfit today?
- Uh.
- I don't know if he's about to shade me or compliment me!
- I love the design, the llamas, everything's perfect.
I'm sensing it's Peruvian.
You could definitely tell it's like representing a culture,
because of the plants and the llamas,
and I think it's really trendy.
- I love the cactus, the animals, it's so cute.
And I think it really reflects your personality.
- Um, I don't know what that means,
but I guess I remind them of llamas maybe?
The best thing about llamas
are not that they're cute and fluffy,
but all the llama puns that exist in the world.
Like (speaks in foreign language)
llama call ya later!
Then I went to Valfre.
- It's named after me, my second name.
I quit my job and I started like my blog full time.
Honestly, it started like with five views a day,
and I always say this, that like three were my views.
I love, like, not in a bad way,
but like stalking our customers.
But I really like to see how they style like
our garments and our pieces.
I wanna style you like in one of our newer pieces.
- So I decided to add a red jacket and add
some earrings that I got from Mi Vida
that say bidi bidi bom bom.
I know that Valfre loves when their customers
kind of make the outfits their own,
so I'm deciding to add a little pop of color with this
and give it a little bit of, like,
'80s Michael Jackson vibes meets Posh Spice?
It was cool to kind of wear it out
and wear it out to Chloe's birthday.
(upbeat music)
- I love how the top and bottom matches,
but you leave some stomach open.
So sophisticated but so chic.
- Who is this babe?
Oh my gosh, she never goes this bold.
So now I find out it's for a video.
- These pants, I want them,
like I want them so bad.
You're showing off all the goods that God gave you,
I'm here for it.
- I was a little concerned about the outfit,
cause I was like oh maybe this is
a little too much for the park,
but honestly, people loved it and I had a great time
at Chloe's birthday party,
so I'm excited for the next outfit.
I went to Hija De Tu Madre.
- So I'm really inspired by my culture.
I'm Mexican and I identify as a Chicana,
so everything that I do in my business is inspired
by my cultural identity.
- [Shila] What is the thing that you want young girls
to feel when they're wearing your outfits?
- I want them to feel super proud
of where they come from.
You know, like I have immigrant parents who
came to this country because they really wanted
a way better life for me.
I want people to also kind of reclaim their identity
and feel really proud when they wear a jacket
that has their Latin-American flag,
or La Virgen de Guadalupe, or Frida Kahlo, you know?
There's so much pride in all of these images.
- I know you love to give back to the community;
Can you tell me a little bit about the stuff that you do
in order to give back?
- Recently I had a pair of gold hoops that said, um,
F Trump on them,
and I donated $19 of every sale
to organizations that help undocumented immigrants.
And now we have a new product that I'm wearing,
and it says Anxious, it's a little gold necklace,
and I'm donating a percentage of those sales
to organizations that help women of color in mental health.
I want you to wear a signature Hija De Tu Madre jacket
that reps your identity or a part of your identity.
- Today I'm feeling very patriotic
and I'm like, what better way to fully embrace
my Peruvian side than to go to a Peruvian restaurant,
then invite my friends from Pero Like
and Suze down to join me.
We got to have some chicha morada with lomo saltado.
- If you got fries you gotta have ketchup.
(speaks in foreign language)
- I feel like whenever I get my lomo saltado,
I get ketchup too.
- You cannot put ketchup on lomo saltado.
- I do!
- This is a sin!
It was a good experience to kind of share
a little bit of my culture with them.
What are your thoughts on this jacket?
- I love it.
That is such a cool design!
Like I love how it's all made of sequins.
That is so pretty, it's like a really cool,
unique way of putting a flag on a shirt.
- You're from Peru?
- Yes!
- I saw your jacket, I didn't know!
- This is why I should wear this jacket more often.
- I thought you were Argentinian, no?
- Did you really?
You thought I was Argentinian?
I felt very prideful to be Peruvian,
and to be wearing my denim jacket.
(bright music)
I'm here at Kaleidoscope Kollective,
and I'm here with the owners and the wonderful ladies,
hi y'all.
- [Together] Hi!
- I'm Michelle Smith Miza.
- I'm Maribel Reveles.
- I'm Karla Lopez.
- I'm Virgina.
- So usually we cater to women and women who love
to express themselves with color and adornments,
that are not afraid of standing out.
- What is the thing that keeps the store running,
like what's the motto?
- To reflect your beauty and creativity to one another.
And I think that's why a lot of people comment
that it feel so good in here,
because I think that it's intentional
so it permeates the space.
- The other motto is women supporting women.
Often in this world you're isolated,
and especially as you get older and you get more into
your career or your family.
So this is not only like a place
where we're supporting your business,
it also becomes a circle of women
just supporting each other in whatever way.
It's often a man's world, so what better time
for women supporting women.
- They were the Latina version of Cheetah Girls.
They helped me choose my outfit,
and they were each putting their input.
They're like oh this would look cute with this.
Out of all of them they chose the camo outfit for me,
and it had like a picture of Frida on the back of it,
and I wore like a black tank top with some shorts.
And it was really cool, 'cause they repurpose
all their clothing as well.
The thing that I love about Kaleidoscope Kollective
is that the pieces are so unique that
you can't find them anywhere else,
and it's truly one of a kind.
- So I love the street wear aspect of it,
it feels like a natural street wear item,
and the fact that it has Frida Kahlo,
a pretty iconic Mexican artist,
like that's next level.
- They repurposed old outfits and then like
created it and made it their own, which is really great.
- It reminds me a lot of, um, Destiny's Child.
♪ I'm a survivor ♪
I love how like, the embroidery there's so much detail.
- I love that Frida was on the back of it
because she's such an icon.
And I'm glad that I met these amazing Latina women.
I think that they're so passionate about what they do,
and you can just see it in their work.
'Cause you want to wear something that makes you feel good
and if the person that's giving you
that clothing has that energy,
I think that it's transferable to many people.
If you like any of the outfits that I wore,
or want to check out their websites,
there will be links below
and you can help support these amazing talented women.
(upbeat music)