It's that time of year again--time to debut the newest additions to THE CAPSHAW COLLECTION OF FINE FIESTAWEAR! Every year I suspect that this will be my final year of collecting, but each year I do manage to continue collecting despite the limits of storage, the scarcity of the old fiesta styles and periodic bouts of sanity.....at any rate, enjoy this years's additions and if you are so moved, follow the prompts to peruse the entire collection:
I chose this outfit that I modeled in Eagle's Nest about a week after a rather serious accident last October as a cover for this year's presentation. I think it has a rather triumphant feeling. I will describe the outfit on another version of this photograph deeper into the post.....
Emme is smashing in this Maya of Mexico apron skirt with an eyepopping basket weave design. Hecho en Mexico and painted by hand.....
Miss Rachel has been recovering from some painful surgery herself and decided to model outfits in the manner of Frida Kahlo who battled great pain most of her life. This satin huipil was made and embroidered in Oaxaca and Rachel teamed it with a cool cotton embroidered skirt and a golden colored corona.
Chiara in her beloved Diablo Canyon, is modeling a two piece satin outfit enhanced with lovely beadwork and weaving that she brought back from Oaxaca and Guatemala.
Up-close, the intriciacies of the beading is most enchanting The belt is woven from dyed string.
Life immitating art: My precious cousin, Bethany, sent me several works of art reflecting my love of fiesta garb, so we had some fun bringing the art to life......
Thusly, may I introduce Sylvia, the Troubador! She matched the look of the outfit with odds and ends and repainted her gorgeous guitar. If it had any strings, somebody might steal it........
Miss Helena is a vision in this hot pink corduroy two piece fiesta dress. Perfect for evening attire on the Plaza, she teamed it with a silver thunderbird belt to match the silver and white ric-rac and braid and white cowboy boots. For originality I give this dress the full five stars!***** (only true Fiests-Patio-Squaw dresses are rated......
At Monastery Lake, I an relaxing in an embroidered cotton Mexican style embroidered blouse by Angel Heart Boutique with a new sand cast silver belt. The belt features both traditional conchas as well as butterfly conchas. (Photo by Ed Curley)
Liberty will stay cool all day greeting her guests in this all cotton full length ensemble. A unique brass belt adds interest.
This wool Double D Ranch jacket encrusted with silver buttons and crosses is perfect with this pale pink and grey bitone singleton raincloth skirt with black, white and silver ric-rac and braid and a vaquero hat, At least the cow likes it! (Photo by Chiara Feliz)
More Double D Ranch garb on Emily: she is posing on Old Santa Fe Trail totally accented with silver buttons, belts, jewelry and hat band. Most comely, little lady!
In this photo, I am wearing another Double D Ranch Jacket with a homemade and finely tailored Fiesta shirt designed by local seamstress: , She outdoes all the professionals with her choices and attention to details. For instance, every Navajo-style shirt I have ever had always tears and shows stress at the bottom of the V-neck. She has designed an extra placcard to protect that area and keep it looking sharp. This photo was taken at the Eaves Movie Ranch.
A dream of a color and a style! I have heard of these dresses from the 1950s that used the standard Fiesta Dress pattern on stiff cotton. However, there is no ric-rac or braid, instead, Indian-style images are serigraphed on the fabric, My sister gave me this beauty for my birthday and I give it a full five star rating for the color and originality. Sisi gets five stars too:*****
Upclose, if you can tear your eyes away from our lovely Emerlinda, you can see that the previous owner has pinned two intricately beaded buttons to the eyes. It is just as striking with the plain slat eyes.
Yet another Bi-tone, Double D Ranch jacket with embellishments. I wore it to the annual "Aspencade" to view the changing of the seasons in Hyde Park. My "Captain Hook" appearance is because my dress has POCKETS! IAnd my hand is in one......(Photo by Ed Curley)
Emily is Pretty in Pink in this Faye Creations, Patio Design, Tuscon, Arizona two-piece raincloth dress. Emily is lovely, but the dress is lacking: a paucity of ric-rac and braid and (as you can see) the skirt is not a full circle. Three stars:***
Now here is a much better Faywood Dress! It is intricately detailed with silver, black, and white ric-rac. The carefully pleated skirt is a full-circle design. I am wearing it with silver and turquoise jewelry in Abo, New Mexico. Five Stars: *****
Another object de art from Bethany, this metal dancer is designed to be hung on a solid colored wall to delight the on-lookers.......
