How to Make Costumes for Cinco De Mayo

For those wanting to make a costume for Cinco de Mayo, it's a good idea to try for authenticity. Costumes for the day may range from a Guayabera shirt for men to a hand-embroidered peasant shirt and quechquemitl for women from the indigenous people of Puebla, Mexico, which Cinco de Mayo commemorates. In the western United States, traditional celebratory costumes of Northern Mexico usually prevail.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Photo or other image of what type of costumes you'd like to make
• Pattern for embroidery and/or the dress itself for women's costumes
• Fabric store
• Costume shop or vintage store

1. Look to the barrio for help. Spanish-speaking communities celebrate "quinceaneras," coming-of-age parties for girls turning 15. Shops with quinceanera dresses and formal wear for their dates are good places to get costume ideas and advice.

2. Plan with others. If you'll be performing or otherwise attending a Cinco de Mayo event with others, choose complementary traditional colors for the entire group. In Central American countries, each village has its own unique pattern, not unlike Scottish clans and their plaids.

3. Visit the vintage store. Sometimes a trip to a second-hand store is all you need to create a festive costume: a colorful zarape (a shawl-like wrap), a sombrero (wide-brimmed hat) and a small guitar create a simple and affordable costume.

4. Get a pattern if you have basic sewing skills and make your Cinco de Mayo costumes by hand. Traditional clothing throughout the Spanish-speaking world varies greatly in colors and patterns, and use very simple designs, as seen at Mexican Indigenous Textiles Project (see Resources below).

5. Hire a dressmaker or seamstress to sew together costume pieces that you've collected if you aren't confident in your sewing abilities. Most large western U.S. cities have Mexican neighborhoods where dressmakers abound.

Tips & Warnings

• If sewing is not your strong point, consider putting together costumes with the help of a good costume shop or even a thrift shop. Depending on how precise you need to be, you may be able to put together great Cinco de Mayo costumes using articles of clothing from a variety of sources.
• Consider where you'll be wearing your costume. To a nighttime party outside in Denver? To a dance-filled fiesta in Houston or Mexico City? Choose your fabrics and undergarments appropriately.
• Traditional Mexican dresses and peasant shirts may be newly made or decades old and considered extremely valuable. If you end up purchasing costumes, make sure you know what you're getting, i.e., don't pay too much for a mass-produced costume, and conversely, don't wear a valuable older garment to a hot fiesta where it could be ruined.

Resources

• Mexican Indigenous Textiles Project to see authentic Mexican textiles and costumes

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