President Claudia Sheinbaum’s attire promotes women’s and Indigenous rights, using local artisans and symbolic colours like purple for feminist resistance.
SAN PEDRO MARTIR: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s wardrobe is a canvas for her political message of advancing women’s and Indigenous rights.
The leftist leader, Mexico’s first woman president, proudly uses small-scale, local tailors and shuns expensive brands.
She supports “the weavers, the embroiderers, all those who use backstrap looms in our country — mostly women — who are a source of national pride,” the 63-year-old recently told journalists.
Her government has challenged brands like Adidas and Zara for alleged cultural appropriation of traditional designs.
Image consultant Gabriela Medina said Sheinbaum’s ideology has “always been very focused on people’s rights, on equality; even in her style of dress.”
Sheinbaum was included on The New York Times list of 67 most stylish people of 2025 as the only politician.
One key designer is Olivia Trujillo, who runs a small tailor shop from her home in San Pedro Martir on Mexico City’s outskirts.
“Her favorite colors, without a doubt, I would say are purple and burgundy,” the 63-year-old tailor told AFP.
Trujillo recently fitted a purple dress with embroidered flowers for Sheinbaum’s first meeting with US President Donald Trump.
Media said purple is associated with power, authority, and luxury.
It is also the colour “that the feminist resistance movement has embraced,” she added.
For her October 2024 swearing-in, Sheinbaum wore an ivory dress with embroidered wildflowers.
The flowers were hand-sewn by Claudia Vazquez, a 43-year-old Zapotec Indigenous woman.
Sheinbaum’s interest “changed her life,” said Vazquez, who had nearly given up on her embroidery art.
Another embroiderer, Virginia Arce, decorated the gown Sheinbaum wore to give the historic Cry of Independence speech.
“The president chose the tones and a bird she really liked –it was a swallow,” Arce recalled.
The task took two months, but seeing the president wear her handiwork brought immense satisfaction.
Gender analyst Laura Raquel Manzo warns of stereotyping women by analyzing their attire.
In this case, ignoring Sheinbaum’s deliberate choices would be “to deny how image shapes authority,” said Manzo.