Sisi brings it to life copying the dancer's garb using this very, very full florica skirt tnat is designed to be an intricate part of the beauty of the stylized regional dancing from Mexico. She is wearing a lacey peasant blouse and that magnificient skirt is decorated with skads of ribbon.
Party time! Emme is gleaming in this fun multi-colored striped skirt and sequin top! She's ready to dance the night away on the Plaza or maybe La Fonda........
Pretty as a picture, Liberty is wearing a "Handmade by Tsin Designs, Cochiti Pueblo, NM" ribbon skirt that I purchased last year at Indian Market. She teamed it with a turquoise peasant top and woven tie belt. Both beautiful and cool......
On Old Santa Fe Trail, Helena is striking in a soft lavendar three-tiered skirt and an intricately embroidered huipil top
What to do with a singleton top? As a rule, the skirt portion of a Fiest Dress duo usually is more likely to survive for many years because skirts are not laundered quite as often. I bought this great top at the fabulous Alameda Art Market, and thought that matching it to a skirt would be so easy....who knew that there were so many patterns of braid??? Chiara did pretty well with this match, but if anyone ever spots a "Jimmi Originals, THE TRADERS, Phoenix" skirt in this pattern, kindly let me know.....
For my granddaughters, we once again tried to duplicate some of the outfits that Josfina, the American Girl Doll, wears in the illustrations of her books that are are based at El Rancho de las Golondrinas in La Cienega.
In this book, Josefina has recently lost her mother and as a special treat on her birthday, she gets to wear her mother's embroidered shawl, she gets to use her mother's lace fan, and gets new turquoise dancing shoes.....
Sorry, my Photoshop skills fell a little short on the turquoise shoes.......
This story is about learning to write with a quill pen....
Renata poses in front of a very similar old style desk.....
Again working with Photoshop, I tried to match Renata's skirt to the one in the book.....
With the backdrop of a mural in the New Mexico State Land Office, Helena displays an awesome shiny satin skirt that she teamed with a delicate lace blouse from "ING, New York"--all topped with a festive sombrero!
Another fashion dillema is solved! I ordered this lovely ruffled lace blouse to wear with long lace skirts that I had, but nothing seemed to work out well.....Emily looked at the blouse and knew the answer at once: LEATHER AND LACE! Team it with a cowbou hat and high heels and OMG what a gorgeous UPTOWN COWGIRL!!
When I saw Liberty's photo sitting at the entrance to Cristo Rey Church, I was taken back to all those lovely "Seniorita Shots" that used to grace THE NEW MEXICO MAGAZINE when I was a kid. She teamed a long lace gown with a tall pineta comb and lace mantilla. Perfect!
a better view of the wool Double D Ranch jacket worn here at Los Poblanos with a Silver Tips satin skirt and silver jewelry
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Looking lovely Mi Lady! A very classic look with a satin tiered skirt a shirred satin top,minimalist jewlery, Helena is perfect!
A great skirt shot that displays the intricacies of the heavy cotton bi-tone skirt with white and turquoise ric-rac and a Vince Camuto blouse. For the ultimate effect, Emily used a tourquoise link belt as a necklace--WELL DONE!
At the very delicious Mary and Tito's Restaurant in Albuquerque, I am wearing another highly embroidered Mexican blouse that is also....
Pieced! Somehow, now that I'm seeing it from the back, I don't think I like it much.....the alternate "piece" of fabric is not attractive (gulp)
AFTER THE RAIN...Emme is resplendent in a Mexican postcard skirt that amazingly enough has images of a Panamanian Fiesta.....
Detail from the skirt definetly displays images of ladies in their Panamanian Poleras with trembleques in their hair.....
Bianca models a very special knotted lace bi-tone blouse with a woven Sombol Guatemalan skirt. The short boots are perfect for this country terrain in La Cienega, NM
I would suspect that this two-piece heavy Mexican tucked cotton was first worn in the 1980s. The color is unique and the fabric is excellent, but somehow this style did not last very long. This time, that clever Miss Emily is using a necklace pendand and a scarf for a belt, INNOVATION, THY NAME IS WOMAN!!
Helena is modeling a homemade calico brown three toered skirt with a summer top, boots, a Vaquero hat and.....
A beaded hatband adding a little pop as a choker......Hooray, Helena!
