Rebozo

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Rebozo, 1875-1890, V&A Museum no. T.21-1931

For the banker, see Charles Rebozo.

A rebozo is a woman's garment used in Mexico. Rectangular in shape, rebozos vary in size from 1.5 to upwards of three meters, and can be made of cotton, wool, silk, or articela. They can be worn as scarves or shawls, and women often use them to carry children and take products to the market. They range in value from very inexpensive to hundreds of dollars.

Rebozos are a product of the intermingling of the cultures colonized by Spain. It is unknown whether the Indigenous people of Mexico used them before the arrival of the Spanish, but the word does not appear in the Spanish language until the year 1562. The style may also have been influenced by the culture of the Philippines.

They are made all over Mexico, but the rebozos of Michoacán, Oaxaca, Querétaro, and San Luis Potosí are particularly prized. San Luis Potosí is the home of the Otomí, a people famous for their weaving, and it is in Santa María del Río, San Luis Potosí that the Rebozo Caramelo, the most expensive rebozo, is made. Chalinas are flat rebozos with no design, and are only one color. Often, rebozos with red, green, and white stripes are worn for Fiestas Patrias.

The photographs of Agustín Casasola depict soldaderas, the female soldiers of the Mexican Revolution, wearing rebozos de bolita. As a distinctly Mexican garment, the rebozo has been celebrated in the arts. The rebozo has been the subject of song and poem, and Frida Kahlo frequently painted portraits of herself wearing rebozos. The rebozo has also been used in the Chicano arts: for example, it serves as the central metaphor of Sandra Cisneros's bildungsroman Caramelo. And due to its folkloric nature, the rebozo is often used as part of the costume for performing Mexican folk dances.