︎pielcanelq
dallas, texas
Being a bad b*tch – it’s a real gift.
Confident, poised, stylish, glamorous. These are the kind of words typically used to describe Andrea Juarez, who has become the self-proclaimed fashionista of her community and generation. Not only is she such a face of iconic looks but she is constantly in the spotlight for her fearless approach to fashion as well as her obvious true passion for it. In fact, the trick with fashion is that it’s not fashion if there aren’t risks. It’s all about taking risks and Andrea definitely does the job in every range. On top of the most beautiful,
e-f*cking-ccentric outfits she puts on, she manages to have the right makeup and hair every. single. time. I’ve come to learn that ultimately: Andrea is a dream because she consistently stays true to her versatile vision rooting from her unique individuality.
Qualities people like Andrea possess include beauty, status, and larger-than-life personas. Outside of fashion, Andrea is a princess in personality.
It took me about seventeen years to understand or figure out the correlation between people and looking up to them. I couldn’t understand how people could do that neither could I understand what defined someone as “inspirational”. I did have icons I looked up to growing up, but they were all for superficial reasons that revolved around their exterior and the clothes they wore.
Confident, poised, stylish, glamorous. These are the kind of words typically used to describe Andrea Juarez, who has become the self-proclaimed fashionista of her community and generation. Not only is she such a face of iconic looks but she is constantly in the spotlight for her fearless approach to fashion as well as her obvious true passion for it. In fact, the trick with fashion is that it’s not fashion if there aren’t risks. It’s all about taking risks and Andrea definitely does the job in every range. On top of the most beautiful,
e-f*cking-ccentric outfits she puts on, she manages to have the right makeup and hair every. single. time. I’ve come to learn that ultimately: Andrea is a dream because she consistently stays true to her versatile vision rooting from her unique individuality.
Qualities people like Andrea possess include beauty, status, and larger-than-life personas. Outside of fashion, Andrea is a princess in personality.
It took me about seventeen years to understand or figure out the correlation between people and looking up to them. I couldn’t understand how people could do that neither could I understand what defined someone as “inspirational”. I did have icons I looked up to growing up, but they were all for superficial reasons that revolved around their exterior and the clothes they wore.
Now that I can differentiate and better understand the concept, I can address that Andrea is someone that you can not only look up to in fashion, but in moral and lifestyle. When I first hung - actually hung out with her (and I say actually, because our first encounter involved a terribly tipsy version of me briefly dedicating “Everybody Wants To Love You” by Japanese Breakfast to her followed by a hello and goodbye), it was to bleach my virgin black hair. We spent an entire day in my friend Jorge’s room and I felt awkward and shy, but it was only 30 minutes in when I realized how well-versed, informative, and empowering she is. She’s always out there changing history and fighting for women, racial equality, the LGBTQIA community, the greater good. When I say she cares, I say she fucking cares about humanity and peoples lives. Many people adore her because of how understanding and loving she is with everyone/everything she associates herself with. Andrea, alongside many other women, are taking power, and nothing will ever be the same again.
When asked if she sees fashion and politics intertwining Andrea said,
“Definitely. One thing I'm real big about is feminism. When I started exploring my style my mom wasn't very happy about it, or other people would slut shame me for it, but I do believe it's tied because of expression. And the way that maybe women or gay people express themselves is politicized if other people find it uncomfortable. I do wear really short pieces, but I just find that doing that without letting other people kind of control my body in that way is important. I kind of just stopped letting those comments bother me because, it's all about the stigma that we have against women showing too much or whatever but I think that's, you know, bullshit. Those things aren't correlated.”
“I want to stress how gay people and women expressing themselves is important yet still often politicized so we shouldn’t let the current structures dictate what we wear!”
Women like Andrea don’t need a man or anyone to define themselves. They are, I promise, far from being “desperate.” In fact, who came up with that label and why has it stuck to us (women)? It’s the swan song of feminine suffering. You could stuff all of the world’s clichés to women even though we have been so over all that ridiculousness for a long time now, but that can’t define the modern woman.