Rachel in another Frida inspired outfit--a woven Mexican huipil, a long brown lace skirt, a coco-colored rebozo and a gorgeous Ukranian wreath headress.......
A lady who really understands the alure of a skirt slit, Emily enters the NM Land Office in a punpkin colored pleated silk Roughrider by Circle K skirt with silver buttons on the slit and a Vince Camuto ruffled blouse......
A concoction of singletons: a raincloth bi-tone raincloth multi-tiered skirt with just a sprinkling of black and silver ric-rac, a velour coral shrug bolero and a silver ruffled blouse with a Boulton vaquero hat. Kinda fun......
At The Pink Adobe, Helena is a vision in a crisp cotton.off the shoulder, Mexican miniskirt. boots. and wreath!
For the Spanish Market I wore a very full Floclorico practice skirt. The seamstress who made it for her daughter told me that the dancers use that plainer skirts for dance practice because the twirling of the skirts are an intricate portion of the dancing. Even though it has no trim, quite a few people commented on this full circle skirt at the market.....I am also "wearing" a wrist bag.......
This Savannah Jane pieced suede hand bag has lots of southwest designs and plenty of interior zippers and pouches. Because it hangs from you wrist, it is not heavy and leaves your hands free to inspect the market wares......
SUN WORSHIPPER--Sisi soaks in the sun in this Native handmade ribbon shirt with a feather print. She is wearing it with a satin three-tierred skirt and beaded jewelry......
Another illustration of Josefina in the stockade with the sheep and goats....
The Woo girls participating in a similar scene....
Not to mention the adorable donkeys--the beast that built the west.....
Another photo version of the cover outfit: A rust colored Double D Ranch wool jacket with silver buttons, trim and crosses, a bucksin blouse and a satin gypsy skirt and a western hat complete the look. This photo was taken in Eagle's Nest, NM about a week after I had experienced a serious rollover accident in my car, that black strap across my shoulder is my sling that I have brushed aside to take this picture. DO NOT DO THIS! Let you broken clavicles heal in peace like intelligent people do.....
My, my--what a comely miss! Emily in classic black velvet skirt and top. silver belt and jewelry and finally a black cowboy hat with a silver hatband....
Rachel in WHITE satin with a highly embroidered blouse, beaded jewelry and a classic corona.
FRESH AS A DAISY! This handmade light cotton two-piece dress is tiny in size. It has silver and white ric-rac and braid and a full circle skirt. I love the fresh appearance, but there really in no originalality in design--three stars:***
Viva La Revolution! There is not much to this outfit--mainly a nice Zapotec woven sash and a gorgeous Pigale sombrero. This is the end of the new outfits for this year, what follows are miscellaneous photos depicting fiestawear throughout the year in Santa Fe! QUE VIVA SANTA FE!!
Grannie and her darlin's at El Rancho de las Golondrinas....
Fun with the donkeys. Cory gave them a little snack so the girls could enjoy watching them.
Leona sure can pose when she wants to.....
The Old Santa Fe Trail Crew of models.....
When the cutest boy in town has the coolest car--and the prettiest mother......
Juanita and Tinsel.....
This is love...Chris delicately aids his injured wife with her outfits so that she doesn't miss out on participating this year.....
At The Chavez Fandango 2025--just before the absolute downpour.....
One of these things is not like the others.....
La Familia Woo at El Rancho de las Golondrinas.....
With Pedro at the well that is in many of the Josefina stories....
We had fabulous fun with Sylvia's beautiful stringless guitar!
Santa Fe Holy Card......
Rocking The Pink Adobe....
The Canyon Road Modeling Crew.....
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Respite in the sun.....
More Formal Portrait
The West Houghton Modeling Crew....
Loving dem farm animals....
I have the prettiest sister!
Fiestatime Grand FiestaSkirt Blockade....
Chiara goes "Southern Belle" at Low and Slow....
Zozobra Party--with two of our favorite models who could not make it this year--Sarah and Isa--you were missed!
Waiting for.......
Waitiing for the big parade on "Bandana Print" Day.....
The Big nam himself! Last year was Steam Punk theme--this year on the 250th anniversary of the Republic, I think it is a "No Kings" theme....
Thanks for following this lengthy posting. If you are interested in seeing more of this collection, follow this link to Year One (with continuing links each year) Y Que Viva La Fiesta!:
Looking lovely Mi Lady! A very classic look with a satin tiered skirt a shirred satin top,minimalist jewlery, Helena is perfect!
