Lifestyles fashion story 8/26

TIJUANA, Mexico --Inside a swap meet, surrounded by tables of cheap trinkets and old car parts, a booth called "La Tienda de Ropa" stands out.

About a dozen Spanish-speaking folks are scrambling about, some taking orders, others screenprinting designs onto T-shirts. Customers carry armfuls of old clothing to be altered by a seamstress or emblazoned with designs inspired by daily life in Tijuana.

A sign at the front of the booth instructs them to choose a design, tell the workers where to print it on each garment and, lastly, "Shout wow and smile with the extraordinary feeling of happiness and joy that participating in art brings."

In addition to being a bustling swap-meet business, La Tienda de Ropa (The Clothes Store for all you gringos) is an art project meant to demystify the clothes-making process and show how perfect strangers can cooperate and communicate when given a common goal. Organizers of La Tienda have exhibited the project both as a functioning clothing vendor and as a museum installation, complete with documentary film and examples of the clothing designs.

La Tienda de Ropa was created by a public art and media project in Tijuana called Bulbo, whose aim is to document the city's culture through documentary film, public art installations, the printed word and other media. The group runs its own television station, radio station, quarterly magazine, Web site and record label.

Bulbo got into the clothing biz last year when they were asked to contribute to inSITE, an art exhibition that takes place around San Diego and Tijuana.

"We thought that everyone uses clothes every day, so everyone is an expert," explained Paola Rodr'quez, one of Bulbos founding members.

Another Bulbo member, Cristina Velasco, said the collective settled on clothing to show how easy it is to make.

"Our goal was to stop mystifying clothing because it is actually very easy and everyone can do it," she said.

But it wasn't going to be the Bulbo members themselves who were producing the clothes. Instead they chose seven strangers to participate, including only one -- a seamstress -- who had any background in the clothing business. They met once a week for nine weeks to learn about the clothing industry and settle on project details.

They photographed scenes from daily life in Tijuana to come up with screenprinting designs. To keep their overhead low, they invited people to bring in old clothing for new designs and alterations. The booth was set up in markets, swap meets and other public places.

Showing off

Bulbo had its cameras rolling from the first group meeting until the last time La Tienda de Ropa was set up in a swap meet in Tijuana. The "La Tienda de Ropa" documentary shows the seven strangers learning how to work together, listening to each other's ideas and, eventually, becoming one cohesive group with one common goal. The film is the centerpiece of the an installation of the project, which also includes clothing printed with the designs, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego.

Meanwhile, Bulbo chose a new group of "designers," this time students from San Diego and Tijuana, to man a booth at the opening of the exhibit and the swap meet. The booth will appear at at least two more events this month.

"I learned how to think kinda like an artist," said Julio Palomares, one of the San Diego students who participated in the project. "I want to get the chemicals and the whole set so I can start making all my own designs."

The project has also had a direct impact on the life of Clotilde Valdez, a seamstress who worked with the original group of Tienda participants. Before working with Bulbo, Valdez had supported her family through contract work with foreign-owned clothing factories, earning an estimated $1 per hour, according to Rodr'quez, who made a separate documentary about the seamstress.

"It's the story of one lady," said Rodr'quez, "but it's the story of a lot of people who are doing this kind of work."

But thanks to connections she made while working the booth, Valdez has begun doing more work for private clients, reducing her reliance on the meager factory paychecks.

Kinsee Morlan is a writer living in Tijuana and San Diego.