There's so much excitement around costumes in Netflix's latest series Selena [1]. It stars Christian Serratos as the famous singer [2], and Selena's real-life sister, Suzette Quintanilla, is an executive producer on the show. The show is about the Tejano singer's rapid rise to fame before her tragic murder in 1995 and we talked to the show's costume designer, Adela Cortazar, about how she recreated the singer's most iconic looks.
If you wondered how, exactly, Adela was able to perfectly construct those outfits [3], allow her to explain: "I have a rule when I work on projects that are based in bygone eras: it has to be vintage, or we make it. We sourced garments from Mexico City, Tijuana, San Diego, and Los Angeles. I wanted to avoid using any revival pieces or new ones that imitate those styles, so we could build a universe that takes you to the past. We found a lot of stuff online. We bought pieces in 30 different states and also Europe. Aron, a guy on my team who spent hours buying online, found a brand that made '80s Bugle Boy shirts that were perfect for AB's character. I wanted to buy all of them! As for the sneakers, I wanted them to be original from that time. We found some, but they were completely falling apart. At some point, we ran out of '80s-inspired shirts, and we started making them in our workshop in Baja, California. The team had a tailor, a pattern designer, and between 10 to 15 people always working there. We made around 600 pieces for the show. It was our own small factory."
Keep scrolling to read more of our interview with Adela ahead.
On Working With Christian Serratos
"We worked really closely because the show required a lot of changes and outfits. We had to do so many tests and fittings. [Christian] also went through a huge transformation during the process. I needed to know her body perfectly. I think she trusted me completely; at some point, we were doing fittings even without a mirror. Christian's style is super laidback and comfy — she loves baggy clothes, big hoodies. Selena's looks were anything but comfy, so I'm sure Christian suffered that. In the end, after a year and a half, she was used to it."
On This Iconic Bra and Pants Look
"We were filming that [look] [4] at the beginning of the process, on one of our first days. White is way harder because it has to fit the body so perfectly. Visually, the look seems easy with three pieces: a bra with embroidered pearls, pants, and boots. We found the bra online; it came from England. We bought them in all colours and models, and the one I liked the most and ended up using was the last one we received. It was getting late, but I was in love with that one. It finally arrived five minutes before filming! The minute we received it, we started sewing on the pearls."
On the Pearl Boots
"We had to string each pearl [on the boots] one by one. The pattern went up and down, and it was very tricky. We tried many times. When we finally got the right pearls, we sent them to Mexico City, where the project's shoemaker was. Once we had the boots ready, I wanted to secure the [pearls] with glue, and someone used the wrong kind of glue, and it turned yellow. We had to start all over again! That look drove me crazy. Honestly, I think that in many moments, Selena was on my side, because when we finally got the bra and the boots, they fit perfectly."
On Researching Selena's Iconic Outfits
"We were gathering images and researching mostly online and from [Selena's] fan club websites. One of the main challenges was that most of those images didn't specify the date when they were taken. Another [issue] was that many times the quality of the images was very low. I have a compilation of 11,000 images, and the tricky thing was to organise them by years to understand who Selena was. One of the details I used as a guide was Selena's hairstyles. I tried to understand her style through the years at each age. Thanks, Selena, for changing your hairstyle so much!"
On Sourcing Materials For the Costumes
"We're talking about a story that happened 30 and 40 years ago — most of the materials don't even exist anymore. Before fashion [trends] change, the textile industry changes. Today, finding a plastic fabric used in the '90s is really hard. For example, I couldn't find sequins that I liked for the outfit Selena wore during the Matamoros show. One day we were in San Diego, and I suddenly saw something sparkly in the back of a truck. I asked them if I could get in the truck, they said yes, and that's how I found them!"
On Her Favourite Costume
"All the looks were kind of a surprise because the quality of the reference images and videos were so bad that it was like trying to find shapes in the clouds. The one [look] we gave a lot of thought to was what Selena wore when she won the TMAs. If you see the images, it's not clear if she's wearing a skirt or a dress, and each one of us was seeing a different thing. One night I went to bed thinking about this look, and I woke up in the middle of the night and realised, 'Of course! It's just one piece!' At the end of the day, I'm not sure if this is what she was wearing, but I'm very happy with the result, and it's one of my favourite looks of the whole show."