Speaker 1: Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this
Speaker 1: is Wamanica. This month, we're talking about trendsetters, women whose vision, style,
Speaker 1: and willingness to break barriers changed culture from what we
Speaker 1: wear to how we behave. Today, we're talking about a
Speaker 1: designer who was crowned the Doore of the Desert. Her
Speaker 1: shop in Tucson was home to the famous Squaw dress,
Speaker 1: which created a craze throughout the fifties and was even
Speaker 1: worn by two First Ladies. Meet Dolores Gonzalez. Delores Gonzalez
Speaker 1: was born in Sonora, Mexico, in nineteen oh seven. A
Speaker 1: few years later, the Mexican Revolution erupted and a raid
Speaker 1: took over the city. When family members found a stray
Speaker 1: bullet on Dolores's pillow, they fled, immigrating north of the
Speaker 1: border to Douglas, Arizona. In nineteen twenty, Dolores moved to
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. There, at just thirteen years old, she would
Speaker 1: take the first steps towards her fashion dreams. She worked
Speaker 1: as a designer's assistant before moving back to Arizona in
Speaker 1: nineteen forty. Back in Tucson, Dolores began working at her
Speaker 1: sister's dress shop. It didn't take long for Dolores to
Speaker 1: buy the shop and start running it herself. She renamed
Speaker 1: it the Dolores Shop. Now in charge of the business,
Speaker 1: Dolores started experimenting with styles for Mexican and Native American
Speaker 1: traditions to make what would become known as the Squaw Dress.
Speaker 1: It's unknown who originally created the squaw dress design. A
Speaker 1: few years earlier, another Arizona woman was selling her own
Speaker 1: version of the dress at a smaller scale, but in
Speaker 1: Dolores's shop, the design became a fashion craze. One of
Speaker 1: the most notable details of the dress was its accordion
Speaker 1: like skirt. Dolores was heavily inspired by Navajo broomstick skirts.
Speaker 1: The ankle length skirt is wetted and wrapped around a
Speaker 1: broomstick to create the continuous folds that give it a
Speaker 1: pleted esthetic. Dolores used brightly colored fabrics to emphasize the
Speaker 1: moultiple tears of the skirt and contrasted with the simplicity
Speaker 1: of its silhouette. It was light and easy to move in,
Speaker 1: making it ideal for the hot desert summers of the Southwest.
Speaker 1: Dolores's dresses became an immediate mainstream fashioned sensation, lasting throughout
Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties. Coincidentally, at the same time, the popularity
Speaker 1: of the city of Tucson also took off. Tourists flocked
Speaker 1: to the desert, and while they were there, they'd make
Speaker 1: sure to buy a dress from the Dolores Resortwear brand.
Speaker 1: By nineteen fifty six, the La Times had dubbed Dolores
Speaker 1: the Dore of the Desert. She was invited to the
Speaker 1: White House to have tea with First Lady Mamie Eisenhower.
Speaker 1: Maimie as well as her successor, First Lady pat Nixon,
Speaker 1: wore Dolores's designs. Her dresses made it to Hollywood too.
Speaker 1: Sid cheris, a dancer whose acting career took off in
Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties, was also known to buy and wear
Speaker 1: Dolores's dresses. All of this success meant Dolores was able
Speaker 1: to open a factory with twenty five machines and thirty workers.
Speaker 1: She worked forty to fifty hours a week in order
Speaker 1: to produce more than sixty dresses a day. Dolores had
Speaker 1: a lot of respect for her craft. She turned down
Speaker 1: opportunities to sell her dresses at retail stores like J. C.
Speaker 1: Penny and Neiman Marcus. She refused to let the quality
Speaker 1: and care of each finished piece get lost in mass production.
Speaker 1: This decision to keep production local made the dress industry
Speaker 1: a boon to the Tucson economy. It also supported the
Speaker 1: local employment of her workers, many of whom were Mexican
Speaker 1: American women. Despite its popularity, the dress was not without controversy.
Speaker 1: There's the fact that designers were using ideas from Native
Speaker 1: Americans to sell to women as souvenirs. And then there's
Speaker 1: the name itself. While squaw is literally translated to mean
Speaker 1: woman in Algonquin, the term has become misogynistic and derogatory.
Speaker 1: The dress is also sometimes known as the patio dress
Speaker 1: or fiesta dress instead. No nineteen sixties fashion trends in
Speaker 1: the US shifted and the A line dress rose to popularity.
Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty two, Dolores shut down her shop. She
Speaker 1: passed away in nineteen ninety four. Today you can still
Speaker 1: see these iconic dress designs. They're popular at square dances
Speaker 1: and still evoke a retro Southwest aesthetic. All month we're
Speaker 1: talking about trendsetters. For more information, find us on Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Wamanica Podcast special thanks to Liz Kaplan,
Speaker 1: my favorite sister and co creator. Talk to you tomorrow.