“Definitely. One thing I'm real big about is feminism. When I started exploring my style my mom wasn't very happy about it, or other people would slut shame me for it, but I do believe it's tied because of expression. And the way that maybe women or gay people express themselves is politicized if other people find it uncomfortable. I do wear really short pieces, but I just find that doing that without letting other people kind of control my body in that way is important. I kind of just stopped letting those comments bother me because, it's all about the stigma that we have against women showing too much or whatever but I think that's, you know, bullshit. Those things aren't correlated.”
“I want to stress how gay people and women expressing themselves is important yet still often politicized so we shouldn’t let the current structures dictate what we wear!”
Women like Andrea don’t need a man or anyone to define themselves. They are, I promise, far from being “desperate.” In fact, who came up with that label and why has it stuck to us (women)? It’s the swan song of feminine suffering. You could stuff all of the world’s clichés to women even though we have been so over all that ridiculousness for a long time now, but that can’t define the modern woman.
The modern woman believes in the modern man. The man who is also over the clichés and knows a woman of substance is powerful in one way or plenty, and he’ll congratulate her for it. He knows the cool girl only exists in films and on Instagram and that a woman is not a trophy or a means of confirming his virility, but an equal partner. The man who knows how to accept a woman’s delicacy and vulnerability, just as much as her strength. This is a man who recognizes those traits and understands that he shares the same. Whether in real life or on an app, he has values and doesn’t ghost, doesn’t send d*ck pics; he is clear with his intentions and takes responsibility for them. The man who understands that respecting others, not seeing them as a cliché, means respecting himself. Women are ahead, equal, and the now. What are we supposed to do about it?
I feel like I have so much to say about Andrea in just the little amount of time I have known her. On the internet, in real life - she’s demonstrated such good qualities that I strive to have. I’m elated to include her into this blog because she is too influential to not be.
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Me: Do you have someone who is an inspiration to you in fashion?
Andrea: I think its been interesting growing up on the internet because there's literally inspiration everywhere I find that even back in middle school to now, I follow people and women especially that I think are very cool and kind of try to imitate that. I just remember if I would go to shows I would like seeing what other people wore and kind of tried to pick and choose what I liked and tried to resemble that and then now. I really like FK Twigs and like, Zoë Kravitz. It's like they have such a casual style that still looks so cool. And then random girls I follow on Instagram. The reason I remade Instagram was just to flex for styling because I just like to pick and choose what I like from different people and try to make it my own, but the internet has a lot of that.
Me: That’s so nice and so how would you say you style clothing?
Andrea: I like to thrift a lot and I really like to find cool things. I base outfits off of one key style. Like a solid piece that kind of grabs a lot of attention and tries to keep everything revolving around that, whether it be a bold piece. Maybe like really bright pants or a really bright top or something like that that draws a lot of attention, and it circulates on that. But a lot of the things that I find are at thrift stores so when I find something cool like that I already try to put things together in my head. For me it's a lot about balance. So if it's like something bigger on the bottom, something smaller on the top or like bigger shoes with like a tighter outfit or vice versa. I like to have that type of balance. And I guess, picking two good colors that I like and trying to match that as best as possible. I don't do monochrome a lot but I like to mix colors and see what looks cool.
Me: And I know that you dye your hair a lot. When did that start? When did you start messing with your hair?
Andrea: My middle school didn't allow me to do anything to my hair so right when I entered high school, at 14, I immediately bleached strips of my hair pink. And then started the obsession with bleach. I would just pick random pieces to bleach and eventually I went to my whole head. I think I was already in college, because just throughout high school I would do different pieces on braids and stuff.
And I found that, like, along with style and fashion it's just a really cool way to express yourself. That's why I like cosmetology and fashion a lot because it's just such a cool way to let other people know what you're about in a way that's not so in their face. Self expression is cool. So I've kind of just been doing that for a long time.Andrea: I like to thrift a lot and I really like to find cool things. I base outfits off of one key style. Like a solid piece that kind of grabs a lot of attention and tries to keep everything revolving around that, whether it be a bold piece. Maybe like really bright pants or a really bright top or something like that that draws a lot of attention, and it circulates on that. But a lot of the things that I find are at thrift stores so when I find something cool like that I already try to put things together in my head. For me it's a lot about balance. So if it's like something bigger on the bottom, something smaller on the top or like bigger shoes with like a tighter outfit or vice versa. I like to have that type of balance. And I guess, picking two good colors that I like and trying to match that as best as possible. I don't do monochrome a lot but I like to mix colors and see what looks cool.
Me: And I know that you dye your hair a lot. When did that start? When did you start messing with your hair?
Andrea: My middle school didn't allow me to do anything to my hair so right when I entered high school, at 14, I immediately bleached strips of my hair pink. And then started the obsession with bleach. I would just pick random pieces to bleach and eventually I went to my whole head. I think I was already in college, because just throughout high school I would do different pieces on braids and stuff.
Me: And what influenced you to go with the colors that you choose or the hairstyles you have?
Andrea: Honestly, I would say I just like to see how different things look. There was a point where I thought maybe certain colors wouldn’t compliment my skin tone, but I just stopped caring and I've done basically every color that I could think of. I blend my own and I mixed them, I think I just wanted to try every single one so then I did! Just because the varieties of colors and things like that to mix are just so endless that I really wanted to do all the combinations and I did.
Me: What's your input on the RGV community in fashion?
Andrea: I think my favorite thing is going out in public and seeing someone else out with their own fashion sense whether it be the same as mine or not. And I still think we're in the way of getting better. Lately, I've seen more people out there express themselves more than I did before. Because I personally know that if I wore something a little slightly outside of my comfort zone I will get stares, and I know people aren't ready for that. So I understand the kind of reluctance to start wearing whatever you want, but I feel like we're going in a good direction. My favorite thing is like going to shows and stuff, and like seeing people dressed super cute like whatever they want. But I understand that it's not as easy as in like bigger cities. We have a different culture down here, especially with older people, I don't think that they're all judgmental they're just -- if you stand out other people are gonna stare and you just kind of have to be ready for that.
Me: Yeah. Do you do like to dress out of your comfort zone a lot?
Andrea: Yeah, I like to push it as much as I can even if it's like one piece like recently I started wearing three inch platforms and stuff and I didn't feel comfortable doing it but you really have to realize at one point that it's mostly in your head no one's thinking all the things that you are. And I do get stares, but it’s like the more I wear it, the more I get used to it type of thing. I try pushing it just so I won't be stuck in like the same style, and I find that that's the way that your style evolves if you start pushing yourself.
Me: Can you kind of share the mental process that goes on in your head when you go outside and see people staring? I know when I would start dressing outside of my comfort zone, I would feel really anxious and there would be times when I'd go back home and just change.
Andrea: There's definitely been times where I don't even leave the door I'm like, you know what, today I can't handle this. As much as my confidence goes up so does this. If your confidence is low, you're going to think people are staring because they're judging you, but if your confidence is high, you’re going to think, well, they're all jealous. Which seems kind of cocky, but it's really just feeling comfortable enough to where you know that you're wearing it. And a lot of pieces that are ugly, I've seen a lot of cool people wear them. And it's not because a piece suddenly becomes cool it's just that you have to know how to wear it and with that comes confidence. I just go out there and I'm like, well, if older women judge me I know that a lot of times it may be because they wish that they would have the confidence. I wear cool stuff. I don't think I'm being judged all the time. I think that your blog is important just so other people know that there's people in the valley that care about fashion and it inspires people that are like stuck in a comfort zone to find their own thing. I just want to see more of that so I think we're in the right direction. We have a fashion scene here and you’re putting light to it.
lovette mai e. sanez
lovette mai e. sanez
