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Tijuana Issues Fashion Ultimatum To Vendors
Dress Code Designed To Allow Visitors To 'Feel Mexico'

POSTED: 11:03 am PDT July 4, 2005
UPDATED: 11:23 am PDT July 4, 2005

TIJUANA, Mexico -- The Mexican border city of Tijuana is planning a fashion makeover for its throngs of street vendors by giving them an ultimatum: Wear brightly colored, traditional garb or leave.

The new dress code initially took effect June 25 in a popular pedestrian mall in time for the busy Fourth of July weekend -- although most vendors ignored it and wore jeans and sweatjackets.

The new decree, ordered by flamboyant Tijuana Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon, is designed to showcase the city's melting pot of Mexican cultures to the outside world. He said the fashion mandate will allow visitors to "feel Mexico." Those who disobey will be given two warnings and then forced to leave the area where the dress code applies.

The dresses "are very nice, very clean, very colorful, very happy-looking," Rhon said in an interview Saturday in his City Hall office, which he shares with a caged parakeet, a parrot and a python in a glass tank.

The dress code was the latest decision to affect Tijuana's estimated 20,000 street vendors. Since December, the city has kicked some 2,000 out of downtown after competing shop owners complained their sales were suffering.

So far, the new dress code only applies to vendors in a pedestrian mall that begins near San Diego's main border crossing -- a short stretch lined with pharmacies, restaurants and souvenir shops. And it is only imposed on the weekends.

The outfits are a mishmash of different Indian styles. Some feature brightly colored ribbons as trim, others are emblazoned with the word "MEXICO" from head to toe. Men must wear black pants and a white shirt.

"It's part of our culture," said Councilman Edgar Fernandez Bustamante, who wants vendors to dress up weekdays as well. "It's not a question of making less of someone or trying to take away their dignity."

City officials say the costumes are no different from Colonial Williamsburg's Revolutionary War soldier outfits, Buckingham Palace guard regalia or Disneyland's Mickey Mouse costumes.

And tourist areas across Mexico have long relied on traditional decorations, including costumes. More than two years ago, Mexico City ordered downtown police to wear charro outfits, dressing them in spurs, guns and broad-brimmed hats. The Mexican cowboy costumes were designed to put tourists at ease.

Cecilia Angelos, who sells metal bracelets, sunglasses and ceramic Micky Mouse dolls on a pedestrian bridge crossing the foul-smelling Tijuana River, was among the few vendors Saturday wearing the new costumes.

Angelos said tourists had complimented her on the outfit she bought, and she believes the new wardrobe will be good for business. Still, the 30-year-old acknowledges other vendors don't like what they have been told to wear.

"They worry that people are going to make fun of them," Angelos said.

One vendor wearing everyday clothes said her dress was too tight. Another said her outfit was dirty. Both asked not to be named for fear of retribution by city officials.

Businesses have donated some outfits, authorities say, but many vendors who are barely scraping by have been forced to dig into their own pockets.

The dictate will gradually be extended to other streets, including Avenida Revolucion -- the bustling main tourist drag where one vendor donned a giant sombrero with the words "Mr. Viagra" written on it. He beckoned tourists to be photographed in a donkey cart.

Lucia Victoria Barrera, a 16-year-old girl who sells bracelets, dolls and maracas, spent $15 for a purple dress, with pink, white, yellow and orange patterns. She was angry that others had ignored the mandate.

"We don't have a choice," said Barrera, who says she makes a $20 profit on good days. "If we don't wear it, they said they'll kick us out